Every expression on her face.
The way she jerks her head randomly.
The way she does this huge squeak inhale.
The way, when she's getting mad, she pumps one leg rapidly, like trying to start a tiny baby motorcycle. The mad look she gets when we delay getting her food to her. The blinking awake of this tiny life.
I don't know how much of the behavior we're seeing now is an indication of her personality, but this newborn is goofy. She's smart. She's generally good-natured, but possesses a fiery temper. When she gets really furious she cries in a way that sounds like an angry duck. WAH WAH WAH.
I wonder if she'll ever know, 15, 20 or 30 years from now, how I held her in my arms and tried to keep my heart inside my body, tried to keep my emotions from pouring out of my skin and flooding the city I live in. I so incredibly love this little girl, I am so completely and utterly charmed by this person, I almost can't stand it. I look at her sometimes and I'm surprised my husband doesn't hear the pop of my heart as it swells beyond its borders.
And she's not even smiling at us yet!
Her tiny smiles, right now attributed to gas, or urination or the contentment of falling asleep, are enough to achieve world peace, they are enough to quiet my screaming heart. They are enough for me, forever.
They melt me, utterly.
For so long I have examined my life and my decisions with a critical air of disenchantment.
I now look down at my sleeping daughter's face and I feel I've accomplished greatness.
1 comment:
You are so eloquent!
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