The morning started off like any other. Somewhere around 4:45 AM I woke up to a toddler knee in my back. I rolled over and dozed back off. My alarm went off at the all too early time of 5:35 AM. I rolled out of bed about 10 minutes later and proceeded with my typical morning ritual. Ry was still asleep, sprawled out on our bed. {How such a small little person can take up so much space is beyond my worldly knowledge.}

As Andy is getting ready to leave I tell him to go ahead and wake her up. Her groggy eyes open and she lifts her head onto my lap. As Andy gets up to leave she jolts up and puts her arms out.

Eskimo kisses for Daddy.

As he turned to walk out to door she said, “WAIT! One more kiss!”

Kisses for Daddy.

“Wait! One more hug!”

Big hug for daddy.

“WAIT! Last kiss…”

After we are up and moving we head to her bathroom where she announces that she is not going to sit down. It takes me a second to get what she is saying. It clicks right about the time she faces the toilet, buck naked and starts pinching her belly button!! {NOTE TO SELF: no more Rylee in the bathroom when Daddy is going potty!} As I proceed to explain to Rylee that I know it’s a bummer, but girls have to sit down to go potty and boys like Daddy can stand, she finishes up. I wipe her sweet little tush and she spins around, looks at me and matter-of-factly says “I love you Mommy.”

The first unsolicited L word from the monster. My heart skipped a beat.

Next it’s time to get dressed. We head into her bedroom and we talk about what she will wear today. We start with her chonies {AKA: panties but I refuse to use that word}. While my back is turned away from her and toward her dresser to grab some pants and a shirt, she sits down on the floor and picks up a book. “Love you Forever”

I know you know the book.  It’s the one that makes every single mother cry every single time she reads it.

I turn back around to face her and I see her rocking “back and forth, back and forth, back and forth”. She looks up at me, smiles and sings “mumble, mumble, mumble…LOVE YOU ALWAYS”.

Just reliving the morning makes my heart all sorts of full with warm-gushy-meltyness. What a kid, I tell ya. What a kid.