first kiss…

Last night was special for me and Evan. As I lotioned him down and put him in his nightshirt and sleep sack, he kept looking toward the wall by the window. And, in his tiny voice, he said, “Doggie!” “Doggie!”

I remembered when I bought that vintage puzzle of a dog. I was out with my best friend, and we’d stopped by a neighborhood junk shop. It was the kind where you roam through and look at the different displays set up by various dealers. The dog and cat puzzles were cheap, and I snapped them up. I can’t remember whether I was pregnant with Evan or not yet, but I know that I had them in mind for the wall of our next child’s room.

That little child has just learned to recognize them and call them by name.

I hugged him to me and brushed his damp blonde curls. I held him in front of the mirror in my room, and I thought to ask, “Evan, will you give Mommy a kiss?” He’s been saying “kiss” lately, but I still wasn’t prepared for him to smile and lean toward me with his mouth wide open in the way of brand new baby kissers everywhere.

Two heart clenching moments in one night. My cup runneth over.