Temper, Laughter, and Magic

My youngest daughter came into this world with a set of lungs on her like you wouldn't believe.
She was delivered by c-section almost two weeks early, and I think she just wasn't really ready to come out. She looked like a little doll. Actually, everyone that saw her made that exact comment, but she had a temperament that was not quite so reposed.

She had colic for the first four months of her life. And not this sissy "few hours each evening" stuff. Nope, not her. She cried, all day, every day. For Four Months. She slept well and didn't cry as much throughout the night. But during the day it was madness. I tried to get a photographer in twice to take baby portraits. She left twice with nary a photo in sight. My husband and my mom would try to hold her and comfort her, but after about 20 minutes they'd hand her back to me. It was a trying time, for sure.

But she also laughed like a loon, and was very quick. She said her first word at 5 months and was speaking in short sentences by 1 year. She's clever and witty and compassionate. But she hasn't grown out of the feisty.

She's that child that can be so tender and sweet one minute, just melting your heart. In the next she could be yelling and stomping up to her room. The teenage years should be.....interesting.
But she is also one of the funniest kids I've ever known. And I've known a lot. She says things, out of nowhere, that completely crack me up.

Here are some recent examples:

The other night we were sitting on the couch together watching a show. I asked her to get ready to go up to bed in a few minutes. We continued to watch for a few minutes more, and I gave her the "2 minute warning." Deadpan, she looks at me, takes her slipper off of her foot and says, "Mommy, I have slippers. Don't make me use them" while holding the slipper up to me. I started laughing, hard. She did too. I honestly don't know where she comes up with this stuff, but it's out of the blue and just hilarious.

Another evening, she and my husband were lying together in our bed, reading their own separate books. My husband could see her keep glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. A few times, he looked over and caught her staring at him. After several minutes of this, he turned to her and said, "WHAT??" She looked at him, brought her two fingers of one hand up to her eyes, and then pointed them at him and said, "Daddy, I've got my eyes on you." I could hear the roaring laughter from downstairs.

But last night, she said something that showed the other side of her nature. As she was lying on the couch, sick, tired and generally not feeling well, my husband heard her speak in a quiet, strained voice. She said, "I believe in magic. Good magic. Not witches and stuff. But magic that lets my teddy bear talk to me at night."

My husband told her, "You may be grumpy sometimes B, but you have a good heart." To which she responded, "so do you Daddy. I love you."

And that makes me believe in magic too. The magic of a little five year old girl that holds my heart.