10 Sweetest Things

Periodically, in an effort to appreciate the gifts of the moment, I make a list of the 10 Sweetest Things my son is doing. If you want to find past entries, for extra sweetness, you can find them here.

I love 17 months. Okay, not everything about it. Carl and I are learning about saying no, setting limits, educating Daniel on what is and isn't appropriate. Example: yes, Daniel, it's appropriate to say "excuse me" and wait for someone to get out of your way. It's not so appropriate to shout "excuse me" after you've crashed into the old ladies who aren't leaving church quickly enough for you. But overall, this age is super sweet. Here are some of my favorites right now.

1. He toddles over to the couch, looks up with sad eyes and says, "Cudd-le?" As if anyone could turn down that offer.
2. He says, "I love you." But it sounds more like, "I loooooove ju."
3. He blows kisses to say goodbye, fingers outstretched, arm flinging forth with a flourish.
4. He adores my dad, so much that he has a special dance he does when he says Pop-pop. It looks like raising the roof: hands at shoulders, palms up, two quick upward pops.
5. He loves to sing Alleluia. Of course at church today, he only sang it, very loudly, at inappropriate times - like during the homily, but still. Pretty cute. Recently, he's taken to singing it softly as I rock him before putting him to bed.
6. He loves cats. All kinds. House cats, snow leopards, tigers. These seem to be his favorite animal. I showed him a picture of a leopard in a magazine and he spent ten minutes going "kittykittykittykittykitty" in a gutteral voice. He looked like he wanted to nuzzle the picture, but he didn't.
7. When we met Bitsy, my brother's new puppy, he approached her slowly, and was very gentle, even though he's used to burrowing into Nalu, our doggie, at will. He seemed to intuit that Bitsy couldn't handle any rough play.
8. He pretends to go to sleep, lying on the floor, saying "Night night" and then fake snoring.
9. As he walked out of church tonight, he turned around and said, "Bye, Jesus!"
10. See for yourself above. Him singing "Happy birthday to you" almost hurts me it's so sweet.

What's sweet in your life today?