Just a Moment

As I sit looking back on another busy day, and think about what I'm going to write about today I keep finding myself coming back to just a moment. In the scheme of things this moment was very short - only minutes, but it was the very best part of my day.

We began the day heading off to school, me for meetings and Abby to play. She was rather excited because besides the fact that she would get to play with "her kids" (the term she uses for any of her group of friends), it was field trip day. They were heading off to do some bowling. Now, if you know Abby at all you will think, Bowling? She went bowling? Isn't that a bit loud for her?, and I would respond in the affirmative. But, she's been doing so well lately, and this isn't her first time in a bowling alley, so I knew that she would be just fine. I'm happy to report that I was right. Besides, the skinned knees from falling in the parking lot (what would summer be without skinned knees?), she had a blast filling her tummy with pizza and getting her first spare! I would have loved to have seen that. She spent the rest of the afternoon playing while I finished up some work and ran a couple of errands.

I laughed when I saw this picture, she looks like
she's offering thanks for the smoothie - they do
seem a bit divine at times, don't they?

In fact, we'd both had such a good day that I decided we needed a treat. So, while Abby sucked on the popsicle I'd used to lure her out to the car, I drove to get myself a coffee. Now, it seems that Abby has come to the belief that every drive-thru window offers french fries, because as we pulled up she yelled out that she was hungry for fries. I was able to convince her that they didn't have fries, but she wasn't being put off - therefore it was a coffee for me, and a strawberry-banana smoothie for her.

Although it was pretty funny when her eyes about popped out of her head when she saw all the whipped cream on that smoothie, and her "yummy" noises were pretty cute too as she drank that strawberry goodness, these weren't the best parts of the day. That happened when we got home.

After pulling her out of the car (yes, I had to l-i-t-e-r-a-l-l-y, pull her out of the car by her feet) we ended up on the couch together. She'd told me she was hungry for a hot dog (which she wouldn't have been if she'd had more than three sips of that smoothie - oh well), but I was too tired to get going on that right away, and since I hadn't seen her all day, I wanted to spend a few quiet moments with her. I laid on the couch and she snuggled right up next to me, pressed her nose to mine, and smiled. That was it, that simple gesture got to me. Soon she couldn't take it any more and she started laughing. My first thought was, I need to record this so everyone can hear what a great laugh she has, but then I stared laughing, and before long we couldn't stop. It was one great giggle-fest. I was blowing raspberries on her arm, and then she was doing that on mine - and you know what? I'd forgotten how much they really do tickle. She thought it was so funny to make mom laugh. It wasn't long before our cackling got Bruiser to howling, which resulted in more laughs. You should have heard the noise we all were making - and it was wonderful.

Soon enough hunger won out over fun and it was time for Mom to get up and make that hot dog for her poor starving girl, but those happy moments on the couch were the best parts of my day - so that's what I wanted to write about - because that's what I wanted to remember.

Abby takes picnicking to a whole new level. She puts the
food, the entertainment, and herself all in the basket at once.