From the mouth of babes

As we headed back toward home after my 34-week check-up today, Brooklyn and I were talking about what the rest of the day would hold for us. As we talked about how fun it's going to be to spend part of our evening blowing bubbles after dinner, I looked in my rearview mirror to find a little girl that looked like she was just about to go to sleep any minute. We kept talking, and when I told her that I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up not only a few things for dinner, but also a few things that we needed in order to make the muffins that she had picked out, she started breathing harder. She told me she needed to talk to me. She said, "Mommy, I really think I need a nap. I am tired. We will go home, read books, have milk and take a nap. You're exhausted too." When I told her that I promise that the grocery store trip would be short and then we'd go home and nestle her in her bed for an afternoon nap, she started over with the same thing. She said it a few more times. When I made the right hand turn instead of going straight which would have led us to our garage, she started crying a little telling me that we had already talked about it (twice) and that she didn't want to do anything but take a nap. When we arrived at the grocery store, she immediately turned her attention to looking for beetle bug cars, a favorite car hobby of hers. By the time we ran into the store, picked up our items, and were in the checkout, I was holding her and she was laying her head on my shoulder. As we neared the checkout lady, she noticed a few magazines behind me. She looked up from my shoulder with this huge grin and said, "look Mommy, it's Nastia Liukin." I turned around and did see the same magazine cover and asked her if she would like to have this magazine since she was so brave and such a good girl for doing something that she really didn't want to do in the first place. She got an even bigger smile as I placed the maagazine into the cart. As I was buckling her safe in her carseat I thanked her for being patient with me as I had to run that quick errand. I told her that now we could go home and take that long awaited and desired nap. She looked up at me and said, "You're the best Mommy." Sometimes it really is the smallest things in life that remind you how blessed you are and how much you have. I really feel lucky.