Thank you

This evening as I was getting Astrid ready for bed she looked up at me with her sweet angel face and pretty blue eyes and said, "Mama? Thank you!"

I was kinda taken aback. I mean she normally says "thank you" when you give her something, but this was the first time she seemed to really be thanking me for something intangible.

Earlier in the evening, when I got home we went for a walk around the neighborhood, this time taking a different path. I can always get Astrid excited about going for a walk by making it into a mission about finding kitty cats. She LOVES cats, or what she calls "Coco". She likes dogs, but she likes cats more because she can usually pet them.

I showed her a mural that someone painted on a wall with dairy cows. Astrid thought it was hilarious. Especially with me making the "moo!" sound. And she loved being able to go up the the wall and touch the painted cows.

On our walk we saw a total of 7 cats. One was a small black kitten with green eyes that she wanted so badly to pet, but it was behind a metal fence and wouldn't come close enough for Astrid to reach her. Astrid looked so adorable putting her two little hands under the fence and saying, "nice...nice...nice" and clapping her hands trying to get the cat to come to her.

We also saw a number of birds, both domestic and wild on our walk. When Astrid saw/heard a bird she would say, "Cheep cheep". So cute.

We have a lot of steep hills up here and her little legs get tired, so every once in awhile we would stop, sit on a curb and just rest and I'd point out stuff to her, and just talk to her. She really loved that. It was the first time I just stopped and enjoyed sitting there with her, rather than carrying her and rushing trying to get home before a certain time.

When we got back to the house we saw a bunny and after chasing it and trying to pet it, we tried a different approach by trying to feed it some food. It munched on a little bit, but was more interested in eating the neighbors plants.

After that Astrid I sat and snuggled on the couch while I read her a couple of books that she got from the library today, and when I looked up I was surprised to see it was already 7 PM.

I quickly made her some dinner, while she sat on the kitchen counter next to me so she could watch, munching on some raisins.

Then I bathed her, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, put lotion on her, and dressed her in her PJ's. That was when she looked up at me in all seriousness and thanked me.

Then I gave her warm milk in her sippy cup, and continued with our bedtime routine: Read her another book, and sang to hear (Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - both of which she's getting better at singing along with me, and Rock-a-bye Baby). After that, she let me know she was ready to lay down, and lying in her crib again she looked up at me and said, "thank you".

She was so serious. It really felt like a heartfelt thank you for taking care of her and spending time with her. I got kinda choked up. It's a lot of work raising a kid, no doubt about it, but tonight with those two thank you's I felt appreciated. I'm so grateful that I have this little miracle in my life, who with her limited vocabulary can still express her feelings and lets me know that the time we spend together is precious.