"Look what I found"

Early this morning on his way through the nursery(he has to pass through it to get in or out of his part of the house) Blake must have stumbled upon our smiley baby wide eyed and ready to start her day. He emerged from there with a soggy diapered, crooked pig tailed, purple pj'd, four year old with a smile as big as her face in his arms. He announced, "Look what I found", and my heart swelled. The sight of her smile and the sound of "bubba" drew him in and he rescued our little one from her crib. He brought her over, sat her next to me on the couch, and watched her snuggle in close pushing me out of my spot. He smiled wide, shook his head back and forth and said, "She's just really, really cute." Again, my heart swelled. Its going to be a beautiful day. I can feel it.

I wish you could see the mess in her nursery this morning. I didn't remember it looking like that. I asked what happened and he shared with me that last night she was signing for a book and he told her, "you have to go get them for yourself." So he sat her down across the room from her book shelves and she fussed at him a time or two and then proceeded to scoot her little self all the way over there. He told me he watched her pull out every single book and look at the cover to see if its the one she wanted. She would pull it off, hold it up, then throw it behind her and look for another. It took her a little while to find the right one, then he said she just sat there for an hour in her pile of books and read the "one" she had been looking for(Dave and I went out to see a movie last night:) It made him really proud to watch her with her new found independence. He told me he sat there on the nursery floor with her and watched the whole thing. That made me smile. He's proud of her. He loves her. He tries so hard to be tough with her, but his heart is very, very tender toward his little sister. He is an encourager and an optimistic when it comes to Ashley Kate.

Blake's going to be 14 this week. I can't even believe it. I am so thankful for this child. He is a joy to us. Always has been. Not a difficult day in fourteen years of parenting him. Honest. I'm so proud to be his mom. So proud of who he is. He has his dad's heart and my competitive nature. He is well rounded, driven, compassionate, loyal, smart, athletic, and fun. I love him so much. Its going to be fun celebrating with him this week. Really, really fun!