Things I Love about you, Samina Elisa Rossi.

When Sofia was very little, I spent much of my free-ish time pondering things about her. Examining her every move, my every feeling, all details I loved and hated and in between about Motherhood. But that was then, this is now. In my present day, with two, time to ponder has been halved (thirded? fourthed?) so, much as the cliche goes, we're behind on Samina's baby book and, as 2013 would have it be, I am behind on my blogging about her.

And so, I decided to write this...

Things I Love about Samina Elisa Rossi:

1. That smile. That electric smile (which has now been paired with a classy Princess-like hand wave) makes people fall in love with you, and instantly. It is, some days, the reason I get up in the morning.

2. That laugh. Some might think this goes together with number 1, but that's because they don't know you and don't know your contagious laugh deserves a number of its own.

3. The way you take everyone and everything in. You and your sister are world class observers, and observing you observe is my new favorite past-time. And, as you do it, you mutter little things under your breath, like "baa" and "whappaga", and it's like you're commenting on what you're seeing. I'll bet you are, and I'll bet if we could understand you, we'd all be getting a little talking to.

4. You are so sweet and cuddly. Andrea and I decided that this time around we weren't going to be so strict with the sleep arrangements. And so began the co-sleeping. And, want to know a secret? Some nights, as you fall asleep clutching my nose, I hear your sweet breathing and a little pang remembers it won't last forever. I am officially one of *those* moms.

5. Motherhood sucks sometimes (many times, for different reasons), I'm not gonna lie. But you? You bring peace to this house, to us, to me. Any three of the rest of us can be angry or self-righteous about any number of the latest wrongdoings on someone else's part, but then you pull yourself up and wave, or yell out something incomprehensible, or talk to your plastic giraffe, and all is forgotten for the moment. Which is no small feat, mind you.

6. Your little hands. They pick things up. Many times, one of your hands (and its nails, ouch) holds fiercely onto one of our necks while the other hand's thumb relaxes in your mouth. They examine, they caress, they wave, they play, they hold a piece of bread as you learn to feed yourself.

7. Your spirit. You have quite a little personality, my dear Samina. Yes, you are the peacemaker in the family. You bring people together, you love nothing more than having your family all together, you sing yourself songs. But you also know your rights, and you are not afraid to claim them. Girls' got chutzpah - don't let her cherubic demeanor fool you.

And so, my dear Sammy (Sammy Davis, as your papa' calls you on occasion), thanks for being part of the family. We love you and are so happy you're here with us. Don't let the lack of baby book confuse you (papa's working on it!).


p.s. and lucky number 8: the entire time I wrote this post, you entertained yourself with a toy on the floor in front of me. Bless your heart, little girl, bless your heart.