Nighttime Magic

It's nights like these that make all my second-guessing and frustration at spending the day with a cranky toddler all worthwhile.

Bailey had been grumpy all day...to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore and put her down for a late afternoon nap just to get a few moments' peace from her constant fussing/screaming every time something didn't go her way, which was seemingly every other minute or so.  She didn't even end up going to sleep, just drank a bottle of milk (yep, at 15 months she's still ONLY drinking her milk from a bottle...can't get her to drink it any other way) and then was ready to come back downstairs and fuss again.  Long story short, it had been a very, very long day.  So when her 7:30 bedtime rolled around, I didn't waste any time putting her to sleep.  I love her to pieces...but I was ready for a break and she very obviously needed her sleep.

We followed the same routine as always: bath, a few minutes of play time while the Goodnight Show is on Sprout, and then bed.  She yelled "Niiiiggghht!" and gave Scott his usual goodnight kiss.  And then, two amazing things happened:

First...she turned around and gave me a goodnight kiss.  ME.  She very rarely gives me a kiss and it's something that weighs heavily on my heart.  I know it's a silly thing to feel upset by, but when I watch her give a kiss to literally everybody else in the room and then turn away when I ask for one...well, it makes me sad.  I hadn't even asked for a kiss, she just turned around in my arms and planted one right on me.  I could have cried...and I almost did.

Which brings me to the second amazing thing she did.  Like always, when Scott kissed her goodnight he said, "I love you, kid".  Bailey looked at him and said, "Love you" so clearly that there was no mistaking that she had said it back. The very first time she said "I love you"!  And, go figure, she says it to Scott.  In any case, it was fantastic and we couldn't stop talking about it after I'd put her to bed.

Magical.