[Re]Learning to smile

Avelyn is smiling so much these days and I spend most of my free time trying to get her to smile that big toothless grin.  It sounds crazy, but my favorite part of the day is actually our 4am feeding.  I'm not a fan of waking up for a 4am feeding, and I will be glad if she ever figures out how to sleep to 7 o'clock but until then I will savor these moments with her.  

Each morning she wakes up between 3 and 4, ready to eat.  I am usually able to sense her rustling around in her crib and go pick her up before she starts the wail of the abused and starved baby.  While the bottle heats up I knock out the diaper change while she's still sleepy and then we hop on over to the bed for the feeding.  By this time she is normally talking away, with or without angsty shouts of "FEED ME!"  Anyway, my favorite part is this: after a few minutes of feeding when I am typically nodding off above her, I will usually jolt awake after my head drops and there she is -- the bottle just lolling around in her wide open mouth, with the most beautiful grin staring back at me, waiting for me to notice.  

It's the most beautiful thing in the world and a special middle of the night treat for just the two of us.  Each night I go to bed hoping she will sleep a little longer than she did the night before, but each night when she wakes up I don't really mind because I know in a few minutes I will get a face full of grins and giggles.  One day she finally will start sleeping through the night and I bet I will miss that 4am lovefest.  

I think we can all take a cue from our adorable little babies and learn to smile again.  Big, wide, open mouthed smiles that fill your whole face and radiate out your fingertips... even if they're so big that everyone else around you pokes fun.  Even if your face is so scrunched up that you want to throw the picture away.  Keep it.  That is a moment worth remembering.  

Smile on, baby girl.  Smile on.