Well, I started back to "work" yesterday after five months of pure mommy time. I will be working part-time teaching an after school art program...really it is perfect because I will only be gone for a few hours a couple of days a week. Yesterday, however, I was apart from Lily for nine hours-a new record-one I don't wish to repeat anytime soon. I must admit that having her back in my arms after that long apart is very sweet, indeed. The way she nuzzles her face into my neck and sort of coos is priceless.
I have found that I am more and more enamored with her everyday. Not surprising, really. But she has discovered her toes and wants to spend vast amounts of time everyday looking at them and grabbing them and putting them in her mouth. (Enjoy it now, my girl, you may not be able to do THAT your whole life!) Watching her study her feet or study her hands is engaging. I wonder what is going through her brain as she turns her hands this way and that and furrows her brow just like her mommy. I love watching her delight in the discovery of her toes everyday and how she sometimes giggles when she finally catches them again.
My parents and I took Lily to meet her great-Gram and great-great-Auntie last week. I have never seen those women so focused! They actually let coats drop to the ground in order to get to Lily quicker! They were so excited to see her and spend time watching her explore, laugh and play (and roll over and over and over!) For me, it was so wonderful to bring Lily to the place that was so much a part of my childhood. So many of my happy memories are attached to Chilhowee and I hope that Lily will get to build some there as well. I know that I want to bring her back as often as possible so that my Gram and Auntie can see her grow and change.
Speaking of growing and changing, Lily is getting much more independent with every passing day. She will wobble on her unsteady legs as I hold onto her and tries to keep her back rigid and tall when she sits on my lap. I know this is the first in a long line of traits to announce her separation and independence from mommy, and I am both proud and wistful at her growth. Now I understand that misty-eyed look my mom occasionally got over my childhood and adolescence...it seems that I see it more from her now than I can really remember growing up. Hopefully, it is because she sees a little bit of herself in me now that I am a mom, too. It is such a new experience to see myself in my mom and my daughter...it really shows how family traits can thread themselves through generations.
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