In the Mean Time

One morning while carrying Taylor down the stairs I kept telling her how much I loved her while snuggling a bit.

She stuck her arm straight out with her hand against my shoulder, looked at me with a stern expression and said, "Stop loving me!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her straight-forwardness and told her, "Sorry sweetheart, I'll never stop loving you."

In the moment, the idea just seemed crazy - that she would refuse my genuine, pure love for her. And maybe you can see where I'm going with this... but how often have I done this with God? How often do my actions speak as clearly as Taylor's extended arm and furrowed brow?

Praise the Lord that God's love for me isn't based on anything I have any control over.

Eternal love.

Think on that for a while.

As a baby, Taylor called me Mama.

I was kinda sad when that turned into Mommy...

Last week she was calling me Mom.

And that was just too much for me - I kept telling her I was her Mommy... and she'd say, "No, you're my Mom!"

As of yesterday she was calling me Mud Door.

At the park, "Help me Mud Door!"

At bedtime, "Mud Door, Mud Door!"

When she woke up this morning... "Muuuuud Doooooor!"

In case you're wondering, that's her pronunciation of Mother.

I'm not sure why she's trying out all these versions of my name... but last night when I was trying to calm her down at bed time (bug bites have been uncomfortable for her, but that's a different story) in between "Mud Doors" she said "Mommy" and it totally melted my heart and I couldn't resist picking her up and holding her for a while.

In case you want to see it first hand, I tried to catch a video of this... this is an after dinner video full of all sorts of things... the Mud Door comes in around 1:50 if you dare hang around that long.

I love my daughter!

And I don't mind being a Mud Door at all!

The other day Taylor found a random hair and proceeded to inform me that she had lots of hairs on her head.

I couldn't have agreed more.

The only problem with those hairs is that she never wanted to keep them out of her face with a clippy or rubber band or anything. Case in point:

During a recent cold, we decided it was finally time to cut some bangs when she ended up with snot in her hair. Yuck! Not exactly my first choice, but definitely more sanitary... and as a bonus, she can see!

Happy girl!