This morning I helped Ava on with her shoes and then sat on the couch for a bit and watched her toddle around the living room (though “toddle” is increasingly becoming an inadequate verb to describe what she’s doing; it’s walking, let’s face it).
Fat beams of sunlight were streaming through our east windows, and they lit up Ava’s golden curls each time she walked through one of them. At one point she stopped and took notice of a couple tiny bits of dust floating slowly in the light, and she reached out her hand and curled her fingers again and again to try to get the particle to come her way. She pushed up on her tiptoes and babbled something only she and the dust would understand (I think maybe she thought she was looking at a bug). There was a look of wonder on her face.
After a minute or so I caught myself staring at her with my mouth hanging open in a big smile. It was such a great moment; I wish it could’ve lasted forever.