Long nights. The pain of new teeth coming in disturb my already very light sleeper. She whimpers and rolls closer to me, sometimes needing Mama’s milk to settle her body again. The days can be a whirlwind of emotions. Happy to paint but only with a paintbrush. Angry when the finger paints go back into the drawer, even though not a finger would touch them two seconds before. She wants to be close to me but bats my hand away when I try to gently brush her bangs out of her face. It’s hard, this dance we do when things get rough. I want so badly to take the uncomfortableness away, to cuddle her up or enjoy our day, but she has fight in her. She wants all of me and to be left alone at the same time. I carry my weepy girl upstairs. She wants her Pink Baby and her Bunny and her Napping Blanket. I get them as she sits on the bed waiting for me in all her sweet toddler glory. She scrunches her jaw and pats her cheek where those molars are breaking through. I give her a gentle glance and she curls up with me, nursing to sleep. An early nap time for this growing girl.

* It’s been awhile but my goodness that felt good. Joining Heather today with JUST WRITE, “an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments”.