Then He Kissed Me

…Dutch that is.  My life is complete. My son now gives kisses.  Real kisses.

 So today I just had to marvel to myself about how blessed I am.  Each morning, at 8:00am on the dot (I know, I’m spoiled, my son sleeps 12-13 hours at night!), I pause outside Dutch’s door and listen.  From within I can hear his little voice, singing songs to himself or talking, “Dah Dah Dah Dah, Dis, Dat, Dah Dis.”  When I crack open the door and peak inside I can usually find him on his back, with his feet propped up against the side of the crib.  I creep over to the crib, and surprisingly he doesn’t jump up right away. He sees me walk in, and then starts to point to things and talk–telling me about all the adventures he’s had in the night and the stories he’s dreamed up and the marvelous discoveries he’s made.  He always points to the window, where the air vent makes the curtains flutter, and waves his hand back and forth while making a blowing sound.  Then he points at the smoke detector, “Dis!” he shouts at the little green light.  Then he sees the opened door and the glory of the hallway, signalling to this little brave adventurer that the day has begun.  “Dat!”  After he’s filled me in on the morning’s news, I hold out my arms and get the highlight of my day, a great big grin that scrunches up his face and makes his eyes twinkle, accompanied by outstretched arms up to me.  I pick him up and burrow my face into his neck, then kiss his face all over, inhaling his amazingly precious sweet morning breath and the smell of his skin and hair.  He tries to wiggle away from my onslaught of kisses and continues pointing out all the wondrous things he’s discovered in his room during the night. 

But this morning — oh this glorious morning — I said, “Give Mama a kiss?”  He was too busy pointing things out at the moment, so I turned to the door, but then he surprised me and leaned up, firmly planting a perfect, direct, wet kiss on my cheek.  “Dutch! You gave Mama a kiss!” I exclaimed!  I leaned down toward his face, and he gave me another kiss, planted right on my lips.  I squealed in delight and he broke into a proud grin–he knew he’d made Mama’s day.

Today we played on he slide (Click here for pics), and read books, walked around the lawn and played with baby Brendan and Janae.  Dutch mopped the garage (he thought the concrete was dirty), vacuumed the floor (really, not just pretending), and rolled a croquet ball around the driveway.  It was a full day. 

So today I just had to marvel at how blessed I am.  I live in a beautiful home where I pay neither taxes nor electricity, and the diaper pail  is always miraculously emptied every week.  Every morning I get to walk under the canopy of the beautiful trees and show my son the icy white water of the river.  My supply of Go Lean and green tea never runs dry, thanks to Winco, and during naptimes I curl up in my “office”, otherwise known as my bed, and do seminary homework which I genuinely love.  My husband lies beside me right now, reading his Bible, the man who daily exemplifies selflessness and genuine Christlike love.  And to top it all off, my son gives me kisses.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places . . . Psalm 16:6