Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Being Mama to an 18 month old

1. The sweet kisses! She loves to give them and I love to get them! Haven's very diplomatic though and if one person gets a kiss than anyone else in the room gets one, too.

2. She "reads" books to us now. Her nightly favorite is The Very Busy Spider and she makes all the animal sounds and looks for the fly on every page and says, "Uh-oh" and it makes me smile every time.

3. She loves to laugh! Her sense of humor is really being developed and she likes to make us laugh and smile.

4. She knows how to work the system. Granted, this usually frustrates or annoys me, but I do appreciate her cognitive development and the way she is learning social cues. It won't be long before she really is smarter than I am!

5. She makes me appreciate the simple things. Her delight in the world around her, people she loves, eating a piece of cheese, reading a book, swinging in her swing, splashing in her pool...she takes it all in and helps me to stop and do the same.

6. She gives me lots of opportunities to grow. Patience, trust, grace, unconditional love- you name it and I'm learning more about it everyday. I knew becoming a parent would help me to understand God's love for me, but I never knew how intense the lessons would be and how often I would need to repeat some of them (see: Patience).

7. She helps me love my husband more. Haven has possibly taken over the top spot as Cale's biggest fan. She loves her papa unabashedly and brings out all of his greatness. He is the best and she reminds me to appreciate him everyday.

8. She loves to eat, especially meat and cheese. And since I am not a huge meat eater (I'll claim the cheese-loving gene though), I appreciate this about her. I love to cook for her and to expose her to all different kinds of food. She is a great eater and really doesn't not like much.

9. She is a problem solver. There's never been anything to high to climb or to far away to get around for Haven. She is persistent and will keep trying something over and over. It takes a while for her to get frustrated, something I can learn from.

10. She loves to talk. Non-stop actually. Some recognizeable words, mostly her own little form of gibberish. But she sits and looks at you and is intently telling you all about very important things, thank-you-very-much. Sometimes it's cute and endearing, but occassionally I wish for earplugs.