Bottle her Up

I so wish that we could bottle this little girl up right now. She is so sweet, and we constantly watch her interact with her world with a smile on our face.

Please notice Teddy positioned to enjoy the fresh air and a view while she colored at the table.

Alina has taken after her brother when he was 2, and constantly says "thank you." In Alina speak, it comes out as "nay-nou" with a little sing-song tone, but it is immediate, without prompt, and sincere. And just for good measure, when we say "You're welcome." she'll do her best to say it too.

She is such a nurturer--she even wanted to cuddle the honey bear in the middle of breakfast. It had a cute face looking back at her, and I guess anything with a face could use a good morning hug. Alina was happy to oblige.

Alina hugged the honey bear, David hugged his favorite sister.

Sometimes I look at Alina and think, "Well, I must be doing something right. She is so sweet to her dollies!" Much of it is the nurturer in her finding expression, but some of it has to be what she sees, right?

Today she was on the couch, with a dolly on her lap and the blanket spread over both of them while she sang songs and had lots of happy jibber jabber. She puts on her high-pitched voice any time she talks to her baby.

When we come home, she runs to where she left her dolly and I can hear "Mama home!" in excited and sweet tones. She says it over and over, giving kisses, hugs and pats between her reassurance that the Mama has come back to her baby.

Some days her pigtails have a little more pizzazz than other days. Today after church she was ahead of me in a long empty hallway, and she kept turning around, cocking her head, pointing her finger at me and saying, "Beat you!" Then she would add a little squeal of delight and run a few more steps down the hallway to stay ahead of her Mom.

On this particular morning, she was playing in the kitchen sink, filling up pots with water. I took it as a wet activity, but also a chance to get a few things done. When I turned around, Alina had added water to each of the three pots and was climbing between them for a little swim.

At Thanksgiving, Alina approached Daddy with a very sweet look on her face. She had her lips all puckered, and acted like she wanted to kiss him. So Sam bent over and got with an inch or two of that sweet kiss when Alina spit juice all over his face. It was so funny, I could hardly stand it. I was the only one to see it besides Sam, but it was a real humdinger of a trick by such a sweet girl.

Alina's first flower from the man that she loves.

I have a feeling that we are in for a ride with this one--our sweet, tender, mischievous Alina.