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Our little girl emerges

A baby reaches many milestones in her first year. Some, such as crawling and walking, are celebrated. Others aren't celebrated as much, but they strum the heartstrings just as much.
I haven't seen a baby scrapbook, for example, that asks "When was the first day your precious little one acted like a little girl?"
I realize "little girl" is a negative connotation in many cases, but not in this one. I mean "little girl" in the most magical sense, as in "sugar and spice and everything nice."
That's what my little girl is made of.
Now she's not skipping around in a dress and sparkling shoes spreading glittery cheer on everything. Not yet. But she has scratched the surface, playing a bit like a little girl does.
Now, for example, she's sitting in the floor playing with Mommy's chew-bead necklace. She's running her tiny fingers across each bead, one at a time, and chatting with each and every bead. She's saying such things as "ba-ba-PHHHH" and "ah-ah-pftttttt," which I take to mean "My, aren't you a beautiful bead" and "Won't you be my friend, little bead?"
This behavior has become more pronounced during the past two days. She's playing much more than she ever has, tuning me out quite well, actually. In the past two days, unlike any before, she's jumped through a looking glass, it seems, and is playing contently with the characters on the other side.
This, to me, is quite a milestone, though I don't know if I'll remember it quite like I will when she walks for the first time. I have a feeling all these milestones will fade a bit as Willow's childhood races by. Maybe they'll fade a lot, the specifics of them.
But I'm here now and conscious of what's happening. I can seize the moments as they happen. I can laugh and play with her. I can hug her, hold her. I can let all the glittery happiness wash over me.
And I can shed a tear when she strums my heartstrings, when she looks up from the chew beads and utters, "Da-da."
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