Happy

Today I asked Pearl if she wanted to help me put clothes away and as that is her favorite chore to help out with she was excited and nodded, saying, "Cose away!" As she danced and ran towards the bedroom in front of me as I dragged the basket of clean laundry along, I laughed and asked, "Are you happy to be putting clothes away?" and for the first time, she said, "Happy!"

While we hung up the clean laundry and throughout the rest of the afternoon she'd chant, "Happy! Happy!" and this evening we looked at some pictures of her on flickr, talking about what she was happy about in each one.

She was pretty difficult to get to sleep tonight - she's working on a new tooth and that always throws her sleep schedule out of whack - and after she rolled away from my breast for what I thought was the last time (she has gotten into the frustrating habit of rolling back over halfway on top of me and waking if I try to leave the bed) she opened her eyes a tiny bit, gave me a sleepy smile, and said, "Happy!"

At that moment, how could I be anything but?