"Your love is my love, and my love is your love. It would take an eternity to break us..." Whitney Houston

I have been a parent for 18 months so far, not the longest duration but I am still in the game. This new road that hubby and I have chosen to travel has not been short of highlights. Moments that rock your very core, moments that make you go " Isn't she a sweetie" and then there are those moments where you want to rip your hair out due to frustration. Yes, in the past 18 months I have experienced it all.

This blog is dedicated to my reflection on J and how she has forever changed my views of the world.

Let's start with the earth shattering moments:

1. Hearing her cry for the very first time when she was born. To this day I believe that she sounded like a wind up doll.

2. The day she said mommy. 

3. Clinging to me when she is afraid of something or someone ( granted, lately everything is about daddy) 

4. The day she decided that crawling wouldn't get her where she wanted to go fast enough and decided to walk at 8 months!!! 

5. 3 days ago when she called me Dude. Really, dude? 

6. Realizing that she takes in EVERYTHING I do. For example, she says the word 'what' the way I do and enunciates the t. 

Moments that make you go "Isn't she a sweetie?"

1. Singing to herself. Her current favourite : deep and wide

2. Saying the word hi a million times for the day. Pretty sure that was her first deliberate word. Now I have lost count of how many words are in her vocabulary. Last count 120. 

3. The way she will repeat a word for a sentence when you are not even talking to her. Did I mention that she takes in EVERYTHING?

4. When she hugs you, pats your back and says,"oh baby"

Hair ripping moments

1. When she clearly hears what the instruction is, smiles at you and does the complete opposite. ( My mother always warned me I would have a kid as stubborn as I was, guess she was right.)

2. Her attempts to throw a tantrum. If she doesn't get her way she cries and at times falls to the floor and bangs her head. That one we are curtailing as quickly as it came about. Mommy will not be dictated by an 18 month old. 

3. When she has food in her hands from dinner and instead of giving it to you, drops it on the floor, or puts the bowl on her head ( note: there is food in the bowl still).

Experiences I am dreading 

1. Her first heart break. Hoping I will be the support she needs instead of the person who will seek out the kid that hurt her. Sigh

2. Her dating

3. Getting married

4. Let us just sum it up by saying her interaction with boys once she becomes a teenager.

All in all, I would not trade a second of it because she has given me a gift that I thought I would never receive or even want. Thanks J. Mommy loves you so much.