Day 3 ~ 7.01 Smiling

Beata said to me one day in the car, "Think of how many smiles Kavaun has added to our lives."


In only nine months, there have been countless smiles. Someone told us that our marriage would be broken into two parts - before Kavaun (we were told that would seem like forever ago) and then everything after September 30, 2008.

We smiled a lot before Kavaun and I would not change a thing. We traveled a lot, took time for one another, built a savings account, went on dates, etc. But the smiles are different now. Sometimes they're a bit more tired, sometimes they are more work, but most of all they seem to crop up unexpectedly in ways that I could not have predicted.

So, here is the abbreviated laundry list of my smile moments as they relate to our little guy.

1. When he naps (right now). Sometimes my smile is delayed because I am a bit groggy myself. Kavaun has given new meaning to the value of downtime.
2. When he giggles at our goofy antics which include, and are not limited to, us singing made up songs, funny faces, peek-a-boo, tickle time and re-enactments of all varieties.
3. When Kavaun plays the tank game and just goes right over or through anything in his path, even if it means he will do a face plant on the decent down from his climb.
4. Kavaun says "mama" or some variation of mama.
5. When he spits his food back at me with the loud motor sound that shakes his smoochable cheeks.
6. Playing with Woofy, his stuffed puppy that keeps him company in his crib.
7. When he follows his favorite book, "Is You Mama a Llama" so intently.
8. Bath time
9. When Beata comes home from work and calls out to him, he gets a huge smile on his face and is so genuinely excited to see her.
10. When I put the phone on speaker and Kavaun hears his moms voice or his grandmas voice. He giggles and laughs. We have a recording of him laughing and when he hears that, he cracks up too.

We have a play date at noon with a Fenton friend. Tonight is daddy's night out. Basketball with the guys at 8 p.m. and then dinner and drinks with the fellas.

I would not trade this summer for anything.

-N