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Can I tell you what made my day? Do I even have to say it?
It's been a hard week for me. I haven't responded well to the heat. It's sapped all my energy and kept me from sleeping. I feel clammy and sluggish and gross, all at the same time.
That's just background. I don't need a consultation or a chill pill. (Well, okay, maybe a chill pill would be nice.) I really needed something to pick me up.
I wasn't even expecting to see Aiden today. I'm busy, and he's busy (in his own way). But I had something his parents needed, and they came by tonight to get it. Since Aiden was in the car, I walked out to the driveway to say hello.
What I was expecting was that he would take one look at me and crinkle up his face and jut out his bottom lip, the way he did when he was younger. You know, last month, when he was only two months old and not a grown up three months. I had no intention of trying to take him out of his car seat, but I figured he'd just assume and get mad.
But no, that was a completely wrong guess. He smiled as soon as he saw my face (as so many people do). He giggled. He laughed out loud. And he talked, on and on and on for about ten minutes. In complete sentences (although in his own language, not quite English but definitely on its way there). I was prepared to wait until he was at least six months old before I got that much jabbering out of him, but he's quite advanced, you know.
It's hard to describe that voice. It's gentler than a squeeze toy, but it has some of that kewpie element to it. (He's got the kewpie hair thing going, too.) It's a cross between a laugh and a sigh, and once he gets going he can keep it up. I didn't know when to answer back, because I was never quite sure he was finished telling me whatever it was he was thinking.
I'll tell you what, though. There's nothing like a chatty little baby to turn a bleak day into a surprise party. It was like being let out of a dungeon and having puppies lick your face. Something like that, anyway. | 
