The small things

This morning as I was getting Daisy dressed for preschool, she asked to dance around the living room to her favorite songs. I pulled up iTunes, blasted "Jump" and "Pumped up Kicks" and rocked-out with her for as long as my back and knee could muster.

Then, when I sat down to watch her, she stopped and walked slowly over to me with this pouty little mouth. She stopped a few feet away from me, kind of sulking although she didn't say a word.

I got down on my hands and knees and went over to give her a hug. She put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. I expected the moment to last a couple of blinks as most everything does with a toddler, but we stayed there for five minutes, swaying to the beat of a couple of songs, her arms wrapped around me and my head buried into her sweet-smelling, messy hair.

It was one of those moments I wish I could have bottled; when I wished I had a fellow photographer close by to freeze the moment in time or one of Dumbledore's Pensieve bowls like in Harry Potter. I suddenly saw myself twenty years from now, picking that moment out of my head randomly, and wishing I could go back to its innocence and sweetness, trying to remember the songs of the day and failing.

I don't have pictures or a pensieve but I do have words and this blog; which is why I keep it going even though I don't post as often as I used to. Some day I can print all these small moments up and remember them with clarity and fondness.

So, to the future me:

• The songs were (of all things): Bow Chicka Wow Wow by Mike Posner and Last Friday Night by Katie Perry. 
• She was wearing her yellow school polo, some khaki shorts, and her favorite, pink and white animal print grippy socks. 
• Her hair smelled like vanilla and strawberries and it was a tangled mess (because she never lets us brush it, and when we do she purposefully messes it up afterward.) 
• She stroked my back absentmindedly as I rocked back and forth and, when her Dad came down the stairs, he came over and joined in the hug. When we parted, she kissed me square on the lips.

Motherhood heaven.