Mommy’s Daily Pleasures

“Children are a heritage from the Lord.” Psalm 127:3

1. After a good night’s sleep and some delicious milk—Nathaniel is utterly JOYFUL in the morning. Lying on my bed, his hands flap up and down in delight, his eyes meet mine—he smiles, squeals, babbles, sticks his tongue out—the works.

2. Grocery shopping with him in the stroller: With the bundler enveloping the car seat and Nathaniel wrapped in a fluffy coat and a hat on—the only part of his body that peeks out is his chubby face. It’s so cute that passersby can’t help laughing and staring at the little one.

3. Nathaniel squeals in excitement upon seeing Daddy return home from work.

4. Nathaniel waking from his afternoon naps or nighttime sleep: he babbles to himself (which I can hear over the baby monitor). Sometimes, it can last up to a half hour.

5. Nathaniel grunts to express his displeasure. When I am out, with him in the stroller, whenever I stop to look at something, he grunts, as if to say, “I didn’t say anything about your being allowed to STOP the stroller, Mommy. Keep moving.”

6. When I’m holding Nathaniel and he reaches out his hands to touch my face. When I’m hovering over him and he reaches out to play with my hair.

7. When I’m bathing Nathaniel and he turns his body over in an attempt to drink the bath water or chew on the towel. When I’m bathing him and he kicks his legs, splashing water all over Mommy.

8. When he seizes all movement and concentrates on doing “number two.” He stares at me, as if in a trance, and when he’s done, he shudders, as if thinking, “What was that?”

9. Though Nathaniel is full of smiles—whenever he’s confronted by new faces, he adopts a very serious demeanor, as if sizing up everyone in the room.

10. Baby feet. Baby bum. Baby hands. Baby hair. Baby belly. Baby ears. Baby smell. Baby… everything.


11. Feeding Nathaniel—with each approaching spoonful of pureed baby food, he smiles and jiggles in excitement. What can I say—the little one loves his food.

12. Nathaniel is brought to a standstill whenever Holly, the cat, ambles across the room—it’s like he’s still trying to figure out why one of the objects in the room is able to move from one place to another.

13. Nathaniel puts everything in his mouth—even during worship service on Sunday’s, when I’m holding the Bible in my hands, he’s ready to devour God’s Word.

14. When Nathaniel is in my arms while I’m lining up at the cashier’s, he looks at the person who’s behind me and tries to make a sound, as if trying to make conversation with a stranger.

15. Nathaniel tries to assert his independence: When I put a pacifier in his mouth for fun, he takes it out of his mouth and tries to put it back himself.

16. Nathaniel always has to suck on the same two fingers to soothe himself when he starts to feel tired.

17. Nathaniel enjoys being around other children and their laughter makes him laugh.

18. When Nathaniel is scared or sad, he suddenly shuts his eyes and begins to cry desperately—and the moment he’s in Mommy’s arms, the crying instantly ceases.


19. When Nathaniel glimpses his own reflection in the mirror, he smiles and tries to touch his own reflection.

20. When I’m holding Nathaniel as I’m working away in the kitchen, he’s got to reach out his little hands and try to touch everything I’m touching.

21. When Nathaniel wakes up for a night feeding, I have to try to resist playing with him so that he'll immediately go back to sleep in his crib--but his smiling and talking makes it virtually impossible to maintain a disinterested composure.

22. At night, after I tuck Nathaniel under his covers, his little fingers pull the covers even closer to his chest.

23. Watching past video clips of Nathaniel brings tears to my eyes as I witness how quickly he is growing. The video clip that stirs up the most nostalgia—when Nathaniel is one-week old and he's sleeping on my chest (if he did that now I would not be able to breathe properly).

24. The way Nathaniel can pass gas that leaves me asking the husband, "Was that you or Nathaniel?"

25. Nathaniel looks at me, his face expressionless; I smile at him, seconds later, he smiles back.

26. Nathaniel talks to toy animals. When they make sounds, he squeals back at them.

27. Nathaniel sticking his tongue out; Nathaniel sticking his tongue out, then playing with his saliva, and making a gurgling sound.

… I COULD GO ON AND ON AND ON…