Eskimo Kisses

I can barely contain myself right now or put into words how special this was.  There have been a lot of special moments in this first year with Niall- a lot- but this one blew the rest out of the water.  It gave me chills and literally melted my heart- I could actually feel it melting inside of my chest.  Ok, I should probably admit (if you haven't already noticed) that I'm a chronic exaggerator about this kind of stuff.

You've probably read a few posts on this blog titled "Best Day Ever!" or "Grossest thing I've ever seen!" or something of the like.  But the problem is that I'll come across an even better day or an even grosser thing- and then I'm like the boy who cried wolf and nobody believes me.  But just work with me here (you may see another post just like this in a couple weeks)...

Now that Niall is getting close to the one year mark, I've been wondering if he can really understand me.  Even though he can't communicate well, I'm figuring that he may know a few things that I'm talking about- but I couldn't really be sure.  He hasn't ever let me know if he does.

But now I know that this boy, without a doubt, understands the words that are coming out of my mouth.  It doesn't sound that exciting, but it really changes everything.  Our entire dynamic.  I've been operating on the premise that I'm basically talking to myself all day long.  The thought that I've actually been involved in a conversation is just mind-blowing to me.

Anyway, here's how it happened.  I've been giving Niall eskimo kisses almost every night before bed for the last 3 or 4 months.  He stands up and hangs over the crib rail and I come up and nuzzle his little nose before saying goodnight.  Last night, I decided to find out if he could return the favor.

He was pretty wound up, jumping all around the crib (as usual), but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.  As he was scaling the rails of the crib, I asked "Will you give mommy eskimo kisses?" and pointed to my nose.  He immediately calmed down, stopped what he was doing, leaned in to me and nuzzled his nose to mine.  It was so deliberate and adorable, I could have cried.

So, of course, I proceeded to ruin the moment and ask him for eskimo kisses 67 more times- to the point where he would purposely turn away when I said "eskimo kisses".  I tried again today and he was nice enough to do a mild version of what he did last night- nowhere near as deliberate or obvious, but it'll do ;)