Clicking Our Heels

Over the weekend Little One and I took to the skies again to join family for my grandfather's 75th birthday party. Woo hoo! We birthday partied it up so hard that this morning Little One had a paparazzi hangover. She slept right through Her morning play time, all the way until the end of Her morning nap. And then She and I had some serious snuggle time, and I mean serious. We spent an actual couple of hours laying in bed while Little One squirmed in reallllly close and listened intently to the rainstorm outside, watched the lightning on the walls, and told me lots of stories and secrets. Then She buried Her face in my shoulder, and dozed off some more.
Once we finally got the day started, She toured the house doing the gasp-grin-and-wiggle. Which went like this, with big wide eyes: "(gasp!) it's my doggies! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and "(gasp!) it's my jumperoo! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and "(gasp!) it's my elephant! (Grin-and-wiggle) Yay!" and so forth. It was a very exciting morning. Maybe She felt the need to get reacquainted after a whole 3 days apart, but She had a lot to say to all Her toys and books. Then when J got home blessedly early in the evening, She had some serious snuggle time with Daddy, who even tucked Her into bed early.
I love how Little One has such a firm idea of what is familiar and what is new. It was fun watching Her explore many new environments and experiences last weekend (which we'll share stories about soon), but it was also fun to watch Her come home and recognize objects and areas, and become so relaxed being in a place that She belongs and which belongs to Her. This is a perspective I hope Little One hangs on to as She grows up. The feeling that the Wide World is a fun and exhilarating place to go out in and experience, but that at the end of the day- there's no place like Home.