Monday, March 13, 2006

When She is Most Precious to Me

I used to tuck Jada under her blanket when I put her down for bed, but
now I don't. Why bother? Unless she is really tired, she usually has
to cry for about fifteen minutes before she falls asleep. During
which time she will sit up, stand up, roll around, and basically do
everything but lay peacefully under the blanket. When I go into her
room after she's fallen asleep, she is hopelessly tangled with the
blanket. I either have to pull the blanket out from under her and
risk waking her up, or throw another blanket on her.

So now what I do is put her in her crib and just walk out of the room.
If I have to come back into the room later on, I figure, I might as
well wait until she's asleep before I put her blanket over her.

But this little routine of coming back into the room to put her
blanket over her has become one of my favorite parts of being a dad.
For as much as I find my little girl precious when I am interacting
with her throughout the day, there is something extra precious about
seeing her lie in her crib, sound asleep. I think about how active
she's been that day, all the new information and sights and ideas that
raced through her brain, now being processed as the rest of her body
reboots for another new day.

There are a lot of things about Jada that make me think how precious
she is to me. Her toothy smile, her playful side, even her unhappy
howls, they all remind me that she is such a precious little girl.
But when I tuck her in at night after she's fallen asleep, I think
that's when she's most precious to me.

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