50 Things I Love About Bee

These days I can't take my eyes off of Bee. She is changing so quickly! It's like I can see her growing, and I can't get enough. 

So to follow up on my recent post with 50 things I love about Teeny, I could not help but think about 50 things I love about Bee today:

50. How she says "Mama, I want to tell you something. I... I just love you." when she wants to hear her voice but doesn't know what else to say.

49. When one of us leaves and she asks the other if we think the other will be okay. "Daddy will be all by himself! Do you think he will be okay?"

48. Hearing her sing "I'm all about that bass" under her breath. "I'm bringing booty back!"

47. She was the happiest kid in the city on Halloween in an outfit she concocted from various items in her wardrobe. I asked her which costume of all the ones she'd seen that day she liked best, and she said "The one I wore!"

46. She snuggles with me every chance she can get.

45. She can order a "venti decaf Americano iced no room" for me without even blinking.

44. Her skin.

43. Those cheeks!

42. How much she loves her sister.

41. When she asks me if she's special too and I can list 100 ways she is special to me without even batting an eyelash.

40. Watching her body grown and change from a stocky baby into a tall and lanky girl.

39. The way she says "pig-a-tails."

38. She's vegan because she believes in it and not because I force her to be. She loves her adopted turkeys Anna and Elsa.

37. She genuinely does not understand why people she loves might not be vegan.

36. Her artistic inclination.

35. She is easy to get along with.

34. The way she speaks her mind - openly and directly and also innocently. She knows no other way.

33. Her taste in music.

32. Watching her sleep.

31. Her beautiful bright blue eyes.

30. How much she looks and acts like me.

29. How she also looks so much like my maternal biological family that I think of my birth mother and sister every time I look at her.

28. Doing her nails.

27. She loves to splash in puddles.

26. Baking with her.

25. How she comes into my bed at night to cuddle with me.

24. The little heart-people and heart-cats she draws.

23. How much she loves school.

22. She likes to listen to me read chapter books aloud.

21. She loves taking car rides.

20. Her incredible memory. The kid forgets nothing, ever.

19. How happy she is outdoors.

18. She is totally unselfconscious and loves to be naked.

17. Her attention span.

16. Brushing her hair.

15. How much she likes to help with everything.

14. She tries to speak and write in other languages like Spanish and Japanese.

13. When she is silly and giggly.

12. Overhearing her ask a friend of mine if a treat she wanted to share with her was vegan (it was).

11. The random things she says that give me glimpses into her hardworking little mind.

10. How easily she uses an iPad or iPhone or asks for something that's "on Netflix."

9. She says she will always love me, always be vegan and always want to live with me. I'll take the first two out of three. :)

8. She's a wonderful little host when she has other kids over.

7. She likes to Face Time with me when I travel so she can see me, where I am, what I'm doing and what's surrounding me. 

6. When she requests overnights at Nana's house.

5. Watching her decorate this year's Christmas tree with her daddy.

4. Giving her the space to live her own life, develop her own opinions, make her own friends and just have her own experiences, some of which she shares with me and some of which she doesn't.

3. She draws glasses on pictures of animals to be silly.

2. That time I caught her saying "What the fuck!" in the mirror while pretending to be a grown up. Ha!

1. What started out as a fantasy I had while growing up of having a daughter someday turned into the best idea that Johnny and ever I had, which became a bump with a name that I carried for 40 weeks and then grew into a baby who changed our lives forever and is now her own person, growing and changing and developing and becoming more independent every day. We picked her name when I was only 20 weeks pregnant. Today she loves her name and has her own identity with this name that we picked when she was still an idea. I love hearing her say and seeing her write her name. Every single time I do, it reminds me that she is my dream come true.