Spinning

I can't tear my eyes away from her and she turns to check on me, surprised to find me staring. Her return gaze is enough to send a bolt of lighting through me. And now we're caught, eye to eye, spinning and falling soul-to-soul until she breaks the spell with one of those amazing smiles. Maybe it's the cheesy grin. Maybe it's the full out joy smile. Sometimes it's the sly crooked grin. I didn't know you'd been watching me, Mama. Come see what I'm doing! And I do.

She's used to it by now. Yesterday we spent the entire day out and about. When we got home, all I could do was stare. Where did those teeth come from? MJ says her nose looks different. It does look a bit more buttony these days. Where did she learn to talk with her toys like that? Who taught her that sound effect? The list goes on and on until I realize that someone has taken my daughter and returned her likeness.

She seems the same, and yet... I can't put my finger on it. She's different. She's growing up, and I blinked and they took her away and now I have to reacquaint myself with this new version. Bella 2.0. She's really quite fun. Cuddly and bubbly and capricious. But I'm sure as soon as I get the hang of her... out with the old, in with the new. Every step she takes makes the world spin just a bit faster. I know I can't ask her to slow down. So I stare. And absorb. And revel in every moment I can spend soaking her in while she doesn't mind.