Sunshine

“I wanna share da donuts,” she sweetly says from the backseat of the car as we drive out of the city and toward school.

“You did share the donuts,” I reply, trying to keep things positive without saying the word No. “We got some yesterday and you did a great job sharing.”

“NO! I WANNA! SHARE! DA DONUTS!!”

If she wasn’t 2, I probably would’ve pulled the car over and asked her to get out and cool off for a minute. I mean, really? YOU WANNA SHARE DONUTS?! Good for you! Heh. But she’s 2. And this, from everything I hear and read and remember from my nephews and nieces, is par for the course for 2. So instead I drive on- and start to smile as I think about last night:

“She demanded that you sit,” the hubs recounted, as we sat on the couch watching The Voice. He was marveling over our Good Nights with Lovie and how she … demanded that I sit after she conned me into singing some bedtime songs even though she insisted, just a moment prior, that she was going to bed when given the choice between singing and bed.

“Yup,” I said. “She does that a lot lately.”

The demands are coming more and more and it’s a bit hard to digest since they’re coming from a 2 year old. A 2 year old who sincerely is the sweetest little thing in the world. But I stand my ground (usually by ignoring) because I’m much bigger and refuse to live with a tyrant... Especially one that barely comes up to my waist. But really, it’s not that hard to deal with. She’s just expressing herself, I get it. I’d much rather her express herself than to hold it all in and eat it away or take it out on other kids or something. Not only that, but all I have to do is wait a minute and her sweetness prevails. Always does.

“Listen to sue-mic?” she says more softly a minute later.

I turn up the volume on the car radio and she starts singing a couple seconds later... But not to the song on the radio. Instead she starts singing one of the songs I sing to her before she goes to bed at nap or bedtime- if she lets me.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms.
And when I woke dear, I was mistaken, so I hung my head and cried.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you; please don’t take my sunshine away.

My smile gets bigger and tears creep into my eyes as we get closer to school.

“That was beautiful, honey,” I say a moment after she finishes.

"Thank you, Mama."

We never did stop for donuts. And it was no big deal. But her singing our bedtime song, the one I've been singing for nearly 28 months? Huge deal.

Me and my Lovie: snuggling on the couch watching TV before bed.
Yes that's authentic, natural silver hair. And yes, that is a binky her mouth.