Tender moments

Its no secret that Lana has never been a cuddly kind of kid. She is super independent and has been from Day 1. During the newborn phase when you can generally rock your baby to sleep and they feel safe in your arms, I had my screaming baby in the carseat bucket, rocking it b/c she did not enjoy being held by me (sniff, sniff). I can count on one hand the number of times she fell asleep on my shoulder.

Well, times have changed! Lana has suddenly, out of nowhere decide that hugs with the pat on the back are nice, sitting close on the sofa, leaning into mommy is comforting and kisses are the best thing ever! Oh, how I have waited for this to happen! This is not a perfect utopia, b/c we are still having sleep issues where she wants me to stay until she is asleep. We plan on sleep training (AGAIN!) soon (yes, I am procrastinating), but whereas I once complained that this sleep regression sucked, I have discovered that it may have been a blessing in disguise. Lana and I have had some incredibly sweet moments as I lay with her and she drifts off to sleep. Maybe this is all par for the course to other moms who have always had cuddly kiddos, but for me, it has been so special. She wants me to sing her special "airplane" song--a song Bill made up to get her to sleep on the airplane, the last time we traveled. She wants me to improvise the lyrics with "no talking" and "close eyes". She wants to get under the covers: "in". She grabs my hand and puts it next to her cheek and periodically kisses it. If I open my eyes to check to see if she is sleeping yet, she will laugh hysterically--like she got me! And she points to my pillow and says, "mommy, stay--sleeping". These quiet moments are such contrast to the running, talking, jumping kid she normally is and I cherish each and every one of them.