My daughter and I sat on the floor of the bathroom, drenched from the torrential downpour we had just been caught in (thanks a lot, Houston weather). She was still giggling from the sprint we had made from the car into the house, and I was attempting to take off her wet jeans and replace them with nice, warm, dry pants (which was no easy feat). Her once-perfect-ponytail was a lopsided mess, complete with a wet bow hanging by a few strands of hair. As I took out the blow dryer and began alternating between drying her hair and my own, I realized these are the moments I'll cherish.
I absolutely, whole-heartedly love, with every ounce of my being, these little day-to-day moments of spontaneous bonding.
It isn't the preplanned activities, play dates and/or numerous outings that I'll remember forever. Sure, those have made for some great photo ops and we have had a blast exploring new adventures and making memories, but it's these little girl moments that only a mother-daughter relationship can share that have found their place in my heart.
I took her ponytail holder and put it in my own hair and thought to myself, my sweet baby is growing up into a little girl. On the surface, it's just sharing a hair tie and the simple act of drying our hair together, but if you dig deeper, it's become so much more than that.
It's these "girly" things that I have come to love, that I just wouldn't be able to experience had my firstborn been a boy.
It's the fact that after she is dressed, her hand immediately goes to her head and she says, "bow?"
It's that, at only 18 months old, she already has an opinion on what clothes and shoes she wears. Trust me, I know this is cute now, but I am sure at some point it won't be so cute anymore.
It's the fact that I secretly love how obsessed she is with the movie Frozen, because of it's not-so-subtle girl power undertones (overtones?), despite the fact that I have to watch it over and over and over at home, on the iPad and in the car.
And it's the fact that no one, I mean no one, rocks a mini skirt like she does. Even if it does cover her entire legs because she is so petite. Because little girls are allowed to be petite, while boys are labeled "short."
I haven't made it a secret that having a baby was a lot harder than I had ever expected. It wasn't the pregnancy part that did me in, but rather those first few months of endless cries, these on-again-off-again bouts of teething that disrupt everything, the worrying, and the anxiety...oh, the anxiety.
To put it lightly, it hasn't all been sunshine and roses.
But today, ironically enough, amidst a thunderstorm, it was all sunshine and roses. And I loved the little girl moment we got to share, even if it did have us dripping wet on the bathroom floor.