Lily’s Development
As spring turned into summer, Lily continued to grow and develop in ways that amazed me daily. She was walking confidently now, exploring every corner of our house with the fearless curiosity of a toddler. Her vocabulary was expanding rapidly, and she’d started calling me “Mama” with increasing clarity and intention.
“Mama,” she’d say when she woke up from her nap, reaching for me through the crib rails.
“Mama,” she’d call when she fell down and needed comfort.
“Mama,” she’d babble happily as I fed her lunch or changed her diaper.
Each time she said it, I felt a flutter of joy and pride. This little person had chosen me as her primary source of comfort and security. She didn’t care how long I’d been a mother or whether I’d “earned” the title through years of experience. She just knew that I was her mama, and that was enough.
Watching her personality emerge was endlessly fascinating. She had Ryan’s easy smile and my determination. She loved music and would dance enthusiastically whenever she heard a song she liked. She was fearless about exploring new places but always checked to make sure I was nearby before venturing too far.
“She’s so much like you,” Ryan observed one afternoon as we watched Lily methodically sort through her toy box, organizing everything according to some logic only she understood.
“How so?” I asked.
“The way she approaches everything so thoughtfully. The way she’s determined to figure things out for herself. The way she lights up when she accomplishes something new.”
I could see what he meant. Lily had inherited my tendency to approach challenges systematically, to keep trying until she mastered whatever skill she was working on.
But she’d also inherited qualities that were uniquely her own—a joyfulness that seemed to bubble up from some inexhaustible internal source, a sociability that made strangers smile when they met her, a resilience that allowed her to bounce back quickly from minor disappointments.
“She’s going to be her own person,” I said, watching her abandon her toy sorting to chase a butterfly that had landed on the sliding glass door.
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