Laughing & Crying

Tonight as I was putting LongRifle to bed, she was all squirmy and talkative. I'm not quite sure what she was babbling about, but I could make out mamá, papá & sisa, along with welo and amá (her word for grammy). She then proceeded to move around a bunch, making raspberry noises on my arm, singing, then as usual, she sat up looking straight at me. Usually she then starts touching my nose, my eyes, my mouth saying each word as she does, but tonight she touched her nose to mine and as I looked into her eyes so close to mine I couldn't help but laugh. This of course made her repeat her action at least 3 more times, each time making me laugh. There came a point however when my mind realized that the tiny, fragile baby I watched through the incubator glass 20 months ago, is this amazing, funny, beautiful toddler, with a great sense of humor, and as I looked over at DrillSgt. holding a peacefully sleeping Pistol it hit me once again just how blessed I am, and the laughter turned to tears of joy.