The Wow Factor

I have written before about the fact that I have always loved infants. Their delicious smells, their needy lump figures that melt perfectly into your chest, their cherubic cuteness - big eyes, rosebud lips and mounds and mounds of smooth skin. But lately, I am all about toddlerhood. And it's largely due to The Wow Factor.

There are so mant stories I would like to tell about Chloe but I am afraid they will seem less magical to anyone else. The fact that she has started to pick out her own clothes, and this morning opted for the strappiest camisole and mini jean shorts (though she would have preferred a skirt). That she packed a shopping cart for a walk down Park Avenue (after a day inside with a cold) and filled it with lipstick, a business card holder, keys and Thomas the Tank Engine. She has taken to carrying a purse. And since my friend Tamar came over, and said "Oops!" it has become Chloe's new favorite word, pronounced "Oopth!" Chloe is fastidious and hates when things are out of place, like the blueberry interrupting the golden plains of her pancakes, or the tiny scratch on her tiniest toe. These "problem" always elicit an "Oh Nooo!" (complete with chagrined hands to cheeks), an "Uh Oh..." (usually said in accusation in conjunction with chubby pointing finger when a playmate had held behind a shaker that he was supposed to return to music teacher), and now..."Oopth!"

So yes, these things and more have made me a huge fan of this delicate state before the terrible twos rain down on us. But what surpasses all of these mushy moments is the fact that life, to Chloe, is one big WOW.

I can say most anything, "We are going to buy a banana", "Daddy is fixing your bike", "Do you see the taxi?" and she responds, "Oh, WOW!" It can be the most banal thing, a line of ants (she calls all bugs "bees"), a sprinkler in the park, an ice cream cone. They all delight her in a manner that can only be described as sheer amazement.

I remember when she was a few days and weeks old, and books would mention that I should expect newborns to sleep alot, because life is so new and overwhelming that they need to recuperate. I never understood this, because Chloe never slept more than a brief clip during the day. She was always staring, eyes wide open, likely seeing little more than a gray haze and shapes of her exhaused parents looming over her, begging her to take a nap. I think she was waiting for life to get more exciting. And now it has, and I feel so lucky to be reminded of the joys of the little things -- things I take for granted, or ignore altogether. It's the reason, I suppose, that some friends say a blessing upon waking up and before every meal. It's a pause to remember that when all is said and done, it's great to be alive. We are damn lucky.