Tonight...

Noah was nursing before bedtime... and he had had a long day with only one 30-minute nap... Had been fighting a little cough and stuffy nose....had just been struggling all day... And nursing was tough for him because with his nose 92% full of snot, he could barely breathe...
So when he pulled away, I didn't try to encourage him to keep eating. I just enjoyed looking down into his sweet face as he gazed up at me, all mellow from his dinner, bath, bedtime massage, and nursing session. And I gently tried to motivate him to keep eating by signing "milk", which he often signs back to me.
And instead of getting back on task, he put his little hands on my hand, moving my palm and fingers to keep the sign going-- squeezing my fist into the "milk" "milk" "milk" sign... And I played along, and signed "Mom" on my chin, then moved his hand to sign "Mom" on his chin.... And back to my chin... And he placed his hands on mine again and moved my thumb to my chin and back off, then back on, then back off.... And I was smiling, and he was smiling, and I was eight inches from his sweet face.... Feeling so "in the moment". And then I took his thumb and made the "Mom" sign on his chin with his own thumb again, and this time he giggled like it was the funniest thing. o of course I repeated the action a zillion more times to hear his mesmerizing giggles... And we played like this, me signing, me helping him sign, him helping me sign.... for forever. Bedtime could wait. I knew he was exhausted, but we both needed this quiet time to connect.

I loved it.

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{photos have no connection to the story... just a couple of less-than-a-week-old recent photos of my little big boy. When did my baby become this little man?}