Heartstrings

"Did you have sweet dreams?", I asked Addison when she woke up from her nap a few weeks ago.
"Uh huh" she answered.
"What did you dream about?"
"You"

Talk about tugging at those heartstrings!  I think most moms agree that these are the little moments we live for.  When a compliment comes from a little one, it is on such a deeper level because they are nothing but honest.

For as many crazy funny things as Addison can say, she sure does come up with some amazingly sweet words.

I'll know I'll never ever forget two of these comments (although I hope to never forget any of them).  They were both simple words, but they meant so much to me at the times they were spoken.  One of them came the day I found out we were expecting twins.  Talk about shocker!  Sooo many things racing through my mind and at the top of that list was worrying about Addison and whether or not she would feel left out, or if I'd have enough time for her once they arrived.   I wasn't voicing any of this, but instead I was sitting on the couch watching Addison play.  Out of the blue, she walked over, made direct eye contact with me and said,

"I'm ok, Mom" 

She's always been very vocal for her age, but I thought here is this little girl just shy of 2yrs old and out of everyone I had spoken with that day, she was the only one who had made me feel a little more at ease about the situation.  God sure does know what we need to hear, when we need to hear it and who we need to hear it from, doesn't He?

The other comment I'll never forget was once the twins had arrived and were 6 weeks old.  They were both colicky and being home alone with them and Addison during the day while Justin was at work was really, really hard in the beginning.  I was having such a hard day pleasing the babies and finally just broke down into tears.  Addison walked over to me and said,

"Don't give up, Mom!"

 I know it sounds silly, but that simple comment meant so much to me.  It helped me pull it back together and keep on trucking for the sake of this patient, little girl who had every right to cry herself from being put (for lack of a better phrase) "on the backburner" since the twins required just about everything I had to give back then.

I was thinking about this last night when Lucas was having trouble sleeping.  His nose was stuffy and his tearduct clogged.  I pulled him into our bed to see if I could get him to fall into a deeper sleep and then try plopping him back in his crib.  Addison must have heard me because pretty soon I see her blankie flip up over the top of my bed, her little arms following.  She hauled herself right up there with us.  Normally, she would probably wedge her way in between the baby and I, saying that the baby was ok over there and that she needed to be next to me.  Tonight however, when I told her that "Lukey wasn't feeling well" and she gingerly laid down next to him, sweetly kissed his head and then picked up his tiny hand and held it for a while.  Then I felt her small hand rubbing my arm and then her tiny voice say,

"You're a good mom"

I looked over and saw her little smile and I tell you what, after a long and tiring day - that was I all needed to hear.  What a blessing she is to me.