Family Love is all this girl needs. And caffeine.

Today was a beautiful little post-Mother's Day gift, all wrapped up in a shiny bow, catching me off guard and leaving me smiling and grateful.

When I got to school to pick E up she was waiting for me, smiling through the gate. With a flourish, I produced a homemade smoothie housed in a special insulated cup with a pink lid and straw, which was a big hit. Things were starting off well.

As we walked home we chatted about rattles and movies and random silliness, and I felt compelled to tell E how very much I love her and how very happy I was to get to spend the rest of the day with her. She then told me that she loved me...TOO MUCH...and proceeded to hug and "snuggle" my hand as she held it before stopping to suplex my leg with affection.

Then she explained what I think was a differentiation between loving your family and loving your friends, but I couldn't help feel that we had also somehow stumbled in to birds and bees territory, which was surprisingly only slightly awkward, mostly because she was the only one doing the talking:

"See - I'm hugging you with my body and I'm spreading my love from my body to your body. So, sometimes there's love in your family and that stays in your house and you share it with your family. But then sometimes it leaves your house and goes between houses and then that's when you love your friends too. But right now this love is our family love and it's just for us."

Woah, lady. That hamster wheel is just always spinning, isn't it?

And it didn't end there. When we got home she reminded me that it was movie day, so rather than the al fresco painting session I was hoping for, we watched Toy Story 2. I really hope she's game for the painting tomorrow...in any case, she requested the following of me:

"Will you please join me to enjoy the whole movie together with me?"

Well, I dare you to say no to that.

So we cuddled and snuggled on the couch, and when Jessie starts reminiscing about Emily and Sarah McLachlan starts crooning and I start turning into a puddle, I snuggled in extra close and stole a few kisses and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. And she said...I swear, and I recorded it for legal purposes...

"I love you and I never ever want to make you angry. I promise I'll never make you angry or sad or unhappy."

Swoon.

And as if that wasn't enough to keep me going until Mother's Day 2025, she offered me this:

We were playing a game where I was the baby and she was the mama, and she said that if I get really scared, that I should look at it and it would calm me down. Does my kid know me or what?