I have a 3 year old daughter. She likes to play with my hair whilst she sucks her thumb.
She loves music and dancing.
She adores books.
She gives epic cuddles.
She likes watching Mr Tumble and Justin Bieber videos.
She reenacts ‘circle time’ from nursery at home with her toys.
She loves fruit.
Over-used phrases since she arrived include “I love you”, “You are so pretty”, “You are so clever”, “You make Mummy happy” and “Cuddles!”.
She is everything I ever dreamt my little girl would be and much more. As each day passes I see us together in the future; singing, shopping, scoffing popcorn at the cinema… All these simple things fill me with joy and excitement. My heart swells when I hear her call me “Mummy”.
…And I will just add that I still have to suffer the obligatory tantrums over presenting her with rice cakes instead of breadsticks or asking her to put her jacket on – it’s not all plain sailing.
But oh she is fabulous… Entertaining, amusing, cute as can be and incredibly emotionally intelligent (if she so much as sniffs a crack of upset in my voice she comes over “Y’ok Mummy?” – head tilted to one side in concern, offering a cuddle).
When we go out, I feel like I am proudly presenting her to the world; “Behold! My beautiful offspring!”.
The other night I put her to bed and laid down with my face next to her’s and said “I love you” and she stroked my face and said “I love you” right back. It was pure magic.
I fall more and more in love with her everyday.
Nothing out of the ordinary here, I assume many mums will read this and think, “Yes, sounds like a standard mother-daughter love.” And it is.
It’s just my daughter has Down’s Syndrome. So when she was born, someone gave me some news and some literature and it was like putting a sticker on her that said “This one is going to be a little bit rubbish and not meet your expectations”.
Thankfully that was bollocks.
This post is also on Selfish Mother; http://www.selfishmother.com/mother-daughter-love