Spread the Love

I took Violet to her cousin’s birthday party today. She’s doing better when it comes to gatherings. She alternates between playing happily on the floor and contentedly watching those around her, and her new favorite party game is finding and grabbing unguarded cameras left on couches, chairs, or end tables. She’s still iffy on letting my relatives hold her because she doesn't see them that often. I thought that by now she would be more willing, but aunts, great aunts, and even her godmother gave it a shot, and she cried for them all. It’s a curious thing, handing my daughter over to someone and watching her smile disappear, the frantic look enter her eyes, and at once feeling frustrated that she’s not ready to go to someone else as well as the urgent need to push that person down and take my daughter back. I don’t have to, though. They hand her back immediately, and I’m left feeling relieved but still a little frustrated. I don’t want to push her too much if she’s not ready, but I want to share her, too. When she does allow herself to be held by a friend or a relative, for those fleeting moments, it’s nice to see the people we love enjoying her as much as we do.
             

307 days old