An Open Dialogue

It kind of hit me last night, and I don't know why I hadn't really stopped to admire this before, how amazing the capacity to talk to your child is.  I think the older they get, the more you take it for granted, but it's such an incredible thing.  Having Rosaline and the girls at the same time, it's like worlds apart as far as what we can do and how we can interact.  Rosaline certainly loves being talked to (and loves being sung to), and she does her best to respond but when something's wrong and she can't tell us what it is; I feel like I'm on a game show just guessing at the answer.  Hungry?  Nope.  Burp?  Nope.  Tired?  Guess again!  The girls, on the other hand, have this amazing ability to tell me exactly what's wrong - or even what's right.  Arianna was having a little pain when she peed last night (probably because she holds it for so long before she goes) and I finally made her just do it and she whispered "Daddy, that's sooooo much better."  Amazing.  Just a year ago we we're ecstatic at words like "quack" and "please".  Now I get full on sentences and paragraphs and, if you just keep looking long enough an entire novel if you let them.  What a magical transformation we experience.  What a gift to be able to communicate.  How amazing to know what goes on in that little head.  I put them to bed the other night and Genevieve yelled "I love you too much Daddy!" as I closed the door.  I know she does.  I've always known she has. ... but to hear her say it. ... most beautiful thing in the world.  It's such a privilege to watch this evolution of a person.  To have this front row seat to a life in progress.  I can't imagine a better position to be in then that of a parent.