"Mommy!"

Last night my husband and I went to see his baby niece who was staying at her grandma's (R's mom) for the night.  L is two, and the most adorable little girl in the world!  She has big blue eyes and natural Shirley Temple blonde curls.  Her personality is really showing through now-she's such a ham!  At one point we were kneeling down near the sliding glass doors, looking at the snow, and she suddenly started playing with my hair!  She wasn't messing it up, but actually trying to smooth it out and arrange it!  Then she tried to adjust my collar on my coat and button me up!  Oh my goodness, it was the cutest thing ever.  She also insisted on peeling an orange (actually, I think it was one of those Clementine things) by herself, and giving me every teeny peace she peeled.  Ahh, she is SO CUTE! :)  I'm pretty sure she knows it, too!  Maybe someday I'll post pictures.  

At one point, though, she was running away from R (we don't see her very often, so she's pretty scared of him :) ), and she ran to me and grabbed my legs, saying, "Mommy!"  Sigh.  My heart just broke.  I said to her, "I'm not your mommy, silly!"  But wow, it hurt my heart to hear a little voice call me that.  I mean, it mostly hurt because of my IF, but also because L and her mom don't get along very well (isn't that awful? She's only two!) and I think she craves motherly love.  I get really upset if I think about it for too long...ugh.