She's the one

Scarlet Anne left yesterday with Amelia and Mom - back home to her papa who must be missing her like crazy! The last time Tom saw this sweet girl was when she was about a day old. The last time I saw her was Thanksgiving, when she was just a little older than that. We were not prepared for all that had changed. Not physically, she looks almost exactly the same, just a little stretched and more defined, but her personality has taken off!

And she's doing this.

Anyway, this personality is just the kind I would picture in my baby dreams, if I had known to dream that big! Adorable scowl-y faces when she's thinking; hugs, hand-holding; throwing her head back with happiness; light beaming out of her eyes and smile; intentionally crazy noises; showing off by being weird; and best of all, the sweet little sigh she does when she presses her face against something and smiles. She is so so good and I am, as always, so proud of Amelia for raising such an angel.

Not to mention that she looks just like what I always pictured for my own daughter. That is, she looks just like my baby, Alice, the Cabbage Patch doll I've had since Amelia was born: bald head; round, blue eyes; she even forms her mouth into the same little smiling "o" shape. And when Scarlet met Alice she "kissed" her and hugged her and sighed.

Amelia was good enough to bring bald-headed, blue-eyed baby pictures of me she had found at Grandpa's that she thinks look like Scarlet. And I don't know why but that really does make me happy.

It's too impossible to imagine what my own baby will be like, and for now I am just so happy to be an aunt, and for Tom to be an uncle. I love to see my sister (who, yes, is generally regarded as very like myself) and my brother-in-law in her sweet baby face and to see her personality develop. And don't even get me started on my other nieces and nephews!

But I wouldn't mind having one of my own, and giving Mom a good excuse to come visit again next summer. And then I wouldn't have to strap them into a car seat and say goodbye.

I can't wait to see her for her birthday next month, and many other times now that I'm done with school.

I'm in love.