People ask me how Marie-Hélène is doing, and I suddenly realize that all her little developments are easily taken for granted… She’s a toddler, so busy and energetic and constantly moving, listening and parroting things back to us. She injects a regular does of smiles and laughter into our days…
She likes wearing hats, and if it’s a windy day, she’ll hold on to it so it doesn’t blow away. She loves her sandals, and the routines in her day… wake up, get dressed, drink milk, say bye-bye to Papa, then breakfast.
She loves picking out a sweater to go outside. She loves walking and playing at the park. The swings are no longer the main attraction… she’ll go on for a minute or two, declare she’s done, and race off to the play structure.
She listens to the birds, and can hear a dog a mile away. (She loves dogs so much!) She likes the sound of bells and spots the airplanes in the sky. She’s afraid of motorcyles, and it becomes imperative I hold her until they pass.
She looks at us all wide-eyed when we explain something new to her. The other day we taught her to clink her glass to ours, “chin-chin” we said. Yesterday at lunch, she raised her chocolate milk and looked at me: “chin-chin”?
When we go to sleep at night, Christian and I sigh sometimes, because we feel so incredibly lucky. A few days ago, radio stations across Canada united to raise money for children’s hospitals everywhere. I tuned in a little while in the morning, mostly because Jasmina and Sébastien have participated in the past. I was putting the dishes away, when Avril Lavigne’s Keep Holding On came on. That song chokes me up. For me it represents some of Sébastien’s toughest battles in the hospital, and the emotions Christian and I felt for our friends and for our godson. I suppose that that has been the blessing of knowing Sébastien as a sick child… Marie-Hélène was thankfully born in good health, but having known so many stories of children who become sick later on, I never want to lose sight of the fact that everyday with Marie-Hélène is a blessing. I’m grateful…