Katelynn is sitting on my lap facing me. She has a sweet, jovial expression on her chubby two-year-old face as she examines my exhausted thirty-something one.

She studies me so intently that it makes me smile and giggle.

I say, “Who’s my precious?”

She instantly becomes very serious.
She slowly places first one, then the other, of her hands over my mouth.

“Ssshhhu-up Mommy,” she whispers.

My expression grows cross and [through her fingers] I sternly say,
“Do NOT tell Mommy to shut-up, Katelynn Grace.”

She slowly removes first one, then the other, of her hands from my mouth and begins gently caressing my left cheek with her right hand, her smile returning.

Which makes me smile and giggle again.

And all is forgiven.

——————

This entry originally published on jennyology.net on November 9, 2006.
Manually re-mastered on May 6, 2008.