happy

Lu has been talking up a storm lately.

Full sentences burst out of her. Yesterday, she painted with watercolors for the first time, intent and swirling the colors. She ran into the kitchen to grab Danny’s attention. “Dada! Come see painting!”

Pronouns. (“We take bath, mama.”) Articles (“See the slide?”). She’s reading words right and left. (“Soy milk!” she told us, when we took a box out of the grocery bag. We had never bought that brand before.) She babbled and said one word at a time for a long while. Now, it’s just bursting out of her. She has been saving it up for months.

Sometimes, however, all it takes is one word.

This afternoon, she and I were standing at the kitchen counter, me pitting cherries, and her eating them faster than I could pit them. The sun was coming through the window. It was just the two of us after a morning full of people we love.

She said something. I missed it. I leaned down. “What did you say, sweetie?”

“Happy,” she said, and leaned her head against me.

Yes, my love. Happy.