Sunshine in the Morning

There is no sunshine this morning outside my house. There actually hasn't been a sunny morning in quite a while- instead gray skies and the deceiving brightness of light reflecting on snow have greeted me each morning. But there is plenty of sunshine inside my home in the morning. That sunshine radiates from my son. Will, to our immense delight, is a morning person. I am a moderate morning person, and so is Eli to a slightly lesser degree, but Will is a full-blown "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" kind of guy.

If he has been awake for a little while before we come to get him out of the crib he might give a "Hey! Where are you!" kind of cry, but the moment he sees us come into his room, he is all smiles. When we pick him up he either curls up towards us for some cuddles, or if he is feeling particularly spunky, starts kicking his legs and talking. The first order of business is a diaper change, and once he is on his changing table we are treated to a sort of Elvis/ Riverdance combination of hip rolling and fast footwork. (This particular behavior actually happens every time he is on the changing table, prompting our babysitter to ask if he is always so happy to get his diaper changed- yes, indeed he is.) He calms after a few minutes of his dance routine, and just looks up and us and smiles like we are the best thing to ever happen to him. Eli and I know that we love him more than we knew we could love, but to see the pure love in his eyes when he looks at us is beyond anything we could ever hope for, and fills me in a way I can't put into words.

His happy mood continues through his morning feeding and the little bit of talking/cuddle time we have before he goes back to bed for a couple of hours. The miraculous thing for me though, is that he repeats this joyful behavior pretty much every time he wakes up. He might wake up sad or occasionally scared from a bad dream, but as soon as he has had a minute or two with Momma or Daddy, all is right with the world again and he lets us know it.

We would love him just as much if he was a complete sourpuss in the morning, but the fact that he is such a happy baby is a blessing for us. No matter what, we always have sunshine in the morning.