Who IS Davie Charles?!

I could write a post about all the cute things Davie does, or the new tricks she has learned, but I'd rather talk about who she is turning out to be (in her short life so far).

When I was pregnant, I daydreamed about who she was in there. I didn't think about all the milestones she would pass and how giddy I would be at each one - I wondered about her personality. It has been complete bliss to watch her delightful characteristics unfold each day.

In one word, I would describe Davie Lucille Charles as a "delight". That's just what she is. She will snatch your heart from its chest with a smile, or a game of Peekaboo initiated by her, or with her baby elephant crawl, or with a new dance move she has mastered. She sees good in everyone. She plays a little hard to get . . . she'll crawl up to a stranger when they don't notice her, but as soon as they reach out to her, she'll crawl away smiling. She sings when it's quiet, and waits on tiptoes at the piano until I come to open it so she can play. She is nimble and strong. She has always been so strong physically - since the day she was born. She would straighten up and stretch that neck around. She has balance and grace. Even when she was first starting to stand, she amazed me with her ability to sit gently down when she got tired of standing. Her fingers do her will. It's astounding to watch her work to open a rather tricky flip phone. She holds it just so in both palms, digs her thumbs between the two parts, and pries it open. For months now, she has been ahead of me on turning pages when we are reading, and flipping up any flaps in her favorite books. She's a woman who knows what she wants and is tenacious about acquiring it - whether that is another child's pacifier, a little space from her big boisterous cousins, or climbing all the stairs by herself (but closely supervised) at great grandma's house.

She is starting to show a shy side, not in a frightened way as much as in a flirtatious way. I think the difference is the perma-smile as she shoves her head into mommy or daddy's side, usually still gazing at her potential wooer. She loves to sleep, if she's sleepy. There's no fighting it. She knows what she needs, and she knows that we will be back for her when she wakes up. She gets clumsy when she's tired - a giant tell for a baby so graceful. She also gets snuggly and a little restless all at the same time. More than once now, she has urged to be out of my arms and when I put her down she crawled to her crib and stood up holding on to the bars like, "Mom, I love you and all, but I just need some alone time now." Believe me child, I understand that.

The funny thing is when I was pregnant I was always wondering what parts would be like me and what parts would be like Steven . . . but at this point, I don't even think like that. She is my Dizzy Lu - whatever she got from us, and what she didn't, it's all DELIGHTFUL.