The Gentle Art of Conversation

There are times, like when your two-year-old takes two and half hours to fall into an overtired slumber at night, when you're ready to sell 'em to the highest bidder on eBay. But then there are times, like the following, when you want to pop them into the nearest glass bottle and seal it with a cork so they'll stay forever this way, and when you're going through a midlife crisis as your other kids go off to college and leave the next, you can loosen the cork and get some lovin.'

Example #1: I sponge-bathe the (younger) princess yesterday evening and take her, wrapped in a towel, to sit on the patio for a few minutes. She requests to be held "like a baby," so I cradle her in my arms and murmur sweet nothings about how long I'm planning to love her. She gazes, with those clear blueberries, into the depths of my eyes, and as I'm suffused with a maternal glow, I'm convinced that she's going to remember this moment, deep in her subconscious, for her entire life.
She opens her mouth.
She says, almost dreamily, "Can I poke you in the eyes?"
Um, at least she asked first???

Example #2: I return home from a DE-lightful afternoon spent under the wise tutelage of my friend and stamping mentor, Vanessa. (Tim and the kids were out in Elgin at his parents' house for a post-church lunch.) After a while, I'm walking through the room where she's cozied up on the couch looking at a book.
Caroline: "MAMA!"
Me: "SWEETIE!"
Caroline, with calm interest: "Did you have a good time at Miss Vanessa's house?"

I felt like I'd just made my curfew!