Saturday, July 19, 2008

Terms of Endearment

One would usually take offense to being referred to as a "Hippo." But it is something I cherish. True, there are many days when I am feeling like a hippo and it is really NOT good. However, now when I think of being a hippo, I have a different perspective.

One day we were playing on the floor, and, in the usual style, Josh was assigning animals to all of us. And this day I was Mommy Hippo and he was Baby Hippo. So I was crawling around with him crawling right underneath me, and it was just really sweet. And I imagined us as hippos who were somewhere far away, in search of water or something.

I have been a whale and a butterfly and a crocodile and many other things. But since that day, Joshua will often refer to me as "Mommy Hippo." For example, if he's getting ready to ask a question or he wants my undivided attention to talk to me, he will sometimes preface it with "Mommy Hippo?" And when going to sleep at night, he will sometimes say, "I love you, Mommy Hippo." I just feel such warm fuzzies when he brings out that term, because it feels like he is especially connected to me when he uses it. And that is how I've come to love being called a hippo.

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