Yesterday, I brought Madeline a bowl of fresh blueberries into the living room for a snack. (While she was watching an episode of Dora where Dora and Boots are hunting for blueberries.)
I cannot overstate the melodrama of her response.
"THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for my BLUEBERRIES! I LOVE you, mommy! You're the sweeetiest mommy in the WHOLE WORLD."
Then she thew her arms around my neck and giggled as she took the bowl from me and just stared at the berries - like it was too good to be true. Her whole face was glowing.
Let me tell you something. In that moment she could have asked me for a pony and I would have cashed in our life insurance policies to give it to her. Her response made me want to give her the whole world with bows and cherries and sprinkles on top.
It doesn't bother me one bit that she borrowed the phrase "sweetiest mommy in the whole world" from an Elmo video, in which Elmo was referring to a cat.
Never underestimate the power of a little (or a lot) of gratitude.