The Best Time Of Life

Her small hand picked up the slice of bread topped with a thin layer of cream cheese.  The sparkle in her eye and the cute way she giggled as she stuffed it into her mouth left no doubt in anyone's mind how much she loved this simple delicacy.  My niece was soon to be 14 months, and after watching her daily routine for just a weekend, it was clear to me that this was certainly the best time of life!

Now I know that this is a matter of opinion that can be argued many ways, but I think once I explain my reasoning you'll be persuaded!

Reason #1: How many of you have had a meal this week where you've shamelessly smeared at least half of your food all over your head and body?!  That's what I thought!  Probably none of you!  But wouldn't life be amazing if you could...and did!?  Now I know babies that don't care much for eating...I don't understand that.  My niece, however, has been blessed with an appreciation for food, especially the good stuff; cheese, and chocolate!  Now there are definitely foods that I could eat everyday of my life and still shake my hands in the air with ecstatic excitement every time it was given to me; but just for a moment, try to imagine never having eaten your favorite foods, and then for weeks on end being introduced to one of your favorite foods every...single...day!  That right there has got to be the definition of pure happiness and joy!  And that is exactly what my niece gets to experience everyday!

Reason #2: You wouldn't believe how one little 14-month-year-old can captivate a room of six adults! We turned on the video camera for a little while, and got 12 minutes of her pushing around a tub...that's it, just pushing around the tub, stopping, clapping, and repeat...for 12 minutes!  And that was just a tiny fraction of the time that we spent sitting in a circle being entertained by my niece!  Of course she made it easy for us to be entertained with her constant excitement at the simply things in life; new discoveries, rolling a ball, dancing (or bouncing) to music, grunting while lifting weights, and falling down but getting right back up!  I've never met someone who could live more fully in the moment than my little niece!

Reason #3: Wouldn't it just make you feel special to wake up in the morning, or from a nap and instantly have someone by your side to pick you up, and to give you a hug and a kiss?!  I don't know many people who have that, but my niece sure does!  She'll give the signal cry to alert everyone in the house that she is awake, and instantly someone is at her side!  To make it even better, as she is carried out of the room, she is greeted by even more people who clap and cheer at her presence.  Not a bad life, huh?!

Reason #4: I'm sure babies get snacks for lots of important reasons, but you cannot argue that snacks work wonders in changing someone's mood, especially a baby's.  So if it works so well on a baby, why don't we incorporate the habit as adults?  I mean, I sure wish people would always carry around a snack to hand me when I started to get a little fussy or grouchy.  I don't know about you, but all my frustration, tiredness, or grouchiness would certainly deflate in a matter of seconds if someone handed me my favorite snack!  No wonder why my niece can sit so contentedly on my lap shoving fistfuls of her Vanilla Cereal Puffs into her mouth!

Reason #5:  The best reason of all, though, is the love!  Oh the love that cute, little human being receives everyday is incredible!  She is showered with words and signs of affection daily by her parents, and then weekly by grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends of the family.  She gets so much love I almost wonder if its overwhelming!  But it's not!  She soaks all that love in like little plant and thrives!  How this world would be such a different place if all children received such love!

Are you convinced? If not, well, I could give you even more reasons! Because I truly believe that there could be no better time of life than this!