just the three of us.

This is Mabel's smile when someone tells her, "Smile!" Love it.

Yesterday Tony and I took Mabel out for ice cream. "Just the three of us, like the old days" is what I said to Tony. It was such a simple thing, but it felt so special. 

Right before we left, we were waiting for Tony to get home from work and I was sitting on the couch feeding Clarkie (who we left with T's sister-in-law who is here visiting). Mabel was sitting at her little table playing with playdough and I said, "Mabel, when baba gets home, guess what we're going to do."

She thought for a moment, got a little gleam in her eye, and whispered, "Ice cream"—something between a question and a statement, maybe a wish. 

When Tony came home, we put her in her stroller (which is now sometimes hers and sometimes Clarkie's, and also the cause of the first jealousy-induced tantrum Mabel threw after Clarkie came home because how dare I put him in "MABEL'S!!!" stroller?!) and set off.

We arrived at Solana and asked Mabel if she wanted to eat ice cream with a spoon or in a cone. She nodded her head, "Done." (Pronounced like "dome" but with an N because she can't pronounce C's yet, so Clarkie is "Darkie" and it's really cute.)

Tony got in line to order and Mabel and I scoped out a bench because it was waaaaay too hot to sit outside and DQ got rid of their seating with their last renovation (Why, DQ? Why?). Immediately Mabel was concerned, and started craning her neck, looking for Baba. I assured her that Baba was bringing her ice cream soon and she threw her arms around my neck and hugged me so tightly and I want that memory seared into my brain because, this is what being a mom feels like.

Then Tony arrived with the ice cream and I removed the little paper that is always wrapped around the cone because Mabel refuses to eat her ice cream with "garbage." It's just been the last few ice cream outings that Mabel's been able to eat a whole ice cream by herself and she was not happy with Tony when he took the cone from her and licked a few drips. 

I took out my phone and said, "Smile!" and the above photo is the result and even though I'm the only one without a fake smile, I love it because our happiness is real—all three of us.