What is the word for “you just did something so unbearably cute and touching that it melts my heart and almost brings me to tears?” “The aww feeling.” is the only thing that comes to mind, and yet it is not even a proper word. Sure there is no such word as “love” in some languages, and there are many many words for “rice” and “ice” in others. You would think that English would have a word for that feeling you have for your own kids when they do something adorable and amazing at the same time.” It is “love” but more, and more nuanced.
We tend to write about things that happen in our blogs to document the goings on of our kids, what they got for Christmas (train set and robot), where they went (Florida, Massachusetts, the White House), milestones (almost three feet), and their health (kids get sick a lot especially when they are in day care – sheepishly we used to be non-parents once- and it seemed like people’s kids were sick all the time – trust me, this is normal, you only hear about when they are sick, not the days they are healthy). So at the end of this year, and because we have already posted a lot of what we have done this month in separate posts, we wanted to take the time to write about the “aww” feeling.
<Some> non-parents may think the idea saccharine, but there is an overwhelming feeling when Curie says to Elia, unprompted, “I’m proud of you, little one,” or “be careful Elia, I’ll look after you,” or “Nana is in a better place now.” Sure they are mimicking adults, and yes, it is a mixture of pride love and the fact that it is a three year old expressing a complex behavior toward a one year old or toward a concept she does not yet understand, but there must be a word for it.
Forget about kids for a moment, think about your pets when you have a rough day and they, if they are a dog (or a pig), unprompted, lick your hand and give you the cocked inquisitive head of “is everything okay?”(Albert has never had more than a fish, so he does not understand), or they jump into your lap and purr if they are a cat (or some other purring animal- ferret?). You put your hand to your chest, blink hard, and hug your (insert dog or other animal, or child, if you are a parent, here) as hard as you can. They don’t understand, so they say “mommy, your squishing my frog,” or “ruff-ruff, eep!” or “oink” or “meow,” or “neigh (horse putting its head on your chest)…” you get the idea.
So maybe it is just love, pride, and gratitude added to anthropomorphic mimicking, but it seems more real than the bad day, more vivid than the bad feeling, more wonderful, than just the idea of love in that moment it happens. Unprompted roses from you loved one, a hand of a friend on your shoulder, a kiss on your forehead from your parent or grandparent. The rat race continues, the unexpected misfortunes (and fortunes – but like kids being sick we seem to focus on the misfortunes) continue, the time bombs and mines of daily life continue unabated but are off set by this thing with no word, only a feeling and an expression of “awe.”
…oh yeah, something about Curie for this month: recently Curie likes to say that she is “so so hungry,” or “so, so thirsty,” with rolled eyes and shaking head when she is hungry or thirsty. What a ham. She also said “Mommy, I love my new cousins,” upon meeting them, and “where is my new best friend?” when talking about kids at Albert’s holiday party. Aww, that is our daughter.