"Ashlynn Happy..... Papa's House"

 It's no secret that my dad is the pushover.  Don't get me wrong, he could lay down the law when he had to; but when it came to playing my dad is the person to sweet talk.  Ever since Ashlynn was a little baby, my dad would play ball with her.  It started out almost as a game of fetch, but each time she gets better and better. 

After Jace was born when she was 2 1/2 and still wasn't really talking, he came over to see the kids.  He hadn't seen Ashlynn in a while.  He no sooner walked in the door and she went running for a ball.  That day he went home and told my mom that he didn't think Ashlynn remembered him.  I was incredulous!  Was he kidding?  Ashlynn NEVER just went and grabbed a ball whenever someone walked in the house!!  She knew exactly who he was. 

Fast forward almost a year later.  My husband and I were going to drop the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's so we could celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary.  The whole ride there she was talking about "papa's house."  When we rounded the corner of their street she announced, "Ashlynn happy.  Ashlynn papa's house.  Ashlynn play ball....papa's house." 

Ashlynn has told me she was happy before when I asked her if she was happy, or we were reading a book about characters who were happy.  I've never heard her say out of the blue, and perfectly in context that she was happy....and THEN tell me why she was happy.

It made me tear up, maybe for multiple reasons.  The first and most obvious being that she had communicated to me that she was happy in context without prompting.  The second being that I related to her like no one else could.  Growing up we didn't have a lot of money, but I did have a dad who cared about me and who liked to play ball, and I was the richest girl in the world for that.  I always knew if I begged long enough (which never was very long), he would give in and go play.  I remember how happy I was to play catch with him, and especially to practice basketball with him when I got older.  I'm so happy my daughter gets to experience that too.
So today, despite having a great anniversary with my incredible husband, the sweetest words spoken were

"Ashlynn happy...play ball......papa's house."