• The fact that she exists, period... 10000/10, best human ever invented
• The perfect duality of innocence & mischief in her eyes
• The way she lights up & starts babbling excitedly every time she sees me
• When she tilts her head to the side and looks up with an adoring grin
• The way she stares at everything philosophically, as if attempting to discern its true nature, then breaks the spell by doing the goofiest things ever
• When she looks at me with the most heart-melting blend of reverence & trust
• When she hides behind her favorite wall & rapidly jerks her head out to play peekaboo with the silliest smile on her face
• The way she treats sleep like a mortal enemy that must be defeated at all costs
• How sensitive, logical, and observant she is, as if her soul has been here before
• When my dad noted that she speaks to me as if we've been friends for many lifetimes
• When she carries around socks like they're precious little toys
• The time she cried because her parents confiscated a sock from her & wouldn't let her play with it (note: the sock was mine & she was trying to eat it)
• The way she's astonishingly brilliant for her age but occasionally tries to eat shoes
• The way she yells emphatically in baby-talk while gesturing wildly, as if urgently reporting the most important news in the world
• When i read to her and she starts babbling in expressive gibberish, as if she's reading too
• The way she throws her head back and giggles maniacally over our silly little games
• The way she's absolutely fearless & impossible to scare despite being the tiniest human ever
• The way she loves being swung around as aggressively as possible
• The way she claps on a delay when something exciting happens, like a malfunctioning robot- often with a completely straight face
• The way she looks & acts exactly like Tommy Pickles, the best fictional baby ever
• When she rides on my dad's shoulders & yanks excitedly on his hair & yells to make sure everyone sees her
• The way she wanders around during dinner time and eats from everyone else's plates (obviously not her own, bc that would be boring :P)
• How excited she gets when the neighborhood cats visit the backyard, & automatically checks the back door anytime anyone says "cat"
• The way she loves licking the glass door to the patio & has made it an important daily ritual
• The way reaching her hand out & inviting us to grab it is somehow the most amusing activity in the world to her
• The way she gets as excited about the packaging of toys as the toys themselves
• When she was learning my name and would randomly exclaim "bob!" or "abab!" as if trying to call me
• The way she loves climbing on people & treating them like human jungle gyms
• The way she's calm & tranquil yet humanly incapable of sitting still for more than two seconds
• The way she picks up crumbs off the floor & immediately hands them to us instead of putting them in her mouth like 99% of babies
• The way she delights in attacking the dishwasher
• When she pretends to eat things off the floor like an Oscar-winning actress
• The way she defiantly makes eye contact before throwing things
• How much she hates being dirty or doing undignified baby things
• The way she likes eating out of adult-sized spoons & hates being treated like the tiny human she is
• The time she heard my dad reciting ziyarah upstairs, stood up straight, and started solemnly mouthing gibberish, as if she was reciting it too
• The way she moves her fingers and whispers to herself when we recite tasbih around her
• The way she loves devouring my special chicken wings despite being a picky eater :'(
• The way she used to scream in excitement & zoom forward every time i built a tower of blocks for her to destroy
• The way she periodically wanders from room to room to investigate what everyone else is doing
• How adorably shy & serious she gets around strangers
• The way she eagerly sneaks glances at the TV anytime she's near the living room
• The way she gets deadly serious when i put on my hijab because she only recognizes me without it
• The way she starts laughing loudly, climbing on our bodies, & pawing at our faces if we lie down, bc God forbid anyone ever sleep :P

x r