You are my favorite because...

(For more about my "You are my favorite because" series, go here and here)

Paige, you are my favorite because...

• You bobble out to the family room every night around midnight simply because you can't go an entire night without seeing your momma.
• When you bobble out to the family room at midnight, half asleep, your hair looks ridiculous, and the sight of you grinning from behind those mangy locks turns my heart into butter.
• You share some of my dearest loves: crackling fires, popcorn, dressing and undressing dolls, Diet Coke, sleeping with your head under the blankets, and the marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal.
• You are resourceful. If someone puts a basket of candy on top of the refrigerator, you do not hang your head woefully and think, "Oh dear, now I can't have candy." No. You find a stool, put it on top of a book, take off your socks, use the fridge handle as leverage, and you scale that damn refrigerator (or bookshelf, or dresser) and you GET that damn candy (or cellphone, or lip gloss, or remote control).
• You grab my hand and say "show'mon" (a combination of "show me" and "come on") when you need something. And you sound like Michael Jackson when you say it.
• You have no problem putting your brothers in their place and have been known even to make them cry.
• As the smallest one in a family of six, you tolerate and forgive my tardiness in, say, writing your birthday blog entry, or teaching you colors and letters, or remembering to give you lunch.
• Every night, after we've read books and said goodnight, you slobber kisses all over me until I have to physically remove your lips from my face.
• You feel glamorous in a diaper and plastic princess shoes.
  
• You understand the hilarity of walking around with a bucket on your head.
• Every time I come home from work, you race through the house howling "Mommy home!!!" and fling yourself at my legs as if I've been gone for months.
• Despite your limited vocabulary, you sing all the "words" in your favorite songs.
• You are admired and doted upon everywhere you go because you have a light and a happiness in your soul that radiates outward, lifting the hearts of those lucky enough to cross your path.
  

Happy birthday, Bobble. I'm so glad you're two. But please don't turn three.