And sometimes words just aren't enough!

It is a game we sometimes play when we are feeling extra affectionate towards each other and when too much love is flowing. :-)
She curls up into the cranny of my arm and brushes her cheeks against mine. I revel in the baby soft skin and inhale the sweet  baby scent of her  hair and pull her a bit closer, savouring this moment, committing every detail of it  it to memory. I want it to last forever.
" I am so lucky. Why did you choose me as your mother?" I ask .
She thinks for a fraction of a second and then without missing a beat she answers, trailing my cheek with her tiny little fingers.
"When God was sending me to Earth, he pointed out a lot of mummies. I looked around and you were the prettiest and the kindest and the sweetest. So I chose you! Simple!" she exclaims and breaks into a grin, like she has just made  the most profound statement on earth.
I smile too.

She turned nine today, my baby. It seems just the other day that she was born (at 5.45.A.M, the sun was just rising) and I had cried in joy, not believing that I could be so lucky to have a daughter.
"Don't cry, you can try for a boy next year," the Nurse at the hospital had said, presuming I had a son fixation which a lot of people in India do.
In my hormone crazed pregnancy madness I could have hit her.
"I already have a son. I had been longing for a daughter. I cannot believe I am so lucky. These are tears of joy." I had said haltingly, mumbling one third in anger, one third  in excitement and the rest in the sheer exhilaration of the moment.

I stayed up till 1.00.A.M last night making this portrait of her. She adored it. She has been asking me to make a picture of her for a very long time, but I had kept putting it off, being absorbed in completing my 2nd book and a million other things that go into it apart from my art, the children's studies and a lot more.(It has been hectic the last few days)
I am so glad I did. The million watt smile she gave when she saw the picture was totally worth it.

Happy Birthday my darling daughter. You are loved a LOT.
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Ps:
1.Happy birthday Manish Rahul  He is one of my oldest friends who went to school with me.!
2. Happy Birthday   Mamta Sharma who is now a good friend.

Somehow just the virtue of sharing a birthday with my daughter instantly endears them to me! :)