Her Magic Word

The baby was in the playpen, screaming for my attention. She wanted to be picked up.

I was in one of the rooms doing some quick cleaning. Though it only took a few minutes, it must have felt like an eternity to her.

A minute or so of calling 'mama' non-stop and alternating that with 'up' (meaning to be picked up) and 'this' (pointing at something that she wanted), she probably realised how futile her effort was. All I did was popping my head out of the room a few times to talk to her and disappeared again.

She gave it a last try.

'Yellow! Yellow! YELLOW!!!  Mama, YELLOW!!'  

This was followed by more wailing.

Aww... to be honest, it made me smile to hear that, even with a little heartache.

She must have learnt from our earlier reactions that saying 'yellow' would elicit a positive response from me. She was right.

I was by her side within seconds.