The fingerprints or the smile

When I saw this picture in Marc's iPhone collection it made me giggle.

Baby is always hiding in tight corners or secret places.

I love the spaces in her little teeth when she smiles and the twinkle 

in her eye when she knows we think she's being cute.

Then I noticed the fingerprints all over our closet mirror.

…

How embarrassing.

I shouldn't put that out for the world to see!

They'll know what I'm really like…

Then I thought, well, maybe they'll notice the finger prints 

OR the smile and that will just be their choice.

Then I thought, "Wait!"

…

"I hope they notice the fingerprints AND the smile!"

Maybe not for the reasons you may think, like "oh, they're only little once" or 

"you'll miss seeing those fingerprints some day" or whatever. You've got to remember that I may see fingerprints on my mirrors for the rest of my life. My kids all have Fragile X… who knows when fingerprints will stop showing up on my mirrors, windows, refrigerator, or photos.

I want you to see the fingerprints and the smile 

because it is that combo that makes my kids who they are.

Yep.

That's it.

I don't want to hide what our kids are like and I shouldn't feel pressure to 

just because they are not like most of the kids around them. I want to smile at the fact that those fingerprints are a reminder that our children may never understand the nostalgia of a fingerprint-free mirror but they will, hopefully, enjoy the fact that Marc and I love them all the time no matter what. 

(Just a side note: we can love them and still feel like going crazy… just saying'.)