Jerrie Whiteley

Those days are almost always Fridays because those are the days when she greets me at my front door with the biggest smile and warmest hugs on earth.

Those hugs start a non-stop playfest that continues until she finally collapses from near exhaustion (and I do too). Then we wake up Saturday morning to start all over again.

When she was younger, there were times when I could just hold her and rock her as we listened to music or I read to her. Now a little over 2 years old, my dear girl no longer likes such passive fun.

Running from the front of the house to the back with me and the schnauzer in hot pursuit keeps her in constant giggles. Well, that is until the dog trips her or she gets distracted by something. Sometimes that distraction comes in the form of another family member. Her granny reigns supreme in this role.

After the running is over, she generally likes to take some time to work on her scrapbooking. OK, so we all know that she isn't really scrapbooking at this age, but dont' tell her. She gets out a set of stamps she allowed to have and an ink pad. She also gathers up stickers that are available to her and an old hole punch I set aside for her to use and she goes to work. The look of utter concentration that spreads across that smooth face just about breaks my heart as I daydream about trips visiting colleges with her in the distant (oh, heaven let it stay distant) future. That usually lasts about five to 10 minutes.

After a brief break for some cleaning and, if we are all lucky, dinner, she is usually back at a full run. Sometimes, just for variety I think, she switches things up and decides she wants to be carried on my back up and down the hallway instead of on her own two feet. This change delights her, but freaks the dog out to no end. A child on an adult's back just must look strange to the four-legged toddler in our clan because he barks incessantly until the fun ends.