H turned 13 months on the 15th, the day of the Boston attack. It was also the day of the funeral for one of our students at school, who lost her fight with cancer. A somber day at school, and everywhere, really. All I wanted to do when I got home that day was crawl into bed and hold onto H as tight as I could. She obviously just wanted to escape and practice her magnificent climbing skills. So I played the Finding Nemo card to get her to sit still and snuggle with me. I’m not too proud to put on Nemo when I need comforting from the nonstop movement machine. But I barely registered the date.

A few mornings later I snapped this photo of her after a glorious early morning family nap together in our bed.

Those naps are still the best thing about my day. I don’t care how controversial co-sleeping is, family naps are just everything. H has always been amazing about sleeping in her bassinet and then her crib. Ninety percent of the time she goes straight to sleep when we put her down and stays that way until 6am. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 3 weeks old. But if she wakes up early and fussy she almost always comes in with us for a bottle and a snooze. Even at 6am she has breakfast in bed with us, and then we doze until it’s really time to get up.

Sometimes she wakes up at 2am and is just so worked up that she climbs all over her delirious parents and chatters away. Then we call foul on the little troublemaker and put her back in her crib, which she honestly prefers sometimes. And we try to make the best of an interrupted night’s sleep with which, like all parents, we are now very familiar.

But those morning naps, especially weekend mornings when we can go back to sleep after her breakfast (this child never sleeps through a meal), are the ultimate fuel for the day. The giant grin on her face when she is planted in the big bed is unmistakable, even in the dark. She knows the drill, and so do we. Early mornings are prime cuddling time.

Who could resist cuddling with that little cheeky face?!