Love and burning nostrils

People may talk about tears making their eyes burn, for me crying is a pain in the nose.

Each night after hanging out on our bed as a family, I leave Chris and Ada. They start her bath-books-bed routine, and I usually join them in time to provide the "boob" portion of the evening. Although I love to participate in Ada's pre-bed routine, when I am around after the bath she often wants to nurse right away. With me around she barely tolerates getting dried off and tucked into her sleerper. When I am there she won't stand for reading books with her dad, which is something she visibly enjoys when it is just the two of them. We used to do the books before the bath, but now that Ada's feeding herself, the mess on her clothes is just too much.

While waiting for my command performance, I usually clean up Ada's dinner mess or get in a little web time. Sometimes I sneak upstairs early to spy on my family. The mirror in the hall lets me see Chris and Ada sitting on the bed reading "Peekaboo Kisses" or "Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop". Standing in the hall one night last week, I watched Ada sitting in Chris's lap as he did voices. Ada giggled and reached out to the page. I welled up and felt the sting of the tears in the top of my nose.