Back Onboard

I feel like such a jet-setter back at the airport again so soon after getting back from Europe.

This is just a quick overnight for work and the plane hasn't even taken off yet but I'm missing Ava and Alex so much. As hard as traveling with a toddler can be, I would always so much rather have my little fam with me. It feels kind of empty without them. But I'll do my best to make the best of this break and return home refreshed and better for it.

But here's what I'll miss most:

Ava started playing this amazing game on Sunday night when the three of us were sitting together on the sofa (after an awesome weekend by the way; she must have been in an especially good mood from that too). She gave me one of her yummy little signature kisses, then one for Alex, then me, back and forth like 20 times. Then she gave me three quick kisses in a row, then repeated the pattern for Alex, back and forth, etc. I'm telling you, this girl has so much rhythm and swagger I can't even stand it. She did the same thing again last night and I wouldn't mind if it became a nightly bedtime ritual.

A couple times in Paris she accidentally left her mouth open a little while she came in for the kiss and I joked with Alex, "When in France..." Then I had to tell him to laugh because that was hilarious. He complied.

Alex and I aren't the only lucky recipients of these amazing kisses, however. It's the funniest thing when she kisses complete strangers if they happen to get within range, like the woman in church in Pisa who let her play with her keys or the waitress at the Paris bistro.

Nothing makes you feel more loved than Ava's kisses. She really puts her heart and soul into each one. But she has several uses for her sweet little smackers:

• To initiate friendship or accept someone new as a friend (you're foe by default with her; sorry but she's a cautious girl and you have to win her love)
• In exchange for something you have that she wants (the barter kiss, her most prized possession)
• To send you off on good terms (the farewell kiss, sometimes accompanied with tears, or used to rush you away when she wants to move on to other things)

Gros bisous Ava! Mommy misses you!

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