Daddy/Daughter

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful family day where we drove out to see the animals at the Wild Animal Sanctuary to see the lions and tigers and bears (Oh my!)... and wolves :) They are a sanctuary for large exotic and endangered carnivores that were born into captivity. It is a very nice place for these animals to have a second chance at a happy life with room to roam. M loved seeing the animals but wanted them to "raar" as she says. She also wanted to pet them, which is something we had to explain to her the difference between teddy bears and real bears! Something we'll have to reinforce as we take her camping more often. So Marc and I took turns either pushing her in the stroller or holding her or walking with her. My favorite part was watching her with her daddy. He would point at an animal and ask her what color or what animal  it was and what noise it made and just engage her. He even had her howl to the wolfpack that were howling :) It was awesome to watch the quality interaction between them. We stopped at a restaurant for a late lunch before leaving Hudson. The service was incredibly slow and we ended up leaving later than we wanted to, past M's nap time, but the whole time we were there, M giggled and climbed on her daddy. That night, putting our little one to bed, daddy was tickling her (doing all the things to rile her up before bed...) and they were both laughing facing each other. Their profiles struck me, how much their smiles are the same, how their laughs make their eyes sparkle the same and they're light hair highlights their skin. It made me smile. I hope they forever have a daddy/daughter bond that grows as she grows. The same I hope for our second little one. Mommy/daughter bonds almost come naturally and I've been enjoying our time as just the two of us before our world is changed by daughter number 2. I also hope M and her sister will have their own close sisterly bond. I should know, that is one of the best things to have is a best friend to grow up with :)