I love you ... too

When Rhea was born, I told her … “I love you too”.

10 months have passed since then. 

Those words have been improvised. Sometimes they go “I love you too, I love you twenty two, I love you three hundred and ninety two” ; And sometimes, “I love you too, boo, poopoo… moo… moo.” Improvisations here can be countless, as any mum will tell you.

But something about that sentence always made me uncomfortable. Because, when I had held Heeya for the first time, it was just tears and smiles and “I love you”. Was that I love you "one"? Did that precede I love you "two"?

This discomfort remained with me, bit like a floating speck in the eye that runs away every time you try to pin it down. 

Till one day when Rhea started babbling, and she said “Mya”. 

And then, “Mya” again. 

And I suddenly realized what the “too” had meant all through. :)

It had been my answer to all her unsaid “I love you, Ma”.

Just the way Heeya sometimes says and makes the sun rise on my day. 
Just like Rhea has been saying too … in her own sugarplum munchkin way, of course.

I love you too, my baby…