Belly Buttons

I hadn't really planned to post this all by itself, but right now before I go to bed I just wanted to anyway.  It was a simple and sweet moment with my baby girl and hours later it still makes me grin... 

We left her precious lovey, Piggie, in GA after Christmas and Anna has had to be without it for a month.  Today we finally got it in the mail and Anna just hugged and hugged him and repeated, "Piggie, Piggie, Piggie."  She carried him around til naptime, at one point climbing in my lap with him.  I held her.  She held him.

She started stroking Piggie and starting talking about how soft he was.  "Ears, soft.  Arms, soft." Conversation turned to naming all Piggie's parts - ears, eyes, legs, toes.  She would touch the soft part and then name that part on her.  "Piggie's toes.  Anna's toes."  I taught her the name of piggie's toes - hooves.  "Piggie's nose.  Anna's nose."  I taught her the name of piggie's nose - snout.  She continued, "Piggie's tail.  Anna's tail."  To which I answered her giggly reaching behind herself with a correction, "No, Anna doesn't have a tail.  Anna has a bootie."  And we giggled some more over that one.

Then came the puzzler.  "Piggie's tag."  She didn't have a part to compare to a tag so she just kept touching it without finishing her thought.  And then it hit me - a tag shows the toy's brand or the location where the toy was made.  People have that, too, in a way. I said to her,  "Piggie has a tag and Anna has a special tag - her belly button!"  She liked this match and repeated, "Piggie's tag.  Anna's belly button."  Giggles and tickles ensued.

We dig belly buttons in this house.  They have long been a point of much silliness and giggling for Noah.  Just last night he and Anna got to baring their midriffs together and laughing and laughing at their display and the way Mommy and Daddy would shake their heads and grin.  Belly buttons are just fun and funny.  I'll give them that.  But now that I think of how they stand in for a tag - they remind you where you came from and how you were made -  now that I think about how Anna and I arrived at that realization together in a silly and quiet moment, well... it's just one more reason to love belly buttons I guess.