They say that having a child makes men of boys.
It's actually the other way around. When a man has a child, it brings out the boy in him that hasn't been there for a long time.
I see it in Antonio. Usually he's so composed, but around her, he's completely the opposite. Instead he makes mistakes to make her laugh, and says ridiculous things to make her smile. There's a playfulness in him that I never saw before she was born. Around her, he sort of…glows. Not that he didn't before. It's just that now, it's so much more obvious and permanent.
So when I happen to see them in the kitchen, and catch Antonio dropping something just so that she'll giggle and chastise him, I can't help but smile a little. He's got a handful of cherry tomatoes that he can't seem to carry properly, and they keep slipping from his fingers into her lap. Then his eyes widen at his mistake, and he apologizes as if he's just committed murder, and she pats him on the head and tells him it's okay. And he let's out a sigh of relief and goes back to trying to be a ham. They laugh together, and their laughter blends together musically and floats throughout the entire house.
And it's things like this that I want to remember forever.
* * * * * *
They say that having a child makes men of boys.
I have to agree. There's something about a daughter that brings out the best side of every man.
I see it in Lovino. He loves her so, so much, and he just wants to be everything for her. I can't help but notice how hard he tries around her to be the perfect father he thinks he needs to be. It's obvious that he wants nothing more than for her to love him as much as he loves her. So he's putty in her hands; he'd do anything she wanted him to.
So when I find them lying on their stomachs next to each other on the carpet, I can't help but smile. Lovi's got a half-full laundry basket next to him, like he was in the middle of gathering up all the dirty clothes in the house before she called him over to help her. Now he's holding a crayon that's too small for his hand and labeling her drawings as she instructs him to, trying to make his cramped writing look neat enough for her approval. And she's just smiling at him, because to her, he is perfect.
And it's things like this that I want to remember forever.