Finding Joy In the Little Things

The innocent oblivious nature of a 4 year old:
Aaric had been holding it all in, but now, Daddy was on a big white bus that was about to leave the parking lot to go one direction, and we were in the van to go another direction. It hit him as we all discussed our plans for the afternoon. I suddenly realized he wasn't participating in the conversation anymore, and looked back to see that the reality of it all was hitting him. "I'll believe it when I see it," he'd said months ago when we first told him that yet again, Michael was scheduled to deploy. Now he saw it.
Xander piped up, "Aaric, remember what Daddy told us. 'Be good!' You have to be good, Aaric." I said, "Xander, he's fine, he's not being bad, he's just sad." And he says, "Aaric, there's nothing to be sad about!"
Totally oblivious. Sure, we'd told him his Daddy was leaving for a year, and he understood that this wasn't a happy thing for us, but he didn't expect anyone to actually BE sad!
We could take it personally that our child has no strong feelings about his dad leaving for a year (except I kinda suspect he has some strong feelings of "yes! It's 4 against 1, we can do anything this year!") but we don't. If he's totally unfazed by all this, then honestly, it makes my life easier.

The exploding language skills of an almost 2 year old:
Even as recently as last week, if you held a phone up to Gabriel's ear, he's smile and nod and wave, maybe laugh, but certainly not speak. He'd talk into his play phones, but never a real one.
Michael called from the air force base just before flying out, and I put all the kids on the line for him to say goodbye too one more time. Finally it was Gabriel's turn, and I gave him the phone so he could hear and maybe laugh a little. He grabbed the phone and said, "Hey Dada!" Then babbled something, and then, as I reached for the phone, "bye bye!" He talked to him again last night, when he called from Kuwait. The boy has good timing.