The question was easy to answer.

“What do you love about your child?”

The list is long, of course.  Who doesn’t have a thousand things they love about their kid?

But number one?  His smile.

It’s actually the number one thing I love about all my kids.

Gerry and Lewis have very similar smiles.  Big grins with lots of teeth.  And dimples.  They both got my dimples.

Howie’s smile?  It’s…different from his brothers.  Like everything else about him.

No dimples.  Not toothy.

But it’s a smile that just exudes pure happiness.  It’s a smile that tells me the things he can’t say himself.

When his world is closing in on him, when he’s having a “crummy day“, the smile is gone.  No smiles means we’re out of whack.  No smiles mean his body is out of sorts.  No smiles mean we need help.  And a hug without a smile?  Those are the hardest hugs of all.

But if I can make him smile?  If I can hear that infectious giggle that comes from a tickle, or a silly joke, or the promise of “hugs that go on forever and never stop”…then I know we’re ok.

We’re back.

Howie has a smile that tells the whole world how he’s feeling.

And when I see that smile?  It makes me smile too.

(This was written as a part of this week’s Special Needs Blog Hop.  Join us as we talk about what we love most about our children).

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“Don’t know how I lived without you
‘Cause every time that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes
You make me smile” – Smile by Uncle Kracker