Beautiful Girl

Every night when Andrew gets home from work, he picks Lucy up and kisses her all over her little face and says, "You are so beautiful!" This makes my heart melt, of course, but I also think it's a really important thing for him to say to her at any age.
To a little girl, Daddy is a hero, and his opinion of her is worth its weight in gold. Andrew telling Lucy that she's beautiful may turn her into a vain little thing, but it'll also build up her self-esteem. When a little girl doesn't have anyone to tell her she's pretty, she looks for someone to do it later. When she doesn't have a strong man in her life to hold her to higher standards, she creates her own standards, and they may not be as high as they could be. My dream for Lucy is that she is so secure in who she is that when she goes looking for love, she isn't looking for self-esteem too. Her dad adores her, and having a man adore you early in life is a good way to avoid needing one later.
Grandpa Dick spent years and years of our early lives telling us that we were smart and beautiful and that we could do whatever we wanted with our lives. As a result, I never settled for anyone or anything less than my imagination made up all those years. I have never been disappointed when life didn't go exactly as I planned, because I don't need my plans to work out to be happy.
My dream for Lucy is that she never settles, and that she never needs to search for her identity outside of her own heart. As her mom, I want to see all of her dreams come true, but more than that, I want to raise a person who is bigger than her dreams, and who can find happiness in whatever life gives her. I want her to believe that she's worthy of all of her successes, and that she's not being punished when she fails.
That's why I love it when her Daddy tells her she's beautiful.