my first "i love you"...

So I have been trying to encourage the angel to tell me she loves me... I know, it feels kinda wrong to coach her on that...but I figure how is she going to know that its important to tell people if I don't let her know that I like it!?   So she dutifully repeats "I love you mummy" when prompted, but I take it with a grain of the proverbial seasoning. 
One day this week I had a moment, watching her run down the hall, when I wondered if I would hear her spontaneously say those words one day.  I thought about kids with autism, and how utterly heart breaking it must be to never experience your child's love overtly expressed...
In one of those strange quirks of the universe, my ruminated wishes were answered moments later. 
We were sitting on our front step drying our hair in the sun after our morning shower.  We were chatting about something, I don't know what.... and suddenly she looked up at me, and in her eyes was such an incredibly strong and undeniable expression of love... in that moment I thought, in a split second, "Oh, she does love me!".... and then, amazingly, she said it.  She threw her face against me and snuggled in and announced "I love you!". 
It was so powerful, so genuine, so heartfelt. 
I burst into tears immediately, which caused her no small consternation... but I made sure to reasure her that mummy was very happy indeed.
:-)
These are landmark moments - not road signs, but mountains on the parenting journey.