Chocolate Handprint

There is a little chocolate handprint on my bathroom wall. Just below where the bath towels hang down, beside the bathtub. Every time I use the restroom, I can see the little brown fingers waving at me. I know I need to clean it. It's chocolate. On my wall. But I just don't have the heart to clean it up yet. Every time I look at that brown little handprint, I can't help but smile. It makes me think back to last night. Kalianna's big grin as she pushed the kitchen chair over by my side and climbed up on it. She helped me stir, and dump ingredients into the pan, as we watched the brownies come together. Then, as I poured the batter into the pan, her little fingers reached out, ever so cautiously, under the waterfall of chocolate and came back covered in warm, gooey batter. One lick and she got the biggest smile on her face I've ever seen! She reached both hands into the pan and began scooping handfuls of batter into her very happy mouth. Once the brownies were finally safely in the oven, I carefully scooped up my little chocolate baby and brought her in the bathroom. There I tried, without success, to keep her little hands from touching things as I readied the tub. Toys, towels, and the side of the tub were soon layered in a thin coat of brownie batter. Once in the tub, and brownie free, I scrubbed the side of the tub and carefully cleaned each bath toy that had been touched. It wasn't until she was tucked in bed that night that I went back into the bathroom and noticed the missed little handprint. Just barely peeking out from under the towels. So I know I need to just take a clorox wipe and clean the silly thing off. But I just don't have the heart to do it. Not yet. It's her own little mark left on my wall, just like the images from last night that she left in my heart. Smiling at me as if to say "Kalianna was here".