Once was with Sam, when she and I were coloring together and working on writing upper- and lower-case letters. I was sitting beside her, absentmindedly running my fingers through her long, always-tangly brown hair and staring at her cherubic little cheek when it hit me.

This was my baby, the same chunky little one who learned to wave like a pageant contestant when she was about 6 months old. My baby, who somehow learned when she was 18 months old to pretend she was hammering a wall and had hit herself on the finger, prompting her to yell "Jesus Christ!" in her sweet, girly voice and chuck the toy hammer to the floor.

She's reading now. Recognizing some words no matter where they're written (she's got "stop," "go" and -- I kid you not -- "Home Depot" down cold). Sounding out many words on her own. Doing simple addition without a second thought.

She was just so beautiful, so smart, so full of promise that some tears sneaked out of my eyes before I could stop them.

And Mr. Noah -- oh, where do I begin? There's nothing I love better than cuddling up to a sweaty-headed, sleeping baby. His two giant dimples, his love of biting and slobbering all over my chin, his belly laugh when we hold him up in the air and sing the "Superman" theme song -- each one makes me feel funny in my tummy.

Man, I'm a sap.

But I think that, as a parent, you have to have these moments when you sort of step back and look at your children in a big-picture sense. Otherwise, I think you'll just go crazy from hearing a crappy version of the "Bingo" song 25 times during every bathtime because SOME little girl has put the CD on repeat again.

Part of my job is to informing other people about cases of child abuse, neglect or murder. And I often wonder if part of the problem is that the adult has gotten so caught up in the day-to-day annoyances of life with kids that he or she could no longer step back and simply appreciate the beauty and miracle of a child.

OK, I'll say it again: I'm a sap.

Do you have these times with your kids? What is it that makes you stop and look at the bigger picture from time to time?