My eyeball has been violated.

Baby girl has been going through a very affectionate stage recently. She loves to snuggle (for a moment and then she's off) and to nuzzle (be careful... she might snipe you with a bite) and give kisses on the face (you could get licked instead.) She takes great pride in puckering her lips, which actually looks like a fish as she sucks in her cheeks to push out her lips.

A few days ago, she got the fish pucker going on her face so I knew a big kiss was coming. She took her sweet little three-year-old hands to my face and positioned herself to plant a kiss on my mouth. I braced myself for a big baby saliva kiss when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she pulled me close and took a detour to my eyes and licked my eyeball. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to react. When I say, licked my eyeball I really mean licked my eyeball. Not my eyelid. Not my crow's feet. Not my eyebrow. Oh, those areas would have been wonderful in comparison. What I mean, is literally the eyeball was licked with so much saliva for a brief moment I thought I had blacked out and went swimming with my eyes open!

As I was desperately blotting my eye and adjusting my vision (for a moment I thought she had swiped out my contact lens for a snack) she looked at me and said, "I love you mommy." My heart melted.

I guess the lesson learned is to either be quicker on my feet and divert the kisses to a more appropriate position on the face, or just take one for the team and realize it's her twisted little three-year-old way of giving me affection. I'll take either option.