Mama Gets Goopy

Because I am a big, dopey sap, the sort who cries at Hallmark commercials, it is only fitting on this, The Child's birthday eve, to reflect on some hightlights of the last 11 years.

First Boo-boo. 6 weeks old. Still loathe to put her down for long (and before those very groovy wrap baby slings were big), I am holding the baby while reaching up into a pantry cupboard for a tin of soup. A syrup bottle inches to the edge of the shelf, then falls. In trying to catch it I deflect it slightly but it appears to hit Baby on the head. She starts to cry, as do I. Panicked call to the pediatrician who tells me to come on over. As we live exactly 1 block from her office, all I have to do is put on some shoes, throw a blanket over my crying child and run like her life depended on it. Baby stops crying before we reach the hospital but I'm a mess. Nurses and pediatrician alike examine baby, who is fine and shows no sign at all of being hit. (Likely she was reacting to my freaking out). Medical staff turn all their attention to distraught mommy, who really needed to learn to relax. (Not that they told me that. They were very kind).

First Serious Boo-boo: 18 months. Falls in the bathroom. This time it's serious as she begins to boot even as I'm on the phone to the Doc. Diagnosis: mild concussion. I have to sleep with her, waking her periodically to make sure she knows where she is (which I appreciate but really, who, upon being abruptly woken up from a good sleep is immediately lucid? 18 month old babies, apparently).

Classic Toddler Phrases: "I can't bebeeve it!" "Oh, my yord!" "That's too 'picy for me".

Standard Tween Phrases: "What's the game plan?" "Here's what I think we should do."

First Profound Spiritual Insight: About 3 years old, reciting the Nicene Creed: "God from God, Light from Light, I wish I may, I wish I might".

First Argument with Mom that Left Mom Speechless: Also 3 years old, while I try desperately to get her down for a nap:

Mama: "Please, you need to take a nap!"
The Child: (Sitting defiantly on bed, arms crossed in fury) "I do not need a nap! I just need a day to myself!"

First Trip to Europe: 4 years old. Ate nothing in London but currant buns and declared that "London makes the worst Shirley Temples." (The bartender used ginger ale). 5 days in France, where she eats nothing but bread and chocolate until the 4th day, at a wedding dinner, where she consumes olives, cheese and duck in mass quantities. Also has her first glass of water wine. Plans to return the summer she's 14.

First National Tragedy: George Bush being appointed president.

Second National Tragedy: September 11, 2001. A few days after the attacks she spent a long time in her room, emerging with a Lego building. "Do you know what this is?" she asked. "It looks like one of the Twin Towers". "That's right!" she says brightly. "But see this? It's a diving board. I designed it so that if there were ever a problem, say, oh, a fire or something, the people up high could dive out into a swimming pool and be alright". We put the tower on the family shrine for a few weeks.

Cutest Thing She Ever Did: Impossible to say.

Sweetest Thing She Ever Did: Ditto.

Most Maddening Thing She Ever Did: Too many choices.

The Child is exactly what I meant when I told The Spouse I wanted to have a baby. Sometimes I'm asked why we had only one and not that it is really anyone's business, the truth is that she was so exactly what I'd hoped for that I felt it would be greedy to ask for anything more. She is a great kid.