My Children Made me This Way

Pale platinum blonde hair with natural gold highlights cut into a bob that curls under to frame dimpled cheeks, eyes that bright shade of blue you only get on a bitter cold winter day filled with curiosity, and a constant impish smile are the very first thing that you notice about F. They are also the things that make her look as though there is no way I could have birthed this little girl. But I did. I remember it. I was very much there.

She came into the world on a cold day in Upstate NY amid a snow storm that at least waited will we got to the hospital to break. Her birth was probably the only easy thing I can associate with her. But the minute I looked down at her I knew I was in trouble. She looked right back at me, wide awake, steady, appraising me. I could see her personality, and I fell in love all over again.

She wasn’t one of those cute newborns; she was splotchy and red and looked a little like one might expect a troll baby to. It took a few weeks for F to be a pretty baby. But Pretty has been my nickname for her since she was minutes old. Partly because we were still trying to agree on her name though once we saw her the one her Daddy was holding out for won. His meant fair.

She thinks it she says it. She wants it she will find a way to get it. She was climbing before she was walking, and she walked early. She talked a bit late, but once she could she started to tell us stories about when she was old. She still does. She tells the worst jokes ever but her laugh is contagious and you laugh right along.

The child who can and will beat up her older brother for picking on her will not harm a bug. Spiders cannot be killed and have to be let outside. She has fly buddies she carries around in her hand. I have watcher her pick up and pat bees on more than one occasion and not once has she been stung. When the Monsters catch fireflies, her jar is always fullest. I’ve paid for crickets at the pet store so she could take them home and set them free.

She is a whirlwind of crazy beautiful imaginative curious to-smart-for-her-own-good fearless trouble and today she turns seven.

Happy Birthday Pretty

Trackback URI | Comments RSS