Parental fun is. . .

[velvetpage]

Having an apparently perfectly happy toddler decide to scream and throw up within five minutes of being put to bed, necessitating a complete change of toddler, bed, and parent. (She waited until the parent went in to comfort her before letting loose.) Also necessitating an immediate quick bath for said child, as a result of unmentionable stuff in her hair which arrived there via her sleeve when I told her to put her hands up to have her shirt removed. The quick bath happened while the parent in the scenario was still in her underwear, having chucked her soiled clothing into the pile of baby linen on its way to the washing machine.

We warmed up by blow-drying her hair. Usually I'd let it air-dry, but there was no way I was waiting half an hour for that to happen when it was already nine thirty.

And with all that, she was still only half an hour late going to bed.

She sang along with the second lullaby, as she had with the first. I love it when she does that.

I have trouble remembering sometimes that I wasn't always a mother, that there was a time in my life when there was no Elizabeth. It seems so incredible to me that I had a hand (and some other parts) in creating this wonderful little girl. And yet I looked at her expression as she was getting her hair dried, and I saw pictures of her father as a child. I looked at the hair and saw myself as a little girl. She's ours, and she's fully herself. I keep thinking I couldn't possibly love her more, and every day proves me wrong.

This started as a rant. Non-parents simply will not understand how a story about baby vomit could turn into a prayer of thankfulness. The parents among you, or some with good imaginations and parental instinct, are all smiling and nodding right now.

God bless our children.

Comments

Re: One of us, who has hopes...

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

*L* I'm actually anticipating all of it.

Re: One of us, who has hopes...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already, start praying for a pregnancy like mine. Seriously. I had no sickness, just one or two mornings when I didn't want to eat much. I was very tired, but I've never heard of anyone avoiding that and teaching is not a particularly sedentary job. Up until about mid-February (around the middle of month seven) I was having the time of my life. It started to get really uncomfortable after that, but again, you can't avoid that when your centre of gravity has shifted forward about six inches and changes with every energetic fetal kick.

The part that gets worse is the hormones. I've always cried easily, but it was getting rather ridiculous. I would talk about how sad it was that so many of my students had not been wanted as I wanted Elizabeth (yes, she had a name at that point) and I'd start to cry in the hall as the kids came in!

Re: One of us, who has hopes...

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

I'm also praying for a labor like my sister's. Both of her girls came after less than three hours.