October 11, 1982

Today is Daughter's birthday! I've always said that her birth was so easy I would do it again any day. It was like the textbooks said it would be. And, she slept through the night right from the beginning. Did I mention that she nursed every four hours when she was awake, and rarely cried at all?

And then, she turned one. She didn't say much, but she was one busy little girl! Unlike her brother, who could sit still and play with blocks for hours at a time, she would rather put small objects in her mouth, and then refuse to open it. She would not watch TV. Her back was to Sesame Street more than her front. Her first word was 'up!' followed closely by 'DOWN!'

While we were walking to the duck pond at John Ball Park to take pictures on Sunday, I remembered how we went there to feed the ducks on her first birthday. She always gave her brother fits, because she would eat the bread intended for the ducks. He could not handle such flagrant disobedience. Daughter fell on some steps, and spent her birthday with a skinned up face. She didn't cry though, there was too much to see, do and stick into her mouth!

She wasn't the kind of little girl who adored playing with dolls. For her first birthday, she received a lovely little doll we named 'Sally'. I cannot even count how many times I have pulled Sally from the trash. A few months later we tried again with a doll we named 'Beth'. Beth presently lives on the top shelf of the linen closet. I was never quite able to remove all the Desitin Daughter smeared all over her one long ago day. Beth's expression is one that could very well improve with counseling. Daughter went on to smear worse products around her world. Once, she emptied a jumbo size Vasoline while I thought she was napping. She must have spent a good hour shining up her world, and what she didn't use as polish, she ate. That alone shined up my world for several gooey-poop days.

When she was only 17 months old, Daughter became a big sister. She blossomed in this new roll. Someone to join her in her wild antics. Youngest Son used to wake her up in the morning and summons her in a secret language they shared to climb into his crib and throw him out. I witnessed this from the doorway one morning. Youngest Son would call her name in a whisper until she woke up, she would swing herself into his crib in one quick motion and wedge her shoulder under his soggy bottom, and flip him out of the crib, then jump out after him. Oldest Son slept through this. as ignoring things that went 'bump' in the night became necessary for his survival.

Ah, well. I've tripped and fallen down memory lane. I must pick myself up and move on. The stories about Daughter are legend in these parts. Anyway...she and her Baby Boy will be arriving soon, and I must go pick all small objects up off the floor. Because of Baby Boy, Daughter hasn't eaten off the floor in a good many years...