Audrey's birthday: June 30

Audrey: One Year Old

The smile snaps on like a halogen bulb,

blue eyes illuminating the darkened room;

a quiet coo, a delighted giggle,

an exuberant little bounce

precipitating a wiggle, a wriggle,

then a full-fledged launch at the edge of the bed.

 

She greets the morning full-tilt,

babbling, crowing,

hurling herself at the new day

and all it has to offer:

a grab, a taste, a pull, a push, a peek—

exploration in all directions…

She seizes the day in her tiny fists

and squeezes from it

all the juice, the meaning, the excitement.

 

Her face reflects it all:

this is the first day of the world. 

Seattle, June 2009

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Seattle Babysitting

I just got back from a 4-day trip to Seattle, where I was babysitting my granddaughter while my daughter attended a conference. I am here to tell you, there was no 'sitting' involved. While I had only intermittent periods of responsibility, they were enough to remind me that there is a reason why one should have one's children when one is young.

During our sojourn, we managed to visit Pike Place Market a few times, rode the monorail to Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair and the Space Needle. Audrey rode the carousel with Kay, and we took a few walks downtown. In addition, Audrey crawled/walked an estimated quarter mile across the floors and carpets of the Sheraton and the Convention Center. She opened and closed the bathroom door of our hotel room roughly 500 times, picked up a thousand pieces of non-edible trash from various floors, made approximately 100 beelines for 10 different electrical outlets, pushed a plastic chair about a mile across a food court (mostly in circles), and circumnavigated at least 5 tables about 5 times each. We remarked upon the flight of at least ten seagulls a day, pointed at and identified each other countless times, picked up what seemed like a box and a half of Cheerios from rugs and floors, and consumed large quantities of halved grapes, pretty much on the fly. Audrey crawls faster than the proverbial speeding bullet, and possesses (I am sure) other superpowers that we can only imagine. And envy.

Following her, feeding her, walking with her when she's cranky, chasing her, pushing her stroller, carrying her, and--above all--keeping her entertained is a full-time, 24/7 job. Fortunately, my stints were limited to a few hours here and there. I don't think I would have measured up very well against my daughter's high bar. I am in awe of the fact that she does this every day, and is still managing to write a dissertation and carry on a relatively normal life besides.

I guess we all did it once upon a time, but I don't remember the process of raising my girls as being this constant, all-encompassing undertaking. Maybe I just don't remember; maybe the fact that they were 14 months apart threw me into such a black hole of motherhood activity that I didn't notice that I was insanely busy all the time. Or just insane.

Kudos, Kay. I couldn't do it again.