My baby grows

Beatrix is 15 months old, and rocketing up like a giant. Also, she’s smarter.

Lucy is three and a half, and she’s growing and learning too, but right now I want to talk about Beatrix. She did something last night that made mama and I crack up. Mama was brought to tears out of pride for her baby. It was a really beautiful moment.



We’re all sitting in the living room together, watching The Muppet Movie. Lucy has a history with that movie—for a time she watched it every day. It’s a wonderful film. Still makes me laugh out loud.

Mama and I were cuddling on the couch. Lucy was going a little crazy, having fun, but not seeing the limit of crazy that Mama and I can take at six p.m., which she was crossing. She could sense that we were relaxed and happy, which means more apt to play, so she was taking full advantage of this opportunity. Good family time.

BB would intermittently get up on the couch with us, cuddle and crawl around, and then get down, walk directly in front of the tv, and stand there staring up at it. Lucy was laughing at Fozzy Bear saying, “Wacka, wacka, wacka!” which she had never found funny before. Mama and I were laughing with her, which encouraged her to start shrieking, screaming, laughing, and jumping on mama harder than mama wanted.

It was late afternoon, and mama and I had both worked our respective jobs that day. We had to tell her to calm down, that we were tired and just wanted to watch a movie with our girls, not wrestle and go crazy.

And I said something to the effect of, “Someday, BB will be older, those stubby baby legs will grow longer, and her and her sister will be able to really play together. She’s just a little too small right now to keep up.”

This must have sparked something in the kids. Mama and I both knew it was true—that we were on the cusp of the kids being able to really play together.

At this point, Lucy was being obstinate, and lying in fetal position on the floor. It’s what she does when mama or I tell her something she finds unfavorable—she gets down on knees and elbows, forehead on the floor, and curls her body into a ball. Usually she kinda shakes her head from side to side too. It’s a classic negative reaction from a three-year-old.

She was being bratty, but she didn’t understand why, or why we didn’t have the energy to throw her high up into the sky while exclaiming, “Wacka, wacka, wacka!” all night long. She’s only 3.

BB was just standing there being an onlooker, the calmer counterpoint to Lucy’s insanity. Jokingly, I said, “BB, go get Lucy. Go get her!”

And BB gets this look on her face, this devious, devilish smile, wherein her eyes narrowed just a bit, and started going right for Lucy.

That got Lucy up and laughing. That made BB start laughing, and suddenly BB was chasing Lucy out of the living room, thru the dining room and out of sight, both laughing and squealing.

That was the precious moment. BB was suddenly old enough to try to play with her sister, and at least attempt to keep up. It’s not totally happening yet, as Lucy is way faster than her. And BB never goes all the way—she always stops and turns around, hoping Lucy will chase her. Or something.

I think it’s cause they’re used to being ‘gotten’ by me that that’s all they know how to do—be gotten, not do any ‘getting.’

Lucy does try, though—but it just makes BB fall down. BB’s not steady enough on her feet, and Lucy’s not good enough at grabbing—she kinda just runs into BB. So they’ve got a long way to go, but the seeds have been planted.

They were so ready, that the moment I suggested it, they went right for it, and had more fun in those couple minutes than they had all day.

Kids need to be given suggestions of what to do and how to play when they’re really young. I look forward to the time when they can use their imaginations themselves and really broaden their outlooks. It will not only be great fun playing with them and watching the paths they take, but also easier for me when I don’t have to spend most every waking minute with them, supervising, entertaining, feeding, cleaning.

Nope, for a few more years, it’s going as slow as our slowest family member—which is the right speed for me right now.

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