Yesterday was my baby's 7th birthday. She's not a baby anymore but she'll always be a baby to me. Every year on their birthday's I tell them about the day they were born. This is how she tells the story, "I was born in a pool, because my mom thought swimming was fun. I shot out like a rocket and my dad was the first person to touch me." Yeah, something like that. I was a hippy-dippy when I was pregnant with her and we had planned a home water birth. Not because I think swimming is fun, but I will let her think that. I spend my pregnancy meditating on this new life inside of me. I was so excited and stress free and it was a beautiful time. Because I was a hippy dippy, I made a birth alter with candles and birth art. My sister was staying with us at the time, she was 14 and she said, "Is that a picture of a vagina?" "No, it's a flower that is blossoming just like you blossom when the baby emerges from the womb." "So, it's a vagina flower? Gross!!" I had a poem on my alter, "Dear God, may my labor be short and my birth canal be wide and accommodating...." That was the gist of it. I would have probably had a drum circle if I had thought it up. I had family members send me beads and to make a wish for the baby on the beads and strung a necklace to wear when she was born.
When I was sure it was time, I slipped it on so that she would be born with all of the wishes. Love, happiness, beauty, wisdom and patience.... What do you know? My labor was short (2.5 hours) and my birth canal was wide and accommodating and she shot out like a rocket into the hands of her father. She let out a peep but then was completely quiet and we set her in the water and she stretched out her body and stared at us for what seemed like forever. She blinked her eyes and looked amazed and as she gazed at us I could tell that somehow she knew that she was ours. That we were her people. I fell in love with her instantly. In that moment I knew that our family was complete.
That was 7 years ago but it still seems like just a moment ago. Her birth fits her perfectly - it would only have been more appropriate if she came out with jazz hands screaming, "I"M HERE!" Because that is my child. She wants to be the center of attention always. She is full of life and full of energy. She is a tiny, little, wispy, bean of a child but her personality is larger than life. She says the funniest things, she is witty and clever and super smart. She wants what she wants when she wants it. She has always been that way. When she was a baby she only liked to be held while you were standing up, facing out. The moment your bottom hit the chair she would shriek until you were up again. She picks her own clothes and does her own hair and just wants to do everything herself. She is always trying to keep up with her sister. She walked early, talked early, was potty trained early. She thinks she is a grown adult sometimes. God help us.
She says the funniest things. I told my husband he was a horrible navigator in the car this week and she said, "Dad, don't take this as a criticism, but I agree with mom." Then there is her theory that tap water tastes like old people. "I like old people, mom - I just don't want to taste them." Or when I put on a short skirt and she told me it was "skanky." She always tells me when my parenting is horrible. She is a realist. I love her for that.
Even though she is 7 she still loves to snuggle. She will lay down with me and put her arms around my neck and curl up into me and smile at me with her big toothless grin and say, "Mom, I love you." I think we'll keep her.
No comments:
Post a Comment