Little Orphan Lucy

Lucy must be having some anxiety about the upcoming Major Life Change. She keeps asking me if the movie "Annie" is real, and are there really kids who don't have parents. And she's been very affectionate toward the dogs, saying things like, "I will always love Clifford. I never want a new dog."

Also, she has been playing with a stuffed cat she's named Kitty Kitty. If you ask where Kitty Kitty came from, Lucy will tell you this sad story about how Kitty Kitty's mother and family were out walking, and they found a new baby cat they loved more than Kitty Kitty, and they picked up the new kitten and left Kitty Kitty on the street.

Poor kid. All this change is a lot to process.

Strange Customs Involving Teeth

Much to her delight, Lucy lost ANOTHER tooth right next to the other one she lost, which means she now has "a place to rest my thumb when I am sucking it."

Last night on my way home from work, I had to help the Tooth Fairy out and get some special money to leave under Lu's pillow. I went to the 7-11 and asked for either some silver dollars or some $2 bills. The clerk, whom I would guess was a recent immigrant from the Indian sub-continent, wanted to know why I wanted "special money." I found myself explaining the American tradition of the tooth fairy to this guy: an interesting cultural exchange that ended with him saying "Very nice."

When I got home, I read on Wikipedia that in India and some other Asian countries, "when a child loses a tooth the usual custom is that he or she should throw it onto the roof if it came from the lower jaw, or into the space beneath the floor if it came from the upper jaw. While doing this, the child shouts a request for the tooth to be replaced with the tooth of a mouse."

Maybe we will do that for the next tooth.

Little Miss Silver Lining

My day was bad. Not catastrophic, just the kind of stressful, exhausting day that puts a little cloud over your head. I worked late and got home just in time to give Lu a bath, during which we discussed our Two Best Things. I confessed I'd had such a bad day that I couldn't think of Two Best Things, only like, Seven Worst Things. I said my day was like Alexander's, and she seemed to understand.

As I was putting her to bed, I said, "You know, now I have a Best Thing, and that's getting to see you." She thought for a minute and said, "No, Mom, you have three Best Things — no four! Getting to see me, getting to see Dad, reading me one book, and then reading me another book. See, that's four!"

That's positivity. I should also add that, for all her Mary Sunshine attitude, she confessed that one of her Worst Things was "when I, um, told Melinda something not very nice, and that is...that I wished she was dead."

Uh, yeah. That's a Worst Thing.

Lucy Meets Lemon

We took Lucy to my 28-week doctor's appointment, where she got to hold the heart monitor and see baby on the ultrasound screen. As we exclaimed, "Look, Lucy, what do you think?! It's the baby!!!" she was nonplussed. She said, "It looks like a sea turtle."

Which it kind of does: a brilliant, charming, gorgeous sea turtle who's destined to test well.


So in case you can't make out the little genius, this is a closeup of the face, turned to the side, hand under the chin.

Internal Perspective Check

Lately, just when I am inclined to get bent out of shape about some minor (or major) irritation, it's like there's someone poking me, reassuring me, "Hey man, don't freak out, we're cool." The poke is coming from MY UTERUS. Where there is a person living.

The sensation never stops being a weird, delightful reminder that it's what's on the inside that counts.

These Are Not My Pajamas

On several occasions in the past couple of weeks, Lucy has expressed concern that I am wearing my pajamas out in the world. You know, because many of the maternity clothes I wear on the weekends or evenings are knit, stretchy and pajama-like. And also, I have been so tired I have taken to falling asleep in my clothes. Oh, and there may have been a couple of trips to the grocery store in actual pajamas.

Lost Tooth, Lost Youth

Lucy lost her first tooth last week. She is elated; she has shown every person she has encountered since. This morning, she told me she dreamed that she had lost all her teeth and had her grown-up teeth. The thought of this made me so sad.

In no time, she will have that awkward kid mouth, full of holes and too-big teeth, a gappy pitstop on the way to a full-fledged grown-up face. Where is the time going (someone cue "Sunrise, Sunset" in the background, please)? While I am focused on this new, milestone gap in her mouth, I need to remind myself about where the time goes – it slips through all the other gaps between milestones.

I regularly read this blog called The Happiness Project. The writer of the blog created a really sweet, corny short movie that sums up how I feel.