Rollover Minutes

On Christmas Day, Clara Grace was exactly two months and eight days old. This was precisely the day she chose to roll over for the first time. It all came about as her Mommy laid her tummy down on a turtle which Clara Grace’s first cousins once removed, Wendy and Mark, bought for her. She held her head high and watched animals floating beneath her in the turtle’s water-filled belly, and then, over she went. It was all done with a flawlessly executed push-off from her left arm. Her Mommy put her back on the turtle to continue her play and over she went once more. If words could be attributed to her expression, Clara Grace would most likely have said, “I don’t have any idea what just happened, but I will take the next few days to evaluate future benefits to this new locomotion, and be advised that I may perform it again at a time when you are least expecting it.”

A Better Use

“Do you need a pacifier?” Clara Grace’s mommy shouted to her husband above the ruckus her daughter was making. “Yeah, would you mind passing me two of them?” Clara Grace’s daddy answered, “one for each ear.”

A Crib of Her Own

Two nights before Clara Grace’s three-month birthday, her parents moved her permanent sleeping arrangement to her nursery crib. Clara Grace enjoyed one of her most peaceful slumbers to date, both her parents, however, hardly slept at all. While her Mommy anxiously analyzed each variation in the static from the baby monitor beside her pillow, the twelve feet across the living room grew into an enormous gulf lurking with drafts or pests or even greater dangers she didn’t want to consider. She let her arm fall from the bed and touch the satiny lining of the empty bassinette.

How quickly the days had gone of reaching out in the darkness and stroking her baby’s downy hair or letting Clara Grace hold on to her finger in one hand and her thumb in the other until she drifted off to sleep again. Certainly Clara Grace would want her own room eventually, but helping her take that first step away was difficult. Clara Grace’s Mommy lay on her back and let her mind drift sleeplessly over all the steps that would come in future years. Some were small and some were larger. Some were steps away in literal distance and others, the harder ones, were emotional steps apart. There would be her actual first step, which meant less time in Mommy’s arms, solid foods, Kindergarten, slumber parties, college, and a wedding. Pondering all these things brought a twinge of sadness, but also a spark of excitement.

Through the monitor, Clara Grace grunted in her sleep; her Mommy waited, but there was no crying. Proudly, she rolled over to try for a few hours of sleep herself, all the while picturing her daughter snuggled in the blanket she had knitted for her and surrounded by the bright fish, turtles, and octopus her Daddy had painted on the walls.

Clara Grace Earns Her Keep

It happened that Clara Grace’s Mommy was not feeling well on Sunday, the twelfth of December, so Clara Grace’s Daddy took the baby along with him to get his tires aligned. “You’ve got a slow leak in your back tire,” the burly mechanic informed him. “You can fix it but it’ll be an extra twenty dollars.” “Well,” Clara Grace’s Daddy shrugged, “I guess we’ll just have to, then.” When the car was brought down from the lift, Clara Grace and her Daddy made their way to the counter to pay. The same mechanic held out his rippling, hairy arms and asked, “Can I hold your baby?” Gazing down at the little girl he remarked, “It’s been twenty-seven years since I’ve held a girl this little. After he handed Clara Grace back to her Daddy he reached for the receipt on the counter and tore it in two. “No charge,” he said, “Thanks for letting me hold the baby.”

More Goo

While Clara Grace was turning exactly eight weeks old, she was practicing to repeat “Gooo,” after her Mommy and Daddy. She painstakingly furrowed her brows and concentrated to form her mouth in just the right O shape. She seemed to enjoy these “linguistic lessons” immensely and grinned more than she has ever grinned before. A happy side benefit to this is her Mommy and Daddy’s discovery that “Goo,” can also be used to get great smiles during photo shoots.