Hard Habit to Break

Somewhere in her fourth month, Clara Grace became fascinated with her mommy and daddy’s faces. At times, while sitting with her mommy on the couch, she reaches upward and tenderly strokes her mommy’s cheek or softly pats her mommy’s nose. Then, she finds a few wisps of her mommy’s stray hair and combs them with utmost delicacy until, on a whim, she yanks them right out of her mommy’s head. Other times, she goes straight for the eyes without warning. One of her favorite tricks is to lull her parents into complacency by patting their cheeks lovingly. Just when they smile approvingly she digs in her fingernails and twists the loose skin until their faces are grossly contorted half from her yanking and half from pain. Clara Grace’s daddy remarked, “I didn’t have jowls until Clara Grace got a hold of my cheeks.” On another occasion, Clara Grace’s daddy awoke from a deep, morning nap to the sensation of his ear and nose being tugged simultaneously. His eyes popped open, which sent Clara Grace into a fit of giggles.