"So throw away those Lamentations,
We both know them all too well.
If there's a Book of Jubilations,
We'll have to write it for ourselves.."

-Josh Ritter




Friday, July 11, 2008

Oh, that kid...

Just about the time that my head is about to explode, leaving me a shrieking banshee of a mother, Nora does something to remind me why I wanted to do this in the first place.



The other night, as I was trying to get dinner on the table, Nora was whining and clinging to my legs. Nothing would make her happy. She threw her milk cup, then got mad when it rolled so far away. She threw Monkey at Suma, then screamed when Suma picked him up. She finally just collapsed in a little, pitiful heap at my feet and sobbed. It was one of those moments when I just wanted to set her on the curb- free to a good home. And we have good traffic on our road. Nothing stays there long.



As I was dragging her little clinging form over to the pantry to get some ingredient, she fixated on the Swiffer. In a matter of moments, she was delightedly sweeping the floor. And walls. And patient, patient dogs. The Mary Lauer genes are strong in this one.





When that got boring, she started helping me unload the dishwasher.



Then, I handed her three forks and asked her to put them on the table. She ran out of the room with them and I made a mental note to go searching for them after she went to bed. Things got awfully, terrifyingly quiet though, so I went looking for my daughter and her forks. I found her in the living room. She was trying her earnest best to set the table. Granted, it was the coffee table....But she's 17 months old.




Crisis averted, we had a nice dinner and Nora helped us load the dishwasher afterward. She carried all her own dishes from the table (having to climb over a mountain of mastiff on the way) and put them in the rack. Then, she pushed the rack into the dishwasher, closed the door and started pushing the buttons on the front. We have a lot more work to do- she forgot to load the soap.



It constantly amazes me what Nora will do if you ask. I never realized how much a kid her age understands and is able to act on. Sure, everything we do with her takes three times as long and usually has to be redone once or twice. But, I'm so proud of her when she furrows her brow and goes all intense trying to figure out what we're doing and how she can do it, too. And that look on her face when she accomplishes her goal...Well, it might as well be the sun breaking through the clouds after a month of rain.



And also, an intense, goal-oriented child who likes to have things just so? Cancel the paternity test!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Kat:

If this thing with medicine does not work out, you have a great future as a writer and photographer. These pictures are really good and I almost felt like I was there. You are right about the Mary Lauer thing. She will clean anything that is not moving.

Hope you are doing well. The blog is good.