{"id":1719,"date":"2006-11-15T21:29:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-16T04:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/15\/to-kate-who-just-had-a-milestone-day\/"},"modified":"2008-12-21T21:08:01","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T04:08:01","slug":"to-kate-who-just-had-a-milestone-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/15\/to-kate-who-just-had-a-milestone-day\/","title":{"rendered":"To Kate, who just had a milestone day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Kate, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been with us for just over 6 months. <\/span>Your short time with us has been filled with moments of learning. <\/span>The relative ease of caring for you in those first days shocked me. <\/span>I had no idea having a new baby could make me so happy. <\/span>Your sweet big brother and I worked so hard, so hard, for everything\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 until I had you, I had no idea how sick I was at that time. <\/span>The guilt of those lost moments with him plagues me. <\/span> \"\"<\/a>You seem to have inherited your parents warped sense of humor, intuitively knowing what makes us crazy and picking away at those pockets of sanity. <\/span>For example, while every other baby on the planet is content to sit in those wonderful Bumbo seats, you fling yourself around like a fish until you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got enough foot leverage to push, yes PUSH, your little butt out of the seat. <\/span>Twice we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve caught you before you landed head first on our dinner plates. <\/span>You remain blissfully unaware of your desire to destroy brain cells and happily throw yourself around, a free spirit ready for the fall. <\/span> \"\"<\/a>Having you convinced me of something that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wondered for some time. <\/span> I am now confident in the fact that I make the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most beautiful babies. <\/span>One might think that being the World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Most Beautiful Baby-Maker would make me smug. <\/span>But no, in fact, it scares the pants off me. <\/span>I fear that the universe will present me with one huge smack-down striking one of you ill or hurt or worse. <\/span>Josefina (our Peruvian nanny) gave me a red bracelet for you to wear to ward off mal de ojo<\/em>, but I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the darn thing to stay on! <\/span>It is very stressful to be the mother of the World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Most Beautiful Baby. <\/span>Please remember this incredible stress I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gone through for you when you consider what nursing home to put me in.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even more than the cats, which you chase around the house in that bumpy crawl, your brother is the light in your day. <\/span>Dad and I can act goofy, making our voices hit ranges that would embarrass us to tears if heard by the outside world, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll generally respond with a happy laugh. <\/span>But Will\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 his mere presence is enough to put you into hysterics. <\/span>\"\"<\/a>We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to believe that the two of you share a special bond of understanding. <\/span>We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard that older siblings can translate the rough speak of younger ones into sounds that us old people can understand. <\/span>Granna swears that Uncle Skip was practically mute until Kindergarten because I translated all of his whispers and signals with expert attention. <\/span>We are waiting for Will to carry on in this tradition. <\/span>You talk a lot\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 A LOT\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and often say things with such conviction that the neighbors call to ask why we are torturing that poor woodland animal and please, for heaven sake, let it go<\/em>! <\/span>It would be wonderful to explain that no, we aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t performing any sacrificial rituals, but just trying to figure out whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like applesauce or bananas for breakfast. <\/span>So when you say something like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153AAAAWWWGGGGHHHHHAAAAAA\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we eagerly ask Will if he can tell us what you are saying. <\/span>He takes each request seriously, focusing and clearing his throat to answer: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Baby Kate said \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAAAAWWWGGGGHHHHHAAAAAA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. <\/span>I guess you two have some work to do on that sibling communication thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You should know that, at least during my childless days, I lived a life that generally did not accept the notion of fear. <\/span>Having your brother gave me a decent sense of fear, but it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until you came along that the overwhelming, crippling sense of fear set in. <\/span>I used to live in a dream bubble where the risks of the world were muted and dulled; I could convince myself that if we were to fly off a bridge and into water, I could somehow transform into AquaWoman, pulling your brother to safety. <\/span>Your addition to the picture brought reality into my focus. <\/span>My cape disappears when bridges are near. <\/span>The fear of loosing one of you is crushing; somedays I wonder if it has the power to take over. <\/span>My love for the two of you is unconditional and nontransferable. <\/span>I used to think I could overcome anything. <\/span>Now, I am much more aware of the limits to my heart.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kate, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been with us for just over 6 months. Your short time with us has been filled with moments of learning. The relative ease of caring for you in those first days shocked me. I had no idea having a new baby could make me so happy. Your sweet big brother and I worked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[85,114],"tags":[108],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3348,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/3348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}