Evolution designed high privacy settings for our minds, with all our thoughts potentially secret. I keep thinking that’s really true for Lady Baby – my most mysterious person.
A two and a half-year old offers tantalizing hints of her thoughts, has language enough to make it known she thinks a lot, but isn’t always inclined to explain herself. (I suppose I will never know why the polar bear had to wait for its baby.)
A while back her mom sent a playground photo of Lady Baby posed between two hanging poles that wiggle unreliably, one foot on each. The text of Lady Baby’s comment read: “Baby Boy [a favorite doll] taught me to do this, and I said Baby Boy thank you for teaching your mama this cool trick.”
Clearly, I could have chosen Baby Boy as the most mysterious person I know. In a FaceTime conversation, I learned more about Baby Boy and his father Nick (who is himself a teeny tiny baby). Nick drives a jeep. He and Baby Boy have a house on Sesame Street and a cabin in Prudhoe Bay. Baby Boy doesn’t go to the cabin “much,” and when he stays home, Lady Baby takes care of him (she is his mama you remember). They have a dog named Quesadilla, and when I inquired if Quesadilla were boy or girl, Lady Baby told me twice, “Quesadilla is a grown-up dog!”
Lady Baby is such a rapidly changing comet. This month she’s this, but by next month she will know more cool tricks and be able to talk about them even better, should she choose to.
On a Labor Day visit, I learned that Nick had left his huge motorcycle parked on Water Street in Port Townsend, so he could go shopping, and that he also drove the ferryboat and made announcements on board, “on the microphone.”
Does the question about mysterious also imply there is a solution? Solving the mystery of a child might be the very definition of raising a child. Figuring them out. Watching them figure themselves out.
Maybe it’s the mystery of how all this development of imagination and language happens so quickly that astounds me – two years ago she was a “teeny, tiny baby” and so limited. Now she is such a person with relationships, likes, dislikes, and passions for pickup trucks and baby dolls.
And maybe the grandparent role makes me think about time, about how I won’t know how her story comes out. If I can’t know the end, the story stays mysterious.
her spirits rose... 
Good morning, Katy, I am always so happy to hear about Lady Baby! Through your beautiful words I can see her so clearly, and what a wonderful time you have watching her turn from a wee baby into a little girl! And what adventures and stories you will have from now on. Thanks so much for sharing. ~Jane
You can really see the little girl these days. And begin to imagine the fine young woman – like your granddaughters!
Hi Katie,
Thank you for letting us glimpse into Lady Baby’s world. Your entry brings me back to my Violet when she was that age, she’s now 7 and hurtling on. Here’s a quote for you.
love,
J.
“sometimes the mysteries bring us to our knees”
the Rev. Augustine Adjei-Boachie
Thank you Jacqui – a fine quote.
This is totally wonderful – such an affectionate and well-written peek into this mysterious small person’s mind. And topped off by that collage of the sweet paintings of her as her “little” self. You may never know how the story turns out, but you are certainly putting your stamp on the way she will remember how it began.
I really look forward each week to your Tuesday posts. Thanks!
Thank you Carol!!
Today she told me that she wanted to be “Mommy” for Halloween. I said “oh, you mean like when I get dressed for work?” She said “no, Mommy in sweatpants and a bathrobe.” No mystery about where she got that idea! At some point in the next few weeks I’ll have to break it to her that that costume is already taken (although I guess I could dress up like her and wear footed pajamas. That sounds pretty nice actually). 🙂
AAh you can’t blame her for wanting to wear Old Velour – robe of a thousand comforting uses. And, as a bonus, you would both be well insulated for Alaska trick or treating!
So much fun to get a little peek into Lady Baby’s stories—talk about tall tales and mysteries—Nick, the tiny, baby Dad and his big motorcycle? I love it—thanks so much for sharing. I’m glad you’re recording some of her stories for her later through your blog! Great paintings (and I hope that she stays a little little for a bit longer too)!
It is a great picture, to think of Baby Boy with his tiny, baby Dad riding on the motorcycle – or in the pickup. Lady Baby’s imagination is grounded in the real world – but it soars! Thank you Michelle!
Little children are endlessly fascinating –whether trying to figure them out or just marveling.
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