Tuesdays with Sadie

6:30 Lil s is deposited on my chest in a state of sheer joy. She smiles at me and then begins looking for something more interesting. S deposits her three little pigs collection on our bed, and I attempt to hem her in. She scoots around the bed investigating the three little pigs and the three barns, shaking the largest above her head and laughing/hyperventilating. When she grows restless I squeeze one of the little pigs, and she turns to face me and smiles, crawling towards the pig. Upon her arrival, she briefly clutches the pig before dropping him and turning back around.

7:05 The three little pigs lose their sway on her, and we're forced to go downstairs. Downstairs I throw her toys out haphazardly and she gets interested in whatever comes out next. Consume, I yell to her, consume. She crawls over and inspects a shoe.



7-5:45 P.M. Lil s is in an exceedingly good mood. She scoots around from object to object in the living room entertaining herself as she goes. When I go into the kitchen she cries for a moment and then scoots her way to try and catch me. Generally she gets hung up on our small coffee table and peers into the dining room from underneath its legs. If she catches my eye she smiles and pats the floor.



We spend the day listening to a Jane Austen novel, Persuasion, from Librivox. I'm trying to imbue in s a sense that it's exceedingly important to get married and that a young woman's concern should be about nothing else. She has very alert eyes. I think that she will probably be best described as clever. I think she'll be clever. I can only hope as a parent that she unites my wit with her mother's fortitude. It would be nice if the best of us were united in lil s.

Lil s's favorite thing is to have a blanket tossed over her head. She finds the whole thing hilarious. Though dubious in terms of humor I find myself tossing a blanket over her head a few times today while lying on the floor next to her, passing the time in laughter.

For a while we practice her language skills. However, she'll really only say things when she's mad. As she's in such a good mood she mainly just trills. Occasionally, before naps, the trills turn dark. I trill back at her. It's like we're a couple of birds.

In the morning she eats her pears with minimal collateral damage. It's hard to notice on a day to day basis, but she's getting better at many things. After her afternoon nap, on the way downstairs, she turns and looks at me, smiling, a little light in her eyes to see my familiar face. When I smile back at her she turns her head away and begins patting my shoulder. Yes, I'm your daddy.

For a while I throw a blue ball to her, and a couple of times she sort of nudges it back. Though she quickly grows bored and scoots over to look at my face, level on the ground with hers. And she breathes very quickly, and tries to snatch my glasses or grab my eyeballs. Gentle. Gentle, I tell her.

During her morning naps I sleep as well. Today, we managed to just sit in the living room. I noticed a couple of bug bites on her leg and didn't want to subject her to more. I stand at the window and point to our backyard, naming the flowers, cone flowers with bees whirring round them, black-eyed susans beginning to blossom, the tall pure white obedient plants, high bush blueberries, wax myrtle, but she's already faded out, and is busy trying to grab a glass that's almost within her reach.

On the way downstairs at 5:40, five minutes before S usually arrives home, I carry s down from her crib where she's been not taking a nap. "You've been a good baby," I tell her, patting the center of her little back. "You're a clever girl."