Thursday, April 13, 2017Changing Stories
I think one of my favorite things about the age gap is the transfer of knowledge from the Big Kid to the Tiny Human. The Big Kid takes her duties as the older sister very seriously and does what she can to give Mila the tools she needs to navigate the world.
Alexis seeks to make the world a better place for Mila.
Part of making the world a better place is warning Tiny of the things that may be dangerous. There's guidance about standing on the kitchen table (we all tell Mila it's a bad idea, she just doesn't care). Alexis warns Mila when a movie might be scary. She most definitely warns the younger sister about criminals that might do harm.
The Easter Bunny.
Alexis has been scared of the Easter Bunny for all of history. I don't really know why it started, but ever since her 6th Easter, she has told a detailed story about the horrors of a bunny being in her bedroom. Seriously, her story has not changed in all of these years. Even her description of the clothes he was wearing has stayed exactly the same.
The only time the story has changed was this week. This week Alexis decided to tell Mila all about Easter, which is admittedly the exact holiday Mila has been training for her entire life. There's hunting and searching and candy and basically, it's going to be a really good weekend. Alexis properly built up the holiday with a lot of emphasis on the egg hunting and candy, because of course she has her priorities straight. Ahem.
But when Alexis was telling Mila about the Easter Bunny, well, THAT is when things turned interesting.
"He's a really good bunny. He visits and brings you eggs and candy and if you're nice to him, he might leave you toys, too," Alexis instructed her sister. "He might seem a little scary, but don't worry. I'll take care of him if he scares you," she finished.
Which, WHAT? SINCE WHEN?
I'm tempted to dress Mila up in a bunny suit and let her chase Alexis around in the middle of the night this weekend.
In the Quiet of the Night
That itty bitty baby who was just born is nudging her way towards a third birthday. Impossible, I know, but it's true. There's like six weeks left of two and I fully intend to enjoy every second of it.
I'm especially planning to enjoy that thing where Mila still hasn't figured out how to climb out of her crib. She climbs IN, but never out. It's magical and stuff. For as long as it works as a cage, the crib is staying. That's despite the fact that Mila still calls for me at night. If she were in a big girl bed, she might wander down the hall on her own, but that magical cage thing is worth the cost of getting out of bed to check on her as requested.
She still requests my presence most nights. I managed to jinx her into staying asleep in her own bed for a bunch of nights, but I knew it wasn't permanent. Mila won't be little forever, so it's fine. At least when she calls me at 2:00 a.m. now, there isn't a boy or alcohol or some sort of bad choice involved.
Right?
Right.
Last night Mila summoned me at exactly 2:12. I know it was exactly 2:12 because that's the sort of thing you memorize for no reason at all. I could have space in my head for useful things, but no, I remember wake-up times. I stumbled my way down the hall, fully expecting to find a wide awake Mila staring at me through the darkness. That's what I find more often than not, so it was a reasonable expectation.
Mila was laying down, though. I usually just grab her and take her back to bed with me when she wakes up in the middle of the night, but what's there to do if she's laying down? I decided to wait and see what was going to happen next.
Her breath fell softly and she seemed to still be asleep. Maybe I had imagined her calling out "Momma?" I am well-trained at this point. I could have imagined it. I listened to her breathe for a few seconds and then turned to go back to bed.
"I love you, momma," a little voice whispered in the dark.
I paused. Mila was definitely still sleeping. Some dreams seemingly come with a little gift for me, I guess.
For what's it worth, she summoned me for real at 2:48. It's a good thing I'm trained to not need continuous hours of sleep.
