“I should remember this.”
The thought strikes me every day as Peeper does something funny or sweet or ridiculous, yet I don’t keep a baby book and I haven’t updated my Peeper journal for months. I’m afraid all the tiny moments will slip into oblivion while I mark only the big ones.
Here, then, are a few glimpses into our everyday lives. These won’t make the front page headlines, but I think they’re worth recording.
Friends with Freddy. Our downstairs neighbors decorated for Halloween, draping the bear statues with fake spiderwebs and hanging spooky critters. They also put up a lifesize paper cutout of a Freddy Krueger lookalike, which bares its sharp teeth at us as we walk toward our door.
Whenever we walk past, Peeper says “Hi!” to Freddy in her cheeriest voice.
“You’ll know to worry if she starts saying ‘hi’ to her closet,” my brother said.
Pumped up at the park. Yesterday Peeper was a beast on the playground. She was struggling to get up the first big step on the play structure but didn’t ask for help (“hep!”), so I didn’t intervene. She kicked her leg up to shoulder height and somehow pulled herself onto the step.
She was too busy moving on to the next one to celebrate or even recognize her accomplishment.
She climbed up and down the rest of our time there but by the end, she was clearly getting tired. Instead of giving up, though, she’d grunt and yell with the effort of dragging her little body onto the first step. She reminded me of a bodybuilder or Maria Sharipova. Peeper’s a beast!
Toddler irony. Peeper recently discovered my underwear drawer. She opens my nightstand, drapes my bras around her neck and tosses my undies over her shoulder.
I figured that since she was happy and occupied, I’d change her diaper while she played there. When I came back with a clean dipes, I realized she had pooped—on my lingerie.
Well, I guess that’s kind of what it’s for.
The kicker: She’s done this twice in the last week. That’ll teach me.
Family plans. Verizon and AT&T got nothin’ on Annie’s. Peeper has been using anything and everything—a box of mac n’ cheese, a cup of crayons, the remote control, a package of oatmeal—to call her grandma.
“Nana, Nana,” she says while cradling the object near her ear.
We’ll see if messaging and data rates apply.
How did you record your kids’ everyday antics?
