Friday, October 5, 2007

Clueless

The other night, I had a profound realization: I have no idea what I’m doing.

I was staring with grossed-out, worried-mom fascination at Kaylee’s left eye, which had decided to puff up and seal itself shut with ooze, and that’s when it hit me. I’m in charge of this little person, and she had a problem, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

Do you rinse the eye out with water? Call the doctor in the middle of the night, crying and screaming that your baby’s eye is about to fall out? Let the dog lick the ooze off? (He totally would do that.) Wait until morning, call in sick to work and take her to see the doctor?

Usually Kaylee keeps her problems simple – she needs a bottle, a diaper change or someone to hold her back from diving off the couch in her attempts to catch a dog. But every once in a while, she throws a little curveball, and I’m reminded that I’m really and truly clueless.

And it fills me with a little bit of terror, wondering about all the things she’ll have to talk about with her therapist when she’s older. (“Your mother did WHAT? She got poop on your head?!?!?!”) But more than that, I feel lucky to be entrusted with her life, and with her little hands, her cute little feet, her crusty eye and her snotty nose. And so far, she seems to think I’m doing ok.

But what does she know? She’s only four months old.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forget the therapist. Wait until she is three and starts rattling to the daycare folks like her cousin Hope. You will be explaining things on a daily basis. Maybe you should plan on a home career.

Heather M. said...

Rob and I have already had many discussions about the things we're not allowed to say anymore once Kaylee learns to repeat everything we say. We'll see how it goes.