Remembering

Well, Little Bit's birthday is coming up. I can't believe she's actually going to be FIVE!!!! Where did the time go??? Seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital...I still remember the ride home, and that weird feeling I got when we walked in the door of our tiny little one bedroom apartment, gazing at that tiny little perfect person still sitting, asleep, in her carseat and thinking, "Okay, I'm a mama...Now what do I do?!" LOL And Merlin crept up next to where her carseat sat, so he could smell her. He wasn't very impressed one way or another...though he did later start sleeping under her bassinet like he was guarding her. I remember how even though they told me she couldn't see more than a few inches from her face, she could watch her mobile and move her eyes and head to follow the little animals as they spun around and around. She LOVED it. I remember, too, how I couldn't sleep with her in the same room as I was, because she was such a loud sleeper, and I jumped up like I was shot every sound she made (so much for MY deep sleeping!) I remember a few weeks later, when she slept though the night, one week less than two months old, and I just about had a heart attack, to realize I'd slept that long and she hadn't woken me! I remember how she HATED baby cereal, and I later discovered, pretty much ALL baby food, in general. I remember how she stopped taking her pacie as soon as she realized she couldn't get food out of it. And how she's ALWAYS loved milk, even to this day. In fact, she wouldn't even let you turn it chocolate until just a few months ago. She's a purist, what can I say? LOL I remember rocking her to sleep EVERY night as I sang to her. I remember how after she started talking, every animal, two legged or four, was a dog. And when she started calling them by their real names, Rhino somehow became "Nano." I remember, too, how when she got older, we discovered she LOVED to drink water, and later, still, root beer, still a personal favorite of us both. I remember every little pair of shoes I've bought her, every jacket, every sweater. And I still have them all, packed up in hopes that one day I might get one more sweet baby girl, and eventually make her (or them) a baby quilt out of them. I remember her first word was Mama, and she used to say it over and over and over, and I never got tired of hearing it. I remember how when she started crawling, she could only go in reverse and how cute (and annoying) it was, esp. when she got "stuck" against a wall and would scream, thinking she was stuck there forever. I remember her Peek-a-Blocks and Roll-a-rounds, Bear in the Big Blue House, and Blue's Clues (now the boys' favorite show...). Oh, there are just so many memories. I could go on and on and on forever, I think. But for now, I will stop, and look at the little owl I made her, and smile, happily reminded of so many "happies" she has brought into my life. Who knew a little pile of wool could bring on so many memories?