Wednesday, February 10, 2010

loving Gemma

This is Gemma.
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I have completely neglected to encourage her femininity. With Ainsleigh it was easy. I had time to play with her hair (also, she HAD hair). She would look at books. She would color. A lot. She always examined my earrings and was saying "so peeeeee" for "so pretty" from about 15 months on. So of COURSE I sought out girly stuff.

With Donovan, he came out of the womb making car sounds and hasn't really stopped. Running harder, faster, louder: these are his life goals. He's achieving them daily.

Gemma... oh sweet Gemma. She totally flies under the radar. She's just so dang GREAT. When she gets a little cranky around bedtime, I just say, "Do you want to go to bed?" and off she walks. TO HER CRIB. And there she stands, next to it, kind of holding onto one of the bars, looking patiently over her shoulder toward me. As if to say, "Hey, didn't want to bother you. If you could just give me a boost, I'll take it from here." And this has happened on more than one occasion. Actually, it's my preferred bedtime routine now. Lead the way, little one.

When she wakes up in the morning, she's perfectly content to just chill in her room. In fact, do NOT go right in, or she will wave her little hand at you and shake her head as if to say, "I'm not READY for you." Some mornings I want to crawl into her bed with her. But I'm pretty sure she'd get mad.

Also completely characteristic of her: she doesn't say no. Oh she'll shake her head at you. She'll wave her hand in a definitive not-having-it way. But she doesn't SAY no. Her "yes" on the other hand...makes me swoon. It's very small, very quiet, very enunciated. Yesssss.

And she puts away beans and quinoa like nobody's business.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to discover her love of finer things, but it did. At Christmas I began noticing the ornaments disappearing from the bottom of the tree only to find them looped around her wrists as she'd walk around. Soon after that I dug out an old purse of Ainsleigh's and gave it to Gemma. The look on her face indicated I may have well had the moon tucked inside there.

She has also locked onto this string of beads that is the FIRST thing she puts on in the morning and the last thing to come off at night. She will wear them all day, along with anything else she can find to loop around her neck. Sometimes she finds hair bands and puts them on her wrists. Sometimes she tries to loop them on her ears. But always the necklace. And usually the purse. And when we couple that with her fur coat (size 6-12 months - maybe it's getting a little small...) and her squeaker shoes, and she walks around Target, arm outstretched, hand opening and closing while she breathily calls, "Hi!" to everyone who passes, more than a few people have halted in wonder. And when the ask her how old she is, she pleasantly extends one finger and grins.

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And it makes me feel incredibly important whenever I go to sit down on the floor. The second my bum hits the floor, she's sprinting (in that rigid-body forward-propelling motion) toward me and crawling into my lap. I love it. It's a wonder I can say no to anything about her.

Whoops, gotta go. Gemma found some chocolate (how did THAT happen) and obviously I will give it to her. At 5 pm.

7 comments:

Nicki said...

she's such a cutie pie, and I'm absolutely in LOVE with her name!! :) I'm so happy for you, Sarah. You're an awesome person, and an amazing mom!!

NancyO said...

Truly a rare jewel!

Christina said...

ummmmmmmm.... can I have her? ;)

Anne said...

she is yummy.

Shira said...

Oh the adorableness!!! She is just delicious!

laura said...

Ahhhhhh I just want to SQUEEZE her.

wanda said...

I am SO going out and buying her some necklaces. Maybe they'll even have a toilet charm!