She’s a Peach, She’s a Doll, She’s a Pal of Mine*

Caroline was born on July 1st, 2007. (Look, pictures! You didn’t know that site existed did you?) It was her due date, but not her choice; the labor was started by induction. Although really she and Liz didn’t need much help; when we arrived at the hospital the nurses found Liz already at 4 cm. The induction was started by breaking the membranes, and that was all anyone needed to tell Caroline. Less than four hours after we arrived at the hospital, Caroline was born.

But not pushed out. No the nurses had Liz push twice and then realized that if they wanted the doctor to be in the room when the baby was in the room, they had better just wait. So they told Liz to not push on the next contraction. (I’m told this is easier said than done.) So Liz defied biology while the doctor hustled in threw on his gown and plopped down on his stool just in time to catch Caroline as her mother laughed her out. Yeah, that’s right, it wasn’t a womanly, bearing down push that brought Caroline into this world. It was a big happy fit of belly laughs.

It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

And there was our Caroline. A beautiful, gorgeous, evil, man-eating newborn. OK, technically she was woman-eating, but you know if you got close enough to her she didn’t care what you were, she would try to eat you. And she was mean. And screetchy. We loved her dearly, but as I have said before, she was a hard newborn to like. But, she outgrew all of that and by eight months was a beautiful happy baby who didn’t try to eat anyone, mainly because she was weaned early.

She grew into a crawler, a cruiser, a walker, a toddler. She was the first person to ever *squee* when she saw me walk into the room. She loves balls, and cars, and climbing and eating. Always, the eating. She loves life. She runs from room to room, toy to toy, moment to moment. And when she isn’t running, she’s hopping while making the happiest noise ever, “Eee. Eee. Eee. Eee.”

And yes, she’s a hitter, and a thrower, and she still takes a pacifier at night. Maybe she watches too much TV and she definitely plays with toys that aren’t toddler approved. But she does these things because she’s smart. She knows how to angle each parent, and her poor unsuspecting brother. She plans and she plots. She tricks and manipulates. And I let her, because I love her.

Today, Caroline Ruth Henry is two years old. Today we celebrate one of the true loves of my life.

Happy birthday, Bug-Bug.

* The title of this post comes from the song Other Father Song by They Might Be Giants. It’s on the soundtrack of the film Coraline, which is based on the graphic novel of the same name. The song is one of Caroline’s favorites, she’ll often point at my iPhone and say “Coraline?”