Remembering When
I hear a thump and run to see what’s going on.
Charlie is sitting with his legs curled under him and looking through a big white photo album, the one with his first photos: Charlie as a red-faced newborn with one of those little caps on his head and me smiling and beyond unglamorous. (21 1/2 hours of labor…….) Charlie swaddled up in a blanket by the nurses; I was never able to do this with him, as he kicked the blanket off immediately. The first time Jim held Charlie, a big headed bundle. Charlie in his crib in a t-shirt decorated with three pastel rabbits (the shirt was a gift from a student). Charlie with jaundice and hooked up to a wallaby blanket for days. Charlie in his bouncey chair, all big eyes and black hair……..
“It’s you as a baby!” I say.
“Baby,” says Charlie.
“You were a baby once. Charlie was a baby.”
“Charlie baby,” says Charlie and looks, eyes big as ever, at the photos.
“But not any more,” I add.
“Not any more,” says Charlie, carefully enunciating each phoneme.
I mention one of his first ABA therapists who just had her second baby and remind him of another, who is also expecting #2.
“You were a baby once. But now you’re big,” I continue.
“Now big,” says Charlie. He turns the page and looks, and then turns to another page, and keeps looking and turning. I’m on the verge of saying “You’ll always be my baby” and decide not to for the moment, as that might be kind of confusing.
As I walk away, I’m wondering not so much where did it all go? as where will we go to next?
7 opinions for Remembering When
Marla
Dec 21, 2007 at 9:00 am
Very sweet! I love looking at baby pictures!
Kathy
Dec 21, 2007 at 9:13 am
This reminds me of an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Mark’s aide was explaining the nativity story to him.
There was a picture of the flight into Egypt.
His aide posed this question to him: What was Mary holding in her arms.
Without missing a beat my beautiful boy replied,” A bread roll.” Lol!
mothersvox
Dec 21, 2007 at 10:14 am
Oh Kristina, I know exactly what you mean . . . The intensity of my nostalgia for Sweet M’s babyhood and toddlerhood has been beyond description lately. Thanks for sharing this . . .
Casdok
Dec 21, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Very cute. Where indeed does it all go. I cant believe my baby is towering over me!
feebee
Dec 21, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Me too. I am expecting my sixth child in just a few weeks and my nostalgia for the babyhoods of my other children has been strong, as I fold the wee diapers and clothes yet again.
My autistic son is no longer a baby either, but a long, lanky thing, verging on age five. He hugged me tight last night, and lay his head on my enormous belly, saying “Baby. Mama.”
Ah the sweetness. And where will we go next, indeed!
Niksmom
Dec 21, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Oh the sweetness of the memories, indeed! I always love seeing where the journey takes you and Charlie. :-)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Dec 21, 2007 at 9:49 pm
A bread roll! Still laughing………
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