Miss M: ”Hold me like you did when my was a baby Mummy.”
I lift her from the bubbles and wrap her in a soft, radiator warm, towel. Her head nestles in the crook of my arm and I tuck my hand beneath her swaddled knees and hug her to my breast as I look down into her sweet face, and smile.
As I lay her gently on the bed she coos and wiggles and makes baby noises. I fix her nappy and pull on her clothes, moving her small body like I did 2 or 3 years ago. Pink and warm, fresh from the bath and clothed in fleecy pjs, my little girl stares into my face as I tuck her into bed. Her eyes are wide, the skin between her eyebrows puckered, her mouth a small pinched line.
Miss M: ”Are little girls who are four still your baby Mummy?”
Me: ”Yes, and little girls who are eight. My little girls will always be my babies, even when they are all grown up.”
I grin, but instead of echoing my expression as she usually would, a lip starts to tremble then widens into a grimace, and her eyes begin to pool and puddle.
Miss M: ”Mummy, my don’t want to be a grown up.”
Me: ”Well you might, by the time you get there babe.”
Miss M: (Wailing.) ”But my don’t want to. My want to be little.”
Me: ”Well being little is lovely, but being big is lovely too.”
Miss M: ”sniff…But…sniff…my…sniff…don’t…sniff…want to…sniff, sob…be…sniff…bigger bigger…sniff, sob, warble.”
I lie down beside her and hold her, but she pushes me away and as I sit up she clambers on to my knee and locks her arms around my neck.
Miss M: ”My don’t want to be bigger…sniff…because den my can’t get on your knee.”
I bite away a grin and rock her.
Me: ”Well you probably won’t want to sit on my knee when you’re bigger babe. But you’ll still be able to have cuddles and kisses and lots of hugs.
Miss M: ”But my will want to sit on your knee ee eeeeee.”
Me: ”Erm, well you could sit on my knee I suppose..”
Miss M: ”But you don’t sit on Granny’s knee.”
An image flashes into my head of me perched atop my much smaller Mum’s knee. Well, it’s more an image of me on a chair with a tiny pair of arms sticking out either side of me, and four legs.
Me: ”Well..I COULD sit on Granny’s knee…”
Miss M fixes me with that wide eyed, hopeful stare that small children seem to do so well. The one where if she was a cartoon her eyes would grow to enormous proportions, her eyelashes would thicken and curl, and her heart would be visibly beating in a comparatively tiny fragile little chest.
Miss M: ”Could you Mummy?”
Me: ”Yes. Now what story shall we have?”
Sorry Mum!
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February 23rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Ah! Bless her! It won’t last long. Give her a year and she’ll want to be all grown-up – in fact she will think she IS all grown-up and will be dictating her own bedtime – trust me on this one!
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
your Mum would probably even LET you sit on her knee, because even grown girls are always their Mum’s babies, isn’t that right, Jo?
She may well be sitting on your knee for the next forty years
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
sniff sniff…..what a tender little heart. sigh…hold on to this NEED of you. we’ll need to look back on it.
hugs! thanks for the heartwarming post, JO! Have a great week!
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I know exactly how she feels. If it weren’t for all I would miss, I would want to stay little and protected from the world, too. You’re a good mommy…now get off Granny…her knees are rupturing…
Sandi
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Mums of all ages are extra-special.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Oh the little darling!
February 24th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Aw … I wish you could replay this when she’s older and doesnt want to be snuggled …
February 24th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
What a love…great post Jo and I just love that picture at the end
xxx
February 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Rosie it was just so sweet and cute and sad. I had to squeeze her alot.
Mie, I bet she won’t, but if she is I’ll wear scratchy trousers, then maybe she’ll stop. ;D
Corey thank you my lovely. You’re so right. It won’t be long before we’re begging them for cuddles. Sigh.
Sandi you’re so right…about EVERYTHING. Hee hee.
David they are. But Dad’s are pretty amazing too. ;D
Kim I know. It was another melty moment.
Daryl, I’ll show it her then, and also the pics of her in my make up or with her finger up her nose. Then I’ll say, ‘Cuddle me or your boyfrined gets ‘em. Mwah ha ha haaaaa.’
Almost Mrs Average, ahhh she really got me. And I had fun doodling that picture.
February 24th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Oh no! Poor Granny! Hahahaha
February 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am
This was so great, made me laugh AND cry at the same time. My dear daughter will need to read this when she gets home, because of the conversations we have about who my mom means when she says “how’s my girl today?”
And my mom still pulls me on her lap when I go to her house…
February 25th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I loved this post, thank you for sharing this. I leave with a smile