More Baby...

Everybody loved me, which is why I received a Grand Tour of the family over the next year. I had lots of uncles and aunts and cousins. I liked my Aunt Clara the best, but I never told anybody that because when you’re the favorite, everyone wants to be your favorite, too. Daddy’s mother was the only one who’d take Kody, due to his being a handful. I should explain that Dad’s parents had divorced and then both remarried, so Grandma Watt was my step-grandma, and Grandma Boone was the DNA donation grandma. Anyway, Grandpa and Grandma Watt started talking about adopting me. Daddy didn’t waste time hauling me out of there and handing me over to Grandma Boone. This was a good thing if only because Grandma Watt was big on feeding babies. The photo taken out on her front steps shows her beaming, holding onto my chubby fists as I stood before her. In that snapshot, I am a small square child. Also, they wanted to change my name to Belva or Melba or something like that. Ugh.

Daddy was still in the Navy all this time, so we only saw him on leaves. I didn’t care: I had my Kody back. The family kept pestering, insisting that Grandma Boone couldn’t possibly take care of another toddler when she had to deal with Kody, but the truth was, he was much better with me than without me. I adored him. Some of my first real memories are playing Tiger and Bear in the long grass of the backyard. We hid, we stalked, we pounced, we wrestled, we roared. It was lovely, and I wouldn’t have traded it for a dozen hundred-acre woods.

One day Grandma politely asked me to use the potty instead of diapers. That was okay by me—diapers were stinky. I liked the pretty panties she got me instead. I never wore anything twice because Grandma wasn’t into doing laundry. Every day: brand new panties, new socks, new dress. I was a princess, and Kody was a little prince. We were also adorable. People said I looked like Shirley Temple. Kody was…well, he was real cute too. I didn’t think there was anyone in the world half as beautiful as Kody.

Daddy started thinking about becoming a doctor. This made him health-conscious, especially at bedtime. He’d turn off the light and I’d do Itsy Bitsy Spider in the dark. He’d scream that I was ruining my eyes and Grandma Boone would have to soothe him down. After I had enough of that, I just climbed out of my crib and got my stuffed tiger. I could whisper very softly in his ear, so nobody else could hear. He liked having a story or two until we fell asleep. Then my stuffed donkey got jealous (he was wonderful, with a zipper down his back that you could open and then hide something inside), so I had to bring him too. After that, my elephant and teddy bear and Raggedy Ann and all the others started crying about being lonely, so I had to bring them all. Daddy got completely crazed when he discovered this. “She’ll suffocate in her sleep!” he’d yell, and Grandma would say I was old enough not to smother myself with a few toys. He said fifty or sixty toys was not a few, and if I didn’t smother myself, I’d get a crook in my back from sleeping on them. He kept yelling until she punched his arm and said she’d call the cops if he didn’t pipe down. He reminded me of Kody, except he never fell on the floor and kicked while he screamed. Some people just have too much energy, said Grandma.