Listen to Me

You know those commercials that have the little girl or little boy and then it fast forwards or what have you to teenage horrors like drugs and runaways? And the point is if you talked to/listened to your child when they were young it would have prevented all those horrors?

Well, Abby was at Gramma's house Saturday night and everything's a little wacky as far as our routine due to Gramma's move and to Jack and all that. So Abby had a little trouble letting me go after I dropped her off but then she went off into the routine of Gramma-ness.

But when she goes to bed of course everything sort of boils up and finally Gramma let her call me. I missed the first call, but called back. She said she missed me over and over and I suggested Gramma give her a placebo for her cough and on the conversation goes like that (Steve was out and Jack was crying in his pack'n'play), but, at a loss for anything else to help her, I just stayed on the phone and told her I missed her too and loved her and kept everything chipper and good.

And then she interrupted me as I tried to happily list off the fun agenda for the morning with, "Momma, you have to listen to me. I miss you."

And however she did it I realized "I miss you" wasn't just fact or a hint that she wanted me, it is literally a synonym for her for "I want you here". It's not that it's such a huge revelation or anything, but she was just so clear and insistent - she knew I wasn't quite getting her point and she really wanted me to understand.

Of course, Jack (still crying), may have felt the very same way.

Anyway, it was poignant. It makes me think that she has the ability and confidence to make herself heard. She knows she's loved and accepted even if we don't always rush to do just what she wants.

I just can't get over how old she sounds on the phone.

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