07 November 2008

Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Katrina's had a tough few months, what with the addition of a brand-new baby and starting at a brand-new school. And being the little extrovert that she is, all of her feelings are expressed...loudly. Trust me, unless you have been here to witness it (hi, grandparents!), you have NO IDEA how loudly.

But things seem to be calming down a bit. And Katrina's fallen in love with the baby, bit by bit. And Annika's first real laugh, just a week ago, came when Katrina leaned into her line of sight and smiled.

The other morning, I mentioned the upcoming surgery to mend Annika's cleft lip (November 19).

"Oh, poor Annika!" said Katrina.

"I know, but she needs it to fix her lip," I said.

"No she doesn't! She's cute the way she is!"

And, that, folks, is when I fell in love all over again with my amazing older daughter.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's really sweet. Sometimes i think it's not really the supposed innocence of children that inspires me, but their clearsightedness. (Which is probably related to the fact that their imaginations haven't yet been overwhelmed by the mass of received opinions that hamper us as we grow older.)

Anonymous said...

Tell K that I like her haircut! Love the new pics. And, for what it's worth, I agree 100% with K. With her bald head, A has a very cute grumpy old man look about her, which I find incredibly endearing. Can't wait to meet her!

Jennifer said...

Dave, re: clearsightedness, it's interesting the difference between what (random) adults say and what kids say when seeing Annika in the course of us being out and about. Some adults go on and ON about how beautiful she is, to the point that I think they're overdoing it.

Children generally go, "Aw, a baby!" and then ask about her lip. I say "Oh, she was born that way," matter-of-factly, and sometimes add that the doctors will fix it soon. The kids generally then say "oh!" and that's that (then they try to touch her fuzzy head :) ). One of Katrina's schoolfriends was more interested in why Annika had no hair...turns out her newborn baby brother has quite a bit of dark hair.

Wendy, thanks...I can't wait for the babies to meet each other, too!

Anonymous said...

Cute new pics, Jennifer. I'll be thinking of you and Annika on the surgery date.

Anonymous said...

Agree with many of Wendy's comments. Love the new pix and Katrina's new 'do is gorgeous. Thinking of you all in advance of the surgery. Will call you when we return from the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and the highest compliment of all! Tell Katrina that BAIN really likes her new haircut. Given that he rarely dishes out compliments, that's a big deal!