Cute As a Pumpkin

Lily has lost her two front teeth and appears to have ended up in a spot of bother trying to get a new pair.

Matt took that picture when they were at the museum today before they came over to see us. After 10 weeks, I was definitely ready for a major Lily fix.

My first impression was that she has grown about a foot since we last saw her in July. My second was that it is incredible to me that a little girl can lose her two front teeth and still qualify as the most beautiful girl in the world.

She's now three months past her seventh birthday, and yet most of the rituals we have established when she comes over are the same ones we've been doing since she was 2. Dinner is Kraft macaroni and cheese, apple sauce and chocolate milk. (She is now happy to consider other dishes, but only if they are in addition to mac-n-cheese and apple sauce.)

I suspect that in her mind this is what she eats at Armagh and Bampy's, just the way Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving and anything else just wouldn't seem right. Or maybe it's just that she absolutely loves Kraft mac-n-cheese and we are the only chance she has to eat it

She also has this great territory marker. Within the first hour of coming here, she goes into her bedroom, closes the door and takes out every toy, doll and whatnot and spreads them on the floor. I realize it's her unconscious way of saying "This is my turf and don't forget it" and I guess we should be grateful her instincts haven't led her to spray the room like a cat.

Another of our staple rituals comes at Halloween, when Lily comes over here and trick-or-treats with some of her friend using our house as Snickers Central. Today Linda asked her what she was going to dress as this year and Lily said a witch, but she really wanted to be a pumpkin. She was thinking back to the pumpkin costume she had when she was many years younger, which actually is a hand-me-down, having first seen the light of day with Jordan. (That's when Dave called her, as I recall, "the cutest thing you've ever seen in your life." Unlike me with Lily, Dave is definitely biased about Jordan.)

Lily has now well and truly grown beyond the pumpkin suit, and I thought I would try to get her to change her mind. "Lily," I said, "a pumpkin costume is cute, but it's not very practical. It's big and round and you can't even sit down when you're wearing it."

She got up from her chair and came over to me. She patted my belly and said, "You're big and round and you're sitting down!"

Ten weeks away. I seem to have forgotten that you don't try to con Lily.

Anyhow, lots of hugs and kisses and several hours with the most beautiful girl in the world. Yep. It's good to be home. Ain't nothing better than a Lily fix. And I'm not biased.