Charlie's Thanksgiving Blog

Charlie Crawls -- Get Ready, World! (November 2010, Joe Kopp)

Last year I didn't post my Bowl of Chairies Thanksgiving blog until January 24, 2010 -- the day before Charlie was born. That day I wrote about about how my favorite part of Thanksgiving 2009 had been sitting with Meagan on the couch while the rest of the gang played games at the kitchen table. Together, we looked through the journals I had kept for Meagan when I was pregnant and, sporadically, as she grew.

I recently opened one of those little books so I could compare my Meagan to Charlie when she was the same age -- Ten months old Thanksgiving Day!

Oh, how it all began coming back to me...I wrote to Meagan about how she would climb to the top of the stairs with nary a thought about the consequences, should she miss a step. Charlie hasn't made it to the top stair yet -- at least not on my watch -- but I have saved her from injury a time or two, catching her as she sits on thin air halfway up!

I wrote about how Meagan would climb up and stand on the coffee table. Charlie hasn't done that, but then neither is she walking yet -- Something Meagan started doing when she was nine months old. Charlie seems to prefer crawling, and no one is rushing her!

I wrote about how I would be exhausted from trying to keep up with Meagan all day, as she tore from one "project" to another. I remember making sure that everything in our lower cupboards and on reachable shelves was safe for her to play with. And watching helplessly as she emptied every one of them, thinking I'll clean it up later -- At least she's having fun! Now I sit helplessly and watch Charlie de-book the shelves she can reach, and I think, At least she's not trying to lick the bottoms of someone's shoes or eat the cats' food! For now.

(Did I say I was exhausted then? I was only 26 years old! I didn't even know what exhaustion was!)

I also wrote about how, even though I was exhausted, there were moments in every single day when I was filled with such contentment, I felt like my life was perfect.

Charlie does that to me, too.

Now, as I finish this post, we have celebrated Charlie's first Thanksgiving. There was turkey and stuffing, potatoes and pie. And Charlie's Grandma Vickie and Grandpa Joe were here from Nebraska. Uncle Dj was here, still trying to win Charlie's heart. (I know that someday they're going to be such good friends, we won't believe that she ever cried when he wanted to hold her. But that day isn't here yet.) Our dear friends Jason and his Wendy were also here, and Great Aunt Dawn and Cousin Ali came a little later. And Charlie was wonderful. Even when she got tired and cried.

So this Thanksgiving was special, and I am thankful...