The Games We Play

When Short Person was a tiny baby I didn't know what to do with her. Here was this little lump of our flesh and blood, in my arms, watching me. She couldn't talk, couldn't move, and most of the time her little eyes were crossed, proving she couldn't see.

She was as intimidating as hell.

But she had this way of looking at me as if to say, "Come on, Mom. I'm watching. DO something!" So, I started playing games with her.

They started small. At one month, I'd hold her up, my hands under her arms, her little feet on my thighs and play the "Leaning Tower of Baby Meg". I'd lean her from one side to the other side, then back, then front. Slowly, so that her little head wouldn't lull from side to side, but relaxed enough so that if she wanted to test her muscles and build them up, she had the freedom to do so.

A few months later, when she could hold her head upright on her own, I started "Shake the Baby".

Whenever LJS and I bathed our dogs, Sammy and Heidi, we'd always shake the excess water off of them before wrapping them in a towel. We'd hold them under their front legs and wiggle their torsos back and forth. The method migrated to Short Person, but I always sang "Shake the Baby... Shake the BaBEE" to the tune of "Shake Your Booty". That game lasted until she was old enough to stand up and do it herself. She'd stand up after the bath and shake her booty and sing "Shake the Baby".

There was the "Mommy needs Kisses!" or hugs or cuddles game. Where I'd attack her with a million kisses until she was giggling hysterically and saying "do it again! do it again!" and I was too tired to go on. And there were others that I can't remember right now.

But some games started completely by accident.

*********

"Mommy! Mommy!" Short Person rushed into the office and sat down on my lap facing me. "Let's do 'The List'!" I knew that tone of voice. There was no talking her out of it. Ever. She loved doing "The List".

"The List, huh?" I put down the shirt I had been folding and gave in to the little brown eyes looking up at me with anticipated glee.

"Yeah! You do the list and I'll say Macaroni and Cheese!"

The List had started quite by accident one night over a year ago. Short Person had been hungry and wanted something to eat, but didn't know what. I started listing things and have been listing them ever since. Just as I did now.

"Okay, we have lettuce and pickles and cereal and..."

"Macaroni and Cheese!" Shortie shouted out.

I knew my next line. It had been rehearsed over and over and over again, and should I ever forget- or take to long to respond- she was there to help me along.

"Macaroni and Cheese?" I asked. "I didn't put Macaroni and Cheese on the list. Who put Macaroni and Cheese on the List?!"

"I did!" She said with unconcealed enjoyment.

"You did!" I flipped her down and started tickling her until she was nearly hysterical with it. "You can't put Macaroni on the list! Only I can put Macaroni on the list!"

Short Person finished out her bout of laughter and sat up, immediately collecting herself. "Okay Mommy. It's your turn now!"

"My turn?" I hated when it was my turn. I couldn't ever think of anything to put on the list.

"Yeah! I'll do the list and you put... M uh M's on it!"

"Okay."

"We have toast and apples and..."

"M and M's!" I shouted.

And then it was her turn to go through the lines, tickling me as much as she could, enjoying the game...

Some day I know I'm going to wish I had written down all the games we played. I know I've already forgotten some of them. Some of the games we played so often that I'd dread the words. The question to play. The games I now regret have gone the wayside of her maturity.

So here this page sits, to some day be scrapped into the Story of a Short Person as a reminder of the games we played.