PLG Jemma

Our little Jemma . . . a few things have been happening to her lately that make me feel a little sorry for her.

1. She's had this cold for over two weeks. She and Annie got it at exactly the same time; Annie has been totally over it for days, and Jemma seems to be getting worse. I took her to the walk-in hours at our doctor at the crack of dawn this morning (getting there at 8:20 so Annie could still get to school on time was quite a feat for me). The verdict? She has a cold. Ears fine, chest fine. The doctor did comment on how tiny she was and on how much snot she had crusted around her nose. Nice.

2. Her birthday is just over a week away, and still, she only has two teeth. I don't know why this makes me feel sorry for her, but it just does. And speaking of her birthday, let's not talk about the guilt I feel regarding her birthday being so ridiculously close to Christmas.

3. In spite of her being over two years younger than Annie, Annie is still stealing her clothes and toys. (I mean REALLY, Annie . . .) Just this afternoon, Annie took all Jemma's stuffed animals out of her room and spread them all over the hallway. Then, Annie actually somehow stuffed herself into Jemma's cozy fleece bunting and zipped it up.

4. Also this afternoon: Annie (pretending to go to school) was "driving" around the house on her car. She'd come into the living room, where Jemma and I were playing, and announce that she was leaving to go to school. "Bye!" she'd yell. And Jemma would just look around, all sad and confused, and start waving bye-bye as Annie sped down the hall, away from her.

5. Last week, Lucy and Annie were playing together so nicely in Annie's room. I was making coffee in the kitchen when I saw Jemma crawling determinedly toward Annie's room. A minute later, crying ensued. When I went to check, there's Jemma, throwing a fit because Annie had tried to shut the door on her. "Lucy and I are playing school, Mom. Get Jemma out of here because she's ruining our stuff!" I get what Annie's saying, too, because Jemma does rip things apart and "ruin stuff," but I had this eerie feeling that I was witnessing the first of many, many conflicts where Jemma gets left out just because she is "too little."

Oh, little Roo, little Peek-a, she is such a cutie. There have also been countless times in these last few weeks when she's crawled towards me, stopped, kneeled on the floor, and reached her arms up to me imploringly. When I'm cooking dinner or trying to get something done, I'm sometimes impatient with this. But soon she'll be taking her first steps, and then I doubt she'll ever reach for me in exactly that way again.