Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ten Things You Should Know About Abbie

Today is my daughter Abbie's birthday.  To most people she seems like a quiet, cheerful girl who plays the clarinet and talks endlessly about Twilight.  But there is another Abbie that only a few people know.  There are some secrets that only her mother can tell you.  So I will.

1.  My husband had wanted to name her Emily, which means "industrious", but I liked Abigail, which means "my father rejoices."  When I went into labor we realized we still hadn't agreed on a name, but since I was the one in pushing something the size of a football out of my body, I got to choose.  It turns out she is a hard worker who has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, so I guess we were both on the right track.

2.  Abbie was a girlie-girl when she was little.  All of her favorite clothes were pink and she often wore several different shades of pink together.  Princesses and magic fairies, castles and Prince Charming.  Now she wouldn't wear a ruffle to save her life, dresses are out of the question and boys are "weird.."

3.  She has long, crazy monkey toes.

4.  Abbie is smart, Smart, SMART.  She's not the child prodigy kind of smart, where she'd be graduating college at age 13 but have no friends.  She asks a lot of questions (and I mean a LOT of questions), is a voracious reader, and works really hard in school. And she asks a LOT of questions.

5.  She has the digestive system of a truck driver.  My sweet, fragile flower can belch louder than any one I know and you don't want to enter the bathroom after Abbie's been "reading" in there.

6.  Abbie loves all animals, especially dogs.  Jack, our yellow lab, was her first true love.  It was a difficult time when she decided she loved pigs, but she also loved bacon.

7.  She wants to be a marine biologist.  Or a dog groomer.

8.  Abbie is a wonderful big sister (and a much picked upon little sister).  She is still not too grown up to play Barbies every once in a while and is so kind to her little sister sometimes it makes me want to cry.  And then she pulls out her preteen attitude and I have to give her the look.

9.  She's Team Jacob.

10.  Abbie is willing to try just about anything--food, sports, you name it.  And if she doesn't like it the first time, she'll usually try a second or third time.  She has no built in fear of failure, never assumes she can't do something until she tries.  I am continually amazed by her courage.

I would like to think I'm partly responsible for all the things that makes up Abbie (except for the crazy toes and digestive issues), but Abbie is just going to be Abbie, with or without my intervention.  I sometimes think she could do a fine job raising herself, but I'm glad she's letting me tag along.

2 comments:

  1. How beautiful your daughter is--thank you for sharing her with us all.

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  2. Thank you, Mrs Brown. The fact that she's not perfect, with her special Abbie-ness, makes her even more loveable.

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