Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Birthday for Ben

My mind settles slowly back into my body. With the final fury of instinct past, I'm completely blank, like an angel has pressed my restart button. Donna tells me, "Look at your baby, Katrina. He's looking at you."

And I remember where I am - what I've just done.

I look down at the baby in my arms. Here's Ben. He's absolutely perfect, I'm convinced of it. I can't look away. His tiny dark eyes watch me in the dim morning light. I take his long fingers and wrap them around my finger. Then he lets out a cry. Just one, like he's testing it out. We go back to inspecting each other. I've given birth twice already, but I've never had this moment before. It's monumental, this sudden and unexpected calm. I could stay in the water forever, just touching his silk cheeks, watching him breathe. "What do you think?" my husband asks. "Does he look like a Benjamin?"
"Oh, yeah," I say, coming back to the world around me. "Yeah, he does."

Ben starts to cry again, and all I want to do is hold him close, kiss his face, and teach him to smile.


For those of you wondering why I never blog anymore, here's an answer. :) I usually get back into writing within a few months after having a baby, but now I have three, so we'll see how it goes. I still blog weekly at Operation Awesome on Fridays, and post to Afterglow Book Reviews when I fall in love with a book.

I'll be back. (said Terminator-style)

Friday, May 21, 2010

Why My Baby is My Hero (and should be yours, too)

© Carbouval | Dreamstime.com


My baby is my hero.

He's got more going on than my current protagonist, who is fighting evil in his own family, and trying to gain control over his very sporadic powers.

You don't believe me?

Listen to this compilation of misery:

TEETHING
  • swollen gums 
  • sore mouth 
  • compulsion to chew on anything in sight
COLD VIRUS
  • runny nose 
  • sore throat
  • mouth breathing vs. hunger (can't eat and breathe at the same time)
  • scratchy tissue paper assault courtesy of mom
FIRST STOVE TOP BURN
  • exposed sensitive skin
  • poky toys
  • compulsion to grab things causing pain
BIG BROTHER
  • thinks he's a toy
  • tries to carry him
  • steamrolls him
  • takes away his toys
DIAPERS
  • poop; need I say more?
SLEEPY
  • near-constant need for sleep

Okay, I'll stop there, but I'm sure he's feeling other things I can't put my finger on as an outside observer. The amazing thing is that he's laughing, and cruising along furniture as we speak. I'm pretty sure he's eating California right now (USA wooden puzzle). But he's happy.

It got me thinking about two things:

1. My baby is amazing! He's resilient. He's perky. He's way tougher than I'll ever be. I mean, I'm sick right now, and I'm being a total baby (obviously not) about it. He's just going on with his quest of learning to walk. And that's plain heroic.

2. The hero of my current WIP is weak sauce compared with Baby LJ. And I could learn something about characterization by looking at what an actual, real-life hero deals with on a daily basis. We are what we do, right? LJ is a hardcore survivor type. My protag is a sissy la la. Maybe if I gave him a few more external problems (big brother, teething, diapers) and a solid internal dilemma (compulsion to stick everything in his mouth), he'd make for a rounder, more developed character.

Food for thought, people. I'm off to make my fictional hero more like an 8-month-old.