Journal Excerpt

It’s leaps and bounds these days. Leaps and bounds. If I blink I’m liable to miss her growing another couple of inches. I find it comforting to look at the three familiar rolls of fat on her thighs. Particularly when she’s standing up and jiggling her butt to the beat. The chubby thighs, proof of babyness—that, and her belly that gets absolutely enormous after a meal. When she tries to walk it walks ahead of her and she has to arch her back to stay balanced. The other day we were pointing out each other’s bellybuttons and it occurred to me that she couldn’t see hers because her belly was too big. She just kept looking and looking for it.