Lucidia Lohman

Mommy Means…

In anticipation of Kelly’s first Mother’s Day (and hoping to avoid the traditional platitude-laden greeting card-type blog post that accompanies these sappy holidays), I had a conversation with my beautiful daughter this morning–a conversation that I’ve had with her whenever we’ve had a few minutes of “daddy-daughter time.” As she stared up at me with her magnificant exploding suns (her mother says she gets them from me) just oozing with consciousness and self-awareness, I asked her to encapsulate everything her mother represents to her. Between cascades of glistening drool and outbreaks of semi-productive coughs (little bugger has a cold), this is what she babbled to me. (Please don’t fault me if my decoding of baby speak isn’t as finely honed as I’d like it to be quite yet.)

1. Mommy means never having to look very far for a hug.
2. Mommy means that I am the center of someone’s universe.
3. Mommy means that getting lost is perfectly OK, as long as it is in her eyes.
4. Mommy means that there are no real boo-boos… just temporary ones.
5. Mommy means that I will grow up assured that my unlimited potential will be respected and cherished.
6. Mommy means full tummies and (sorry Daddy) even fuller dye-dees!
7. Mommy means inspiration, because she’s the smartest and most inventive mommy ever!
8. Mommy means it when she says I’ll have a swing set someday.
9. Mommy means skipping rocks and jumping over puddles will always be quality time.
10. Mommy means perfection, wrapped in embracing arms, luminescent eyes, and fragrant hair!
11. Mommy means peaceful bedtimes and bright-eyed wake-times.
12. Mommy means that my hair is safe from Daddy’s tomfoolery.
13. Mommy means that I’ll have all the froggies and duckies I can stomach.
14. Mommy means that I’ll always have someone to look up to, even though I’ll be the tallest member of the family.
15. Mommy means that, by this time next year, I will have learned many more things that mommy means.

Lucidia also said that she hopes her Mommy knows how much Mommy means to Lulu (and to Lulu’s daddy), and that she has a relaxing and enjoyable Mother’s Day doing what she does best–cuddling her little Lulu.

It still seems like yesterday that we postponed the beginning of “Shaun of the Dead” so that we could jump up-and-down in excitement at the prospect of adding a new member to the family. There were rushed phone calls, abandoning of unhealthy habits (the bottle of Bombay Sapphire has finally been polished off), and plenty of anxiety, but I could see the excitement literally brimming on Kelly’s eyes, threatening to spill over and intoxicate everyone around her… which is exactly what happened frequently over the next 10 months.

There’s never been someone who approached motherhood with as much zeal and eagerness while remaining pragmatic and utterly reasonable as Lulu’s Mommy–though she’d likely deny it, her overall attitude and embracing of this new role has left an indelible mark on Lulu and must be at least part of the basis for our daughter being so even tempered and…well…so damn good!

I’m very proud that Kelly is Lulu’s Mommy. There’s no one else that can bring out the best in our daugther the way that she does–whether it’s her “stand up, rock out” games, “mommybeargetbabybeargonom-nom-nom-nom-nom” routine, middle of the night wakeful shenanigan-busting (i.e., Responding to an onset of Lulu-on-her-belly-at-3-AM), or just a loving glance across the room or close-up. Here’s to many more years of this partnership, the best Mommy a Lulu could dream for, and one hell of a daughter that makes her Daddy proud every moment!

Love,

Dad.

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