Sugar and Spice

Little girls are so sweet. Their mothers adorn them in frilly, lacy dresses. Precious little girl smiles beam from their faces. Beautiful, flowing hair graces their heads. They are so feminine and cute.

We got to spend time with Marty’s youngest granddaughter, Julianna, this past Sunday. Carmen, Shane and Julianna traveled with Marty and me to Paris, Texas for the confirmation of Marty’s grandson, John.

We arrived at church almost an hour early. Carmen had dressed Julianna in a precious little blue and white dress. She had on white tights and dainty little white shoes. The only flaw I had noticed was that her bangs were hanging in her eyes. I decided to tie them back with a rubber band. I grabbed Julianna and began brushing her hair. She started crying. I persisted in brushing. She went limp and collapsed to the floor. I returned her to my lap and squeezed her between my legs. I started putting in the rubber band. She threw her head from side to side. I made a few more twists in the rubber band. She escaped from my lap and I barely finished putting in the rubber band before she ran away.

When church began and we sat down, she was fussing mildly and rubbing her eyes. I took her to the nursery.
“I’ll get this kid to sleep in no time and I will be able to return to my seat with a sleeping child and enjoy the service.”
So, I thought.

In the nursery I stood and patted her. I sat and rocked her. I held her tight until my arms were aching and I was sweating. It was a long service. I chased her and wrestled with her for 2 hours during the church service. She finally got so rambunctious that I took her out to the car and strapped her into her car seat. I sat in the front seat for 20 minutes and read my book.

She sat in the back and drank her juice and fussed about being confined. She finally got quiet and I was able to devote myself to reading my book. A few minutes later, I heard her shoe striking the seat after she removed it and hurled it across the car. I saw no harm in her removing her shoe. In a minute I heard the other shoe as she dropped it to the floor. Now she could relax since her feet were no longer confined. She seemed content and all was quiet for about 5 minutes. Then I heard this slurping noise coming from the back seat. It sounded as if she was sucking on a lollipop. I turned around to view a strange sight.

She had obviously been busy for the last 5 minutes. I could see that she had pulled on the tights on her right foot. She yanked on the tights until the heel was at her toe. She tugged some more until the area for her knee was down at her foot. Then she gave the tights a final stretch until she reached her goal. When I turned around, she had the toe of her tights in her mouth and she was happily sucking away. I decided it was time to put her feminine little shoes back on.

Later at Aunt Taunya’s house in the country, she was excited to check out the many amusements available to her. Mommy changed her from her frilly dress and white shoes to jeans and sandals. She ran in the grass in the big yard. She pulled on the gate to the back pasture. Her hair (bangs amazingly still in the rubber band) flew behind her as she rode through the air in the swing. Her mommy, Carmen, took her for a walk in the back lot to see the baby ducks. The ducks were in a pen. Aunt Taunya said they would soon be big enough to be released into the yard where they could enjoy the duck pond. The pond was an oval just 6 feet wide and only 1 foot deep. Even though it was small, the previous flock of ducks had gotten maximum enjoyment out of the few gallons of water in the pool.

Julianna and Mommy returned to the main yard and Julianna kept Mommy and Pa Paw and me busy monitoring her whereabouts. She opened the gate and escaped 20 feet into the back pasture before I caught her and hauled her back. She roamed about the yard, petted the dog, chased the kittens and looked for an escape route through the front gate. We felt safe when she became interested in a ball in the middle of the yard. We all sat down to rest and watch her from the comfort of our chairs. She stopped in front of the duck pond. We all watched as she gazed into the water. Then without warning, she walked right into the pond. Her jeans were soaked to the knees. Mommy took her inside and put her into a pair of dry shorts. Fortunately, the sandals just required shaking out. (I don’t know if the toes of sandals are as tasty as the toes of tights. Perhaps not. I didn’t see her sampling them.)

Later there was chocolate cake that I used to lure her once again away from the back gate. Aunt Taunya even provided an Easter egg hunt and Juli picked up six eggs. Finally at 4:30 pm it was time to go. We all loaded into the car: Marty, Carmen, Shane, Julianna and me. We got about 10 minutes down the road and Carmen said,
“Julianna is asleep.”
I turned around so I could see her. She looked so cute and feminine. When she was asleep.