Ten Feet High and Melting

Why ten feet high? Because Maggie is in a very affectionate phase right now, and has decided she needs to give a lot of hugs and kisses to the world at large. We were chatting with some friends after church the other day, and Maggie kept walking up to the other little kids, patting me on the leg, and saying "Mom!" Like, "hey, this is my mom, check her out, cool, huh?" I get kisses and huge hugs whenever I pick her up from school or upon coming home from my second job, getting her from a nap, etc. She's also taken to stroking my arm or leg and then patting me on the back, something I realize I do with her all the time almost unconsciously.

I knew when I would think about being a mother that I would love my kid and take great pleasure in all that delicious baby physicality. IS there anything more nibble-able than baby feet, after all? But it hardly occured to me that she would, in fact, love me back and be as comforted by my physical attributes as I am by hers. I love my own parents (despite occasionally thinking they exist soley to make me insane) but I never thought of my own parenthood as a two-way relationship. Much as toddlerhood seems to be preparing me for adolescence with the whole "I love you, I hate you, let me do it myself but don't go where I can't see you" thing happening with Maggie right now, I am reveling in the relationsip we're building and hope it will sustain us through the challenges that lie ahead.


Why melting?? Because I have apparently moved to the f-ing tropics without realizing it. Global warming has come to Michigan. It's HOT. 95 degrees Saturday, 96 yesterday, 97 today and 98 tomorrow. I hate hot weather with every fiber of my being. Most Michiganders hate winter and whine and bitch about the snow. I hate hot, sticky, humid Michigan summers. When it's cold, you can put on an extra pair of socks, wrap up in Polarfleece and snuggle with someone you love. When it's hot, even getting starkers doesn't help. And given that this is an allegedly temperate state, our air conditioning is just not set up for this. Last night, we'd had the AC window unit at full blast for a bit before going to bed and I still was sweaty amd miserable and actaully asked Paul to NOT put his arm around me and get hs hot, sweatty self back to his side of the bed. I woke up in the night to find my cat trying to share my pillow and squeaking loudly by way of complaint, and I think I told him to shut his cake hole. My makeup runs, my hair poufs and frizzes, and I continually am experiencing TDF (total deodorant failure). I'm living on Fudgesicles and salad.

Andit's at least another month until fall.