Things That Will Too Soon Be Forgotten, Part 1

My mother warned me that this would happen. That before I knew it, Otter would change and what came before would quickly become but a distant memory. Of course, there are a number of things that I don't mind letting go of, and a few, that I would vehemently urge her to outgrow as quickly as possible. I doubt that there will come a time when I will wistfully think back on multiple night awakenings. Every night.

Yet there are those things that she no longer does or is about to stop doing that make me smile. I want to say that I'll remember them for ever, but evidence points otherwise. Already, I couldn't tell you the first time she smiled, or what her first laugh was about. So I want to keep a running record, before the memories are completely swept away by time.

1. When she was born, Otter would make a series of "ah-ah-ah-ah" noises before starting to cry. She sounded like an otter, and that's how she got her name.

2. For the first few months, Otter's hunger cue was to start pecking at my shoulder. We called it "Chicken Ottering".

3. The only thing that would quiet her was the kitchen vent. We spent hours pacing the kitchen in the dark with the vent going.

4. When falling asleep, Otter would bury her face in the crook of your arm and moan, loudly and dramatically.

5. She used to "Sad Talk" - not crying, but babbling with infinite sadness.

6. She loves her feet rubbed, and the "I'm Gonna Eat You" game.

7. She loves sitting on top of the refrigerator and looking over her domain.

8. She loves having her clothes taken off, and being rubbed down with her pink fuzzy blanket.

9. When sad, Otter would sometimes make the most exaggerated frown before bursting into tears. It invariably made us laugh.

10. She used to only like falling asleep on her side.

11. When she wanted to suck, she'd take anything - the bone on my wrist, my stomach. She once gave me a baby hickey.