Pookie

Pookie woke up around 6a this morning. It wasn't so much the hour that bothered me, I was waking up about then anyway, but her volume. Some days she wakes up quietly and plays in her room while she waits for us to spring her. We have a gate on her door because there's just too much good stuff to do elsewhere in the house at 2 AM. Once we forgot to latch her gate and discovered that she had turned on nearly every light in the house and then flipped on the TV to watch a favorite video sometime in the middle of the night. The laughing woke us up. Well, that and the volume of the TV...

So she waits for us to open her gate and help her downstairs in the morning. Today she woke up loud. Not the "mmmmmm" happy hum, but the "eeeeeeeee" excited exclamation. That sound sometimes resonates in me like nails on a blackboard. Especially first thing in the morning, when I'd prefer to be waking gently to the rising sun and my own thoughts. So my first thoughts today were not good ones.

I had a call with one of my fellow coaches from my class later in the morning. She astutely pointed out that "The pain is in the resisting." This is Pookie. That's her excited noise. What's not to love? My wise friend and coach then suggested "Appreciation is the feeling to switch your vibe to love." Truly, Pookie brings me such tremendous joy and offers such patient teachings that I would be crazy not to appreciate all her wonder.

She has patiently repeated herself varying her signs "Bird squirrel turkey fox eat" for 10 minutes to get me to realize that she wants me to fill the bird feeder outside the sliding doors so the animals will come. She has taught me to count Pookie-style on her fingers: with your right hand grasp your left index finger, that's 1. Middle, ring, pinkie are 2, 3 and 4. Thumb is 5. Then grab right pinkie with left hand for 6 and track straight up to thumb for 7 through 10. Start over to continue 11-20. Unless she just grabs a finger and I'm supposed to know which number that is. Unless she signs a number and shakes her head no. 4-no is 14, obviously. Unless she decides to use actual ASL numbers (which is infrequent and only used for a few numbers). But she always waits and repeats and teaches me, and she's so proud of me when I finally get it.

Recently she has taken to finger-spelling words when we don't understand her sign. Hello? Mom? Let me spell it out for you... I guess she is approaching adolescence...

After snuggling Little Dudely tonight I went to snuggle Pookie. Her lights were out and she was lying quietly in bed. But she resisted me pulling up her covers. She took my hand, in the dark, and put it on her foot. I felt the little piece of dead skin by the corner of her toenail (that is trying to in-grow, and we're trying to stop it) that was bothering her. I flipped on the light and asked if she wanted me to get the nail clippers. She said yes in a way that only she can, it's kind of a whole body nod. I don't know why she doesn't just use her head to nod yes, but it certainly is distinctive.

When I started to move to get the nail clippers, she grabbed my hand again and placed it on her chin. Moisturizer? I asked. Yes, again. Then she picked at her lip. Lip balm? Yes. So I gathered the supplied and took care of her bedtime requests. And tried to pull her covers up. Socks, she signed. Once her feet were cozy she rolled over and curled up as I draped her fleece baby blanket over her, then pulled up the rest of her covers. What a love. What a lucky mom I am.