Day 505: Wedded bliss

It has been many days since my last post, which is far too long, but I trust you'll forgive me as we're still recovering from a crazy weekend. My sister-in-law got married on Friday, and Mads had the honour of being a little flower girl! Technically she didn't carry any flowers but instead had her trusted teddy in a death grip as she made her way down the aisle. And in fact she didn't make it far, because the poor girl kept tripping on the aisle runner and falling flat on her face. Fernando ended up rescuing her after her third faceplant and carried her the rest of the way. All that aside, though, she did a spectacular job!

I have long held a theory about babies, and this wedding proved it to be true. The theory goes something like this: All babies are equipped with some sort of internal sensory mechanism that enables them to detect when their parents are at their breaking point. That moment when they are so tired, or frustrated, or confused, or worried that they are on the verge of either pulling out their hair or throwing in the towel; when they are beaten and weathered and feeling entirely inadequate. It is at that very instant that the child that has been a complete terror for a week will suddenly transform into a perfect little angel, full of smiles, erupting with giggles, virtually overflowing with outpourings of love and adoration and general loveliness. And after a day of this that poor parent will convince herself that she must have overreacted, that she maybe just expected too much, that it was in fact she who had the bad week (for it certainly couldn't have been the vision of perfection she sees before her now). And so it was with Maddie and the wedding.

The week leading up the event had its trials and was capped off by a very loud and embarasing public meltdown during a trip to the local Home Depot. It was entirely our fault of course, Fernando and I, as we forced Maddie to endure the torture of sitting in the cart rather than letting her continue to wreak havoc throughout the aisles of the store. On the trip home I found myself wondering - if we can't even make it through 20 minutes in a hardware store how will we ever survive a weddng ceremony and cocktail reception - particularly on a day when she would be (gasp!) skipping a nap? Let's just say I didn't have very high expectations.

But wouldn't you know she was perfection. Adorable, sweet, affectionate, attentive. Even when she cracked her head on a concrete bench so hard that it drew blood there was not a whisper of complaint. She was a poster child, miraculous - thus proving my theory. They drive you to the edge of insanity only to draw you right back in again. Well, I'm onto her now. Until the next time she turns on the charm, of course, and I return to being putty in her sticky little hands.


(ps - Just a note to all of you who have left comments here along the way: I appreciate it so much! I've convinced myself I'm not the only person experiencing all of these ups and downs of parenting, but it's very nice to have it confirmed! Thanks.)