Josephine and Panda: A Love Story

Josephine loves diaper changes.  She loves feeling the velvety-soft changing pad cover under her fingertips.  She loves the warmth of the wipee, fresh out of the wipee warmer.  She loves the strangely piney scent of her diaper rash cream.  But what this silly girl really loves is the view from the changing table.

Weeks ago, Michael and I decided to spice up the scenery around Josephine's changing area.  Like most spaces where function trumps fashion, it was a bit bleak: a wall...a framed picture...and a clock. This would never do for our adorable little girl.  We needed color!  We needed texture!  We needed full-on fung shui!  To accomplish the task, we opted to hang a few of Josephine's most loyal friends - Panda, Sunny and Mr. Fox - from the bottom of the clock.  Sunny (a boldly-colored sun-shaped teether rattle) quickly abandoned his spot after being called up to duty in the playpen.  During one of Josephine's test-runs in the improved changing area, Mr. Fox decided to jump off the clock and drop square in the middle of Josephine's face.  Josephine wasn't amused.  Mr. Fox was immediately and irrevocably voted off the clock. That left Panda. Sweet, friendly Panda.

We were delighted to see that Josephine had taken to Panda's new role as her diaper change buddy.  Every time she was placed on the table, her eyes would drift back, searching for something of interest to look at. Wall?  Eh.  Picture?  Eh.  Oh, what's that?  PANDA!! The moment she spied Panda it was as if all else faded away.  Her eyes would squint up in utter glee and the most beautiful toothless grin would spread across her lips.  Josephine simply adored that little bear.

After several days of soaking in the cuteness of Josephine grinning at Panda each time she had a diaper change, something strange and unpredictable happened.  Following an afternoon of playing downstairs, I took Josephine up to the nursery to change her diaper before dinner.  As soon as I walked into the room, I noticed...something was missing.  "Josephine, where's Panda?", I asked trying not to sound too panicked. (Babies - particularly diva babies like Josephine - can smell fear.  And when things are moved from where they're expected to be, it's perfectly reasonable to anticipate a complete and total meltdown.)  I carried her over to the changing table and laid her down, disappointed that I wouldn't get to see  her sweet Panda smile during this diaper change, and hoping I could keep her entertained long enough to get the job done without too much of a fit.  As had become her custom, Josephine craned her head back and scanned the space behind her.  "Oh, no"  I thought, waiting for the inevitable whimper and probable wail when she discovered her friend had vanished.  Her eyes locked on Panda's normal position.  Then, without skipping so much as a beat, a gorgeous grin spread across her face, and she began kicking her legs happily.

Turns out, Josephine was smiling...at the clock!  Since her great-grandpa was Abilene's original "clock doc", Michael and I find her newly-discovered love of clocks pretty darn endearing...and wildly appropriate.  Who knew that sort of thing was in the genes? :)

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Several weeks of great growth behind us. Tomorrow we'll be taking Josephine in for her cardiac catheterization procedure in preparation for her second surgery in two weeks.  The cath procedure will begin at 6:00 a.m. and should take 2 - 3 hours.  If all goes well, we'll be in recovery by lunch and home (fingers crossed) in time for a late dinner.  Then, it'll be just two short weeks until the hospital once again becomes our temporary home.  It's amazing how time flies...