The Next Generation: Daughter #1

The genius and I wanted to have children right away, but it was 18 months to the day before our first was born. We had both decided that we liked the name Ashley and believe it or not, we only knew one other girl (and she was our age) with that name. I guess we started a trend because that seems to be the most popular name for girls today.

So Ashley was born on an Army post hospital (delivered by a urologist) after a 36 hour labor. She was a good baby, sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and keeping to a great schedule. It wasn’t until she was about 18 months old that the strong will (inherited from the genius, of course) began to emerge. By this time there were several moves that we made that I’m sure were unsettling to her.

She was a smart little rascal who loved to be read to. Since I had housework to do, I would “read” her books to her from memory while I washed dishes or cooked and she sat on the floor turning pages. Sometimes I would miss a word, either accidentally or on purpose, and she would become quite upset.

And then her little brother was born. In order to make the transition easier for her, we bought her a little baby doll, so she could imitate Mommy. She named him Baby Jim after her new little brother. Baby Jim didn’t fare too well – one day I found him decapitated (she had bitten his head of -- literally).

I was very careful after that never to leave her alone with her baby brother.