The moment you meet your first granddaughter, you intuitively know that you have not saved enough money and never could save enough money to buy this child everything you would want to give her, whether she needed it (she won’t) or not.
Abigail Jane Hilton showed up on a Monday, July 18, in Murray, Ky., where, conveniently, her mother was. I met her mother when she was three years old. I met Abigail Jane Saturday when she was just over four months old.
I’m getting better at timing.
She was 21 inches long and weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce. In other words, perfect size. (I guess. Who knows?) I was proud — overcome with emotion, near tears and trembling — that the world’s best daughter and best son-in-law named the child after me. (Teddy’s just my nickname.)
The main thing is that she hasn’t been sickly, seems very healthy, has a good disposition, and sports plumbing that is on the money. It all comes back to plumbing.
Since she lives in Kentucky, mooching off her parents, we are not able to see her daily BUT … her mother is great about sending pictures, and not just the cute ones. We get the ones of her all bundled up and smiling or on the floor with Stanley the dachshund, her big brother, laughing and making baby noises, but we also get photos of her with a triple chin and videos of accidental spit up, which she did on me when I met her Saturday, and it was neat smelling like baby formula the rest of the day.
I’d missed it.
Love that kid.
When she was 10 weeks old, they took her in to get measured again and her mom proudly wrote to tell us that Abigail Jane, or AJ, ranked in the 98th percentile in head size. And after viewing it in person, I can tell you this precious little person has a noggin perfect for selling advertising space. A quality melon. A head the size of your favorite team’s sideline mascot. I’m convinced that if we could light it up, you could see it from outer space.
We are hopeful she grows into it and that there are lots of smart brains up in there. Regardless, it is my favorite baby dome at present, the perfect topper for what grandmama calls her “snuggle muffin.”
She was on the floor on her back “watching” a football game in the den when I got to visit with her. Like most babies, she moves her hands and feet as if she’s trying to break out of an invisible bubble. She loves playing with your fingers and holding her feet together up in the air so her legs form an oval. She is quick to smile and even laugh, and she seemed to understand when I explained the rules when TCU and Kansas State went into overtime in the Big 12 Championship, her first overtime ever. She giggled, but the urgency seemed lost on her
She also seemed confused with TCU choice to run dive plays instead of options with their Heisman-finalist quarterback on third- and fourth-and-goal plays from the 1.
That’s when granddaddy suggested that sometimes life is like that, that acceptance is necessary and a time-saver, that you salute the past, dust yourself off, drink some more formula, have a good burp, and move on.
We’ve got a lot to learn from each other.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
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