Some of My Greatest Blessings Call Me Mom

For November and  December, I plan on blogging about each of my children.  Forgive me if I repeat blogging about someone, and you haven't been featured yet.  It will be easier for me to start at the beginning instead of looking back through my posts to figure out who I have already featured.

Petunia 3 weeks old.  The quilt underneath her was made by her great grandmother Miller

Petunia is my Fall blessing, born September 15.  She got the brunt of inexperienced parenting but turned out to be spectacular anyway.  Her Aunt Colleen made her a yellow baby afghan with animals.  She would smile at that afghan.  As soon as she could see color, she probably decided yellow was her favorite color.

First birthday cake

Petunia was full of delightful surprises.  At about 3, she locked herself, and the car keys, inside little Vega we had while I pleaded with her to unlock the door.   You might think it was an accident, but you weren't there to see the expression on her face.  She also locked me out of the house when I went to feed the chickens on Diamond Springs.  I was about six months pregnant with twins.  Climbing down the hatch to the wood room door so I could get inside the house was no small feat. 

The year she took dance lessons, the dance teacher was convinced she would end up as a professional ballerina.  Transitioning to sports was a healthier alternative.

Petunia's  2nd birthday.  Back: Rachael, David, Deon  Front: Petunia

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Latour in Town and Aunts and Uncle not too far removed from Petunia's age.  Birthday parties, Christmas, and Thanksgiving were all fun!

Petunia was fun!  She has a great sense of humor and a fabulous imagination.  She and her Dad would sing their way through the Walt Disney Songbook every night when she was around two. I knew she had a mind of her own and would do her own thinking.  I knew she wouldn't let other people lead her around or give way to bad influences.  School was always easy for her.  I remember one night in the early summer after Kindergarten when she called me into her bedroom saying, "I can read!"  And she could.

Petunia didn't suffer foolishness gladly.  I remember her pouring shampoo into her sister's mouth because her sister was singing in an annoying way.  She and Orville should go down history for remarkable rooms they kept as teenagers.  Remarkable in this case means appalling:  think what is left in the wake of a tornado. We truly didn't know weather to vacuum or roto-till.  I remember once when I couldn't find even one clean towel in the house.  When I insisted Petunia clean her room, the problem was solved.

All Petunia's extra-curricular teachers wanted to claim her talents for their particular venue.  The extra curricular mentors each saw  her as a great: ballerina, pianist, volleyball player, basketball player, and singer.  It must be annoying to have so much talent.  I should have such a problem.

I'm glad she was born.  I wouldn't have missed her for the world!