Laura Gets an Upgrade

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Keeter Residence

San Diego California

16:24

In response to her cousin's loud complaint, Laura declares, "Noah! Hold on little guy; I'm working on it fast as I can."

Elizabeth Hawkes shakes her head in response to the tantrum that the 10-month-old boy is currently throwing because things are not happening fast enough to suit him. He doesn't like to be confined in his own baby walker. Instead, largely out of adoration for his older cousin, he has taken to using Laura's walker as a substitute for his own. The only trouble is, her walker is too tall for him to properly grip the handles without standing on tiptoe and stretching – a compromising position for the burgeoning toddler as he's not yet entirely stable on his own feet. Additionally, he's too young to grasp the concept of how to properly make use of the hand brake and, when pushed, the walker moves too fast for his unsteady legs to keep pace.

Reaching out from her perch on the footstool in front of Keeter's favorite chair, Laura locks the hand brake so that the walker won't budge before she's ready for it to do so. Next, she holds out her arms in an inviting fashion, beckoning to his sister. "Come see me, Shannon. Come here, baby."

At first, Shannon has no intention of getting any nearer to Noah, who is red-faced and wailing, but when Laura picks up a large toy car with pullback action and makes car engine noises with her mouth, the baby girl, who is a month younger than her brother, decides to oblige her and then wastes no time crawling over to a spot where she is within easy reach. When she grabs hold of Laura's pant legs and pulls herself into a standing position, Laura scoops her up and plops her down on the walker's built-in seat.

Laura repeats the entire process a second time, calling out to her cousin Ellie who is the same age as Shannon but crawls much more slowly because although she's healthy, developmentally, she lags a couple of months behind Shannon, whom she shared a womb with, courtesy of one awe-inspiring and highly unusual pregnancy.

When the tiny girl is finally close enough, Laura scoops her up without waiting for her to stand and carefully places her beside Shannon on the seat. Then, she takes the small seatbelt that Uncle Harm attached to the walker's seat just for this purpose and fastens it across both their laps; holding the girls in place so they can't accidentally topple off the seat.

As soon as they are close enough to touch the two little girls smile and clasp hands.

Finally, Laura grabs Noah by the shoulder straps of his overalls and gently hauls the boy to his feet. As soon as he has both hands on the frame of the walker, he stops fussing and starts making car noises of his own.

"Okay, mister, drive carefully. You're hauling precious cargo." Laura releases the hand brake, and then, after the walker's initial moment of resistance to his pushing; she watches him slowly make his way across the living room, pushing his sister and his cousin along for the ride as he goes. The combined body weight of the two little girls on the seat is more than enough to slow the walker to a speed that the baby boy can keep up with, and he laughs like a loon as he careens around the room; gently bumping into furniture unfortunate enough to find itself in his path.

Folding baby laundry from her seat on the sofa, Skates smiles. "Thank you for sharing your walker with him, Laura. You don't have to do that."

Laura shrugs. "I know. It's okay. I don't mind. He doesn't like his own anymore, because he can't get out of it by himself. When he wants out, boy does he howl; but he still needs something to hold onto without it. It won't be much longer, I don't think. Pretty soon, He'll be walking faster than me."

Skates chuckles. "Laura, pretty soon, he's going to be walking faster than all of us."

"I know. Grandma Trish says the same thing. Good thing Charlie said I'm getting stronger. I think Noah is going to be hard to keep up with; and now he's always touching stuff he's not supposed to touch. Uncle Harm says that'll get worst when he doesn't have to hold on to anything to walk."

"It will..." Skates nods. "but that's just normal baby behavior. Now that he can stand, even if only in-place, He's seeing the world from a whole new perspective. There are so many new things for him to be curious about - things he couldn't reach before, probably even things he couldn't see before."

"I bet, before we know it, Ellie and Shannon will be chasing him.

Letting herself in through the front door, Mac joins in on the conversation with a chuckle. "Sometimes it feels like they were born five minutes ago. Don't blink. Before we know it, Laura, they'll be off to college, and you'll have an engineering degree and be setting the world on fire… Maybe even married."

"Married? Me? Aunt Mac don't be silly! Who am I supposed to marry?"

"Somebody really special; that's who."

"Well, do I have to think about that right now? Can I just go to therapy instead?"

Mac nods agreeably, "Okay sure. We've got about 15 minutes before we have to leave. Let him play for a bit longer." She halts her son's progress long enough to scoop him up and kiss him, which he tolerates, but when she doesn't return him to his feet immediately before stooping to kiss the baby girls, he grumbles cantankerously and struggles to be free.

"Hello to you too, son." She runs her fingers through his hair with affection before lowering his feet to the floor and setting him free once more to return to his wandering.

She hugs Laura. "Do your homework yet?"

Laura squints as if this is a silly question. "Course I have."

"Good, because Charlie called my office today. After therapy, he wants us to stay a few minutes later than usual. He wants to try something new."

"Like what?"

Mac shrugs, but when she widens her eyes mysteriously and offers only, "Wait and see." Laura suspects it's something good, and the possibilities thrill her just a tad bit more than they scare her.

Instead of asking, "Is something wrong?" or "Am I in trouble?" she asks, Can I at least I have a hint?"

Mac exchanges 'hellos' with Skates before she hums in the negative.

Laura grouses comically, "Fine! Be that way!"

Mac sticks her tongue out at the girl. "I will." she announces with smug satisfaction.

When her therapy session is over, and her brace is back on, Laura sits on the raised therapy mat, her left knee tucked under her chin as she ties the blindingly bright yellow laces of her high-top sneaker. "Okay Charlie! What's my surprise? I did good today. I know I did. So, spill!"

Comfortable enough with his methods to know that Laura is safe with him, and that she doesn't need to watch his every move with the girl during a typical therapy session, Mac chooses this moment to return the yellow legal pad she's been writing work-related notes to herself into to her tote bag. She leaves her chair and moves closer as Charlie addresses the atypical portion of this visit by, first, feigning ignorance and teasing Laura. "Surprise? Who said anything about a surprise?"

Laura's dark eyes sparkle as she giggles. "Charlie! Come on, man. Tell me already!"

"Well, Okay. Since you wore me out today, and barely broke a sweat doing it."

"Yes!" Laura bobs her chin emphatically.

Charlie holds up his right index finger, silently asking for one last moment of patience. He turns and trots across the therapy room, enters his small cramped office briefly, and then returns with something Laura hadn't expected in the least – a pair of child-size metal crutches with arm cuffs.

She eyes them with innocent wonder, and maybe just a tiny dash of doubt. "Are those for me? I just got my new walker, Charlie."

Charlie shrugs, and says with his lively Jamaican accent, "Because the old one was too short, You've shot up nearly tree inches in the last eight months, child. And maybe… If you tink you can handle them. Want to find out?" He kneels a few inches away from the mat; giving her room to come to her feet.

Laura eyes the walking sticks for two seconds longer, then shrugs and scoots to the edge of the mat. When her feet find the floor, she reaches out, grabs a fistful of Charlie's shirt front, and hauls herself into a standing position. With a determined sigh, she declares, "Gimme those things!"