Then and now

A year ago tonight at this time I was laboring to give birth to Edith.

Tonight I am laboring to make whole-wheat carrot-zucchini cupcakes* to bring in for Edith's class tomorrow. Wow. I'm a mother now.

There are other parallels that could be drawn. Were I given to such metaphors, I might say that a year ago tonight our little angel was coming into the world. Tonight our little girl was performing as an angel with her classmates in the Dupree Center for Children's rendition of American Idol.

Incidentally, six months changes everything. The fearless Jingle Baby of Christmastide, who knew no stagefright and charmed the crowd, is now the wary twelve month old angel, who doesn't know why her teacher is putting a scratchy gold circle on her head, definitely doesn't like that she's been put in a crib when it's not naptime, doesn't understand why she's sharing the crib with her classmates, and might like to chew on the big fluffy clouds decorating the crib--if only there weren't eighty people staring at her! The only way out of such indignities is, of course, to wail. Edith's friend Harrison was the only one holding the act together, clapping on cue and hamming it up for the crowds, who didn't seem quite as censorious as in the TV version of the competition.

A final sequence of pictures to close this last post of Edith's first year. Call it Mixed Media:

Edith loves coloring now.

But typing is so much faster. (Thanks for the keyboard, Uncle Peter!)

Hmmm, maybe this is the best bet...

*Can anyone tell me what makes a whole-wheat-and-vegetable concoction sans frosting a cupcake and not a muffin...other than the title of the recipe?