I Want A Baby

I want a baby!  

Were the words that spilled out of my step-daughters young (9yo) mouth the other weekend.

Her father and I looked at each other, and with a slight smile I replied, “that’s great, how about you have one or two when you’re 30.”

To which she replied, “no, I want one now and I want you to have it.”  Why do kids always say the darnedest things in the darnedest of places.

Firstly, we were watching one of her brothers play soccer.  Secondly, I had just taken a sip of my soft drink and now I was desperately trying to swallow before it came out my nostrils as I choked and snorted at the thought.

Now, this isn’t the first time she has made this request, but it is the first time in a while and at that particular moment, so left of field.  

When I tried to ignore the question, she turned to her father and tried again.  We both tried to ignore the question and smooth it over with a “we’ll think about it” hoping that would be the end of the discussion, at least for another year.

I have to admit that I find this all rather weird.  Here is a kid that spends most of her time whingeing and complaining about her two brothers and wishing that she was a single child, now wanting another kid to what?….boss around, sit in the car whilst she gets taken to school first.  I don’t know what the reason in her head is, but she is adamant.  So much so, that it makes me laugh.

As soon as we got home, she raced up to her room and emptied out the contents of one of her pretty keep-sake boxes that she has been storing birthday cards and the likes in.  

She grabbed her crayons and had written on the lid of the box,

Answer for a baby, yes or no and had then gone and placed some paper and pens in the box for us to write on. Very thoughtful I must say.   

It’s a little hard to see the writing in these pics but I’m sure if you look closely, squint your eyes and tilt your head you can see the ‘for’ in the blue box.

She then strategically placed the box in the middle of the kitchen table, and provided us with a deadline of a week.  This was Sunday night.

A week past and she went back to her mum’s and then returned to our household this week.  Secretly, I was hoping that she had forgotten about the whole thing.

As soon as the car pulled up, the first thing she did when she got out was to run inside and check the box.  Her happy, smiling and enthusiastic face soon turned into a frown and disappointment as she opened the box and there was nothing there.  Neither of us had actually written anything. Actually, neither of us have even talked about it.

A few days past and she raised the question again, followed with a new deadline of Friday this week.  Well that is today and if she looks in the box, this is what she will find.

Have you been in this situation before?  How did you handle it? Feel free to share your stories in the comments section below.

PS. Stay tuned for the next update in another week or so.