8

My little Lauren is eight years old today! Let me tell you eight great things about her.

1. Lauren was literally "at death's door" when I was only six months pregnant with her. The fact that her condition was detected and cured in utero is an absolute miracle. The full weight of that fact didn't truly hit me until the day she was born and I held her in my arms.


2. Lauren was the only child I birthed without an epidural; she was my smallest baby and had the "best hair in the nursery" (according to her pediatrician); and she was the sweetest-natured, most content infant I ever had (and that's saying a lot, because I had five really easy babies!).

3. I'll never forget the haircut Lauren gave herself when she was two years old. I had put her hair in several tiny ponytail twists, and she found scissors and snipped off the ends of each one, right against the scalp. It was just as we were on our way out the door to church... So I took her to church just like that! Walking into the chapel, I was nearly in tears, until our friends, sitting behind us, started giggling. Laughter saved the day! And Lauren's hair eventually grew out.


4. Lauren's zany personality was first exposed when she was a toddler. Once I took her to a check-up with Hannah, who was just a baby at the time. After Lauren had entertained herself (and us) throughout Hannah's exam, the pediatrician (I loved that guy!) told Lauren, "I know you're a girl, but you're kind of like having a brother."

5. One way that Lauren is like the "brother" in our family is that she's so "rough and tumble." She is my only child who has broken a bone. Being the skeptical parent, I didn't take her to the doctor. Doug finally took her to be examined about five days later, and then I felt horrible when it turned out that she had indeed broken her clavicle. She's a good little athlete, and fearless. She can hold a headstand for a long time. For her birthday party, she's taking a couple friends to a rock wall to do some climbing.

6. Lauren is generally cheerful and long suffering. (She is a middle child.)

7. School lessons have not come as easily for Lauren as for her sisters, but Lauren is always the first to get her homework done, and she always tries to do her best. She makes me proud.


8. Lauren loves chocolate. Her birthday dinner request: chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, Grandma's cherry jell-o salad, and chocolate fountain. Breakfast: hot chocolate and donuts. For tomorrow's party: triple chocolate cake.