Tickled Pink

When my son Matt was a little boy, he loved the colors pink and purple. His favorite "toy" was a pink Minnie Mouse that he called Baby Sister, and he carried that pink mouse with him everywhere for a long time. And it was probably one of the most devastating events of his childhood when he left Baby Sister at an event we had attended and we couldn't find her when we returned. My son wept and wept over that little pink stuffed Minnie Mouse like his heart was breaking. He eventually became pretty attached to a Cabbage Patch doll named Jake, but old Jake never fully took the place of his Baby Sister. And you can rest assured that his brother Bradley has teased Matt endlessly about his love of pink and his infatuation with a female stuffed mouse. You can also rest assured that Matt teases Bradley as well about his Mickey and Minnie blanket that he carried around for years.

Last night after work, I drove out to the little town about two hours away where Matt and Becca live after dropping Julie off to have an overnight play date with her buddy, Brad's big dog Max. Matt and Becca and I sat up and chatted for a couple of hours, watching Ollie and their two wiener dogs run around their little apartment like wild things. Becca was quite excited to show me the nursery she and Matt have set up for their baby girl who will arrive at the end of January. The room is adorable with a white crib, shelves for all the baby paraphernalia and a well-stocked closet of clothes thanks to some gals whom Becca works with. She showed me the little outfit they are planning to have her 1-month photos taken in and the blanket her great grandma cross-stitched for the baby. Andy, their little dapple dachshund, cracked me up when he sat at the foot of the shelves crying and begging for the baby's rubber ducky that Becca had placed there. Matt pretty much just stood beaming from ear to ear, except for when he showed me the stuffed Snoopy he had purchased for his little girl ... Matt loves Charlie Brown and Peanuts, hence the significance of the Snoopy. His little girl ... those words still seem so surreal to me ... my son's little girl.

We spent the day shopping for baby things, first at a giant consignment sale where there were more baby items under one roof than I have ever seen. Then we went to Target on a quest for hot pink tights or leggings to accompany the little dress for BJ's (Baby Johnson) 1-month photos. I looked at more baby stuff today than I have in years and years and years. And ... I've never seen Matt so excited, so happy, so giddy about anything in his life the way he is about this baby. The closest he's come to this level of excitement was on his wedding day ... I can only imagine how he will feel when he holds his baby girl in his arms for the first time. Or how his heart will completely melt the first time she calls him Daddy. Or how he will ache when he puts her on the bus to go to school. Or how he will worry when she goes on her first date. Or how he will burst with pride as he walks her down the aisle on her wedding day.

Pink ... my son has always loved pink, and now ... now he is tickled pink ... pink ... he's tickled pink.