Flashforward

You've heard of flashbacks? I had a couple of flashforwards with Jada
in the last 24 hours. Last night, I got home from work and Amy told
me Jada was pretty tired. So I skipped the usual post-dinner jaunt to
the local playground and went straight for bathtime and then bedtime.
And right on cue, she finished her bottle of warm milk, rubbed her
eyes, and fell limply into her crib at 7.

Of course, as soon as I left the room, she sat herself back up and
began to chatter. And chatter and chatter and chatter. Sometimes it
was a stray noise that would punctuate the silence, and sometimes it
was non-stop noisemaking for minutes on end.

I crawled into bed a little after 8, trying to sleep off a head cold,
and she was still chattering. I got a flashforward of a pre-teen or
teen Jada, chattering the night away on the phone with her friends.
Finally, close to 8:30, the chattering stopped and she fell asleep.

This morning, she woke up a little earlier than usual, and since I
couldn't take her to daycare any earlier, I let her roam around in her
room for a few minutes while I packed up her stuff. I returned to her
room seconds later to find that she had taken most of her clothes our
of one drawer and was holding them up in front of her, as if to see
what went with what. Another flashforward, of an older Jada trying to
decide what to wear before a big day at school.

This stage in Jada's life is so precious that Amy and I ache to think
that our little baby is someday going to grow up. But at least when
we get there, we'll have had some flashforwards to prepare us for what
she'll be like.