Case Study Log of Infant 87 [I87]
Caregiver: Liliana Ikeda

Lately Xilla has been waking me up early in the morning with horrific crying. Nothing is ever wrong, far as I can tell. I honestly don’t know what could be bothering her! I decided to call my mom and ask her and she was little help, if any.

 

“Maybe she’s just having bad dreams,” Mom suggested the other day, “Or perhaps you’re not spending enough time with her.”

No, I think we’re good. She’s very independent and sometimes even turns me down for playtime! If I didn’t know better I’d just say she’s being a brat on purpose…

Sure, she’s all sweet when I get her up in the morning for breakfast. Sometimes she just snuggles into my arms as I’m walking her to her highchair.

 

But then as soon as I’m ready to sit down she wants out!

 

Hmph. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come when she’s older. I can see it now: a moody teenager eating alone in her room, blaring alternative noise at full volume, empty energy drinks strewn across her bedroom floor, hair styled into a mohawk…

 

At least she’s not doing that now (although I think a mohawk would be OK with me; she’d look so cool.)

 

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For Xilla’s third birthday (well, it’s her birthday according to the agency, at least) I planned to have our neighbors and my family come to celebrate. Alec came over early that afternoon and helped me clean up a bit since Xilla had one of her messy rages in the middle of the night. (I’m going to have to ask the other parents for tips on disciplining this particular behavior. Maybe I need to be more firm?)

 

While he did a little extra scrubbing (bless) I let Xilla pick out her clothes for the party and she did pretty well. I helped guide her just a little but I thought her choice of jewelry was inspired.

 

I made a chocolate cake the night before because it’s Xilla’s favorite. I might have overdone it on the vanilla but it ended up tasting really good anyway.

 

The party was the first time my parents actually met Xilla. When I accepted this assignment I started slowly asking them their thoughts on aliens. I was able to gauge how they felt and try to steer them in the direction of “yes, they’re OK by us if they’re real!” Thankfully they were in favor of acceptance so it made it easy. When I eventually did tell them they weren’t as shocked as you’d expect. I think the more shocking aspect was that I was caring for a child.

I can’t blame them; it was unexpected.

 

Despite being unexpected, I think things will end up being OK. Bring on the next ten years!

 

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AN: We are out of toddlerhood – hooray! Upcoming this week (maybe today!) will be several chapters that lead into a collaborative post with some great folks! As you may remember me mentioning, Xilla was invited to a pool party so I had to get my butt in gear.