the little sister

That's her.

First we had two boys, a year apart. Then four years later, we had two girls, two years apart. We had the big brothers and the little sisters.


And it was like that for five and a half years until Baby Jay came along and hit the family like some kind of crazy explosion.

kirsten and baby jay

But back to her. When I say little, it's true. She was the youngest, but she was also tiny. Minute. Eight and a half pounds when she was born (an entire pound for just her cheeks, I think) but only 18 pounds by a year and a half.




She walked at nine months, talked by a year. At nine months, she was so little she still wore those newborn drawstring baby gowns as nightgowns. One morning she was digging in a laundry basket full of toys. I was lying on the floor nearby, realized how fast she was growing up and teased her, "Oh, just lie down and be little!" She laughed and ran away, and the string tagging along across the floor reminded me of Sweet Pea from Popeye.


And yet, she wouldn't walk anywhere, made me carry her around while she twirled my hair. Other kids walked and acted like it was no particular hardship. Nope, not her. She'd clutch my legs and howl, "Uppy! Uppy!" Yes, uppy. I saw a National Geographic special on orangutans and thought how cool that would be if I could just toss her up on my back.

The other kids slept at night. Not her. Even as a baby, her bedtime was 1 am. This is when I became a Letterman fan, back when he was on at like midnight. By the time she was a few months old, I just gave up waiting for her to get tired and took her to bed with us at 11. One night as she perched between us, she said, "Mom. Dad. What about David Yetterman?"

"Yeah? What about the man? We are sleeping."

"Ohhh. Right."

She was an agile little elf who could climb the door frames, the appliances, the trees. Later she was an agile athlete, a fierce competitor. I admired it--the scrappiness, the attitude, the boldness of her, the ways she was nothing like me and everything like herself. We've laughed how the smallest little girl ended up with this particular part of her dad so prevalent. That, and the sense of adventure. She gets that from HIM.

throwing coins in the fountain in rome

kirby and her friend, laura

But now she's all grown up, and it's been an awesome ride so far. To the future, Kirby. This family is so perfect with YOU in it. Thanks for being our girl. love, Mom and Dad