1 Mother 2 Another

Last night, Cora and I were cuddling
together in her bed at night-night time. Cora’s a very
physical person, and we were lying snuggled up facing each other,
so close our noses were touching. She loves being mashed into me,
and I could see contentment etched on her features.


“Oh, Mommy,” Cora sighed, breathing out slowly.
“What is it, baby?” I asked back, smiling lovingly.
Cora took my face in both her hands and gazed into my eyes.


“You’re on my pillow.”

We found this heart-shaped Ariel pillow at
a consignment sale over a year ago, and Cora is more attached to
that thing than is normal for a mercantile good. She keeps it right
in between her two bed pillows and falls asleep on it every night.
Stacked on top of her bed pillows as it is, the thing is too high
to be comfortable for a three-year-old, and while I may walk out of
her room at night with her reclining propped up on an angle like an
aging Empress, within half an hour she’s snoring and lying
sideways, flat on the bed, one hand flung protectively over her
pillow.


But as uncomfortable as that pillow might be, it is all
Cora’s, and woe be unto anyone who might accidentally touch
it. Which is difficult to avoid when you’re trying to snuggle
your child.


Sometimes Cora will let my hair rest upon the pillow between us,
but I think that’s just because she secretly believes that my
hair belongs to her as well. That, though, is the extent of her
tolerance for Mommy touching The Pillow – and that’s
exceedingly generous compared to what she’ll allow with
anyone else. Should my mom be reading to Cora one night and forget
herself and prop her head up more comfortably on The Pillow, when
Cora notices she will grunt in exasperation and pull it out from my
mother, saying, “GAMma! You’re TOUCHING the
PILLOW!”


Obviously, The Pillow is important to her. It has traveled to
Colorado and goes on long day trips in the car. A few times Cora
has magnanimously lent it to Maddie for an afternoon, then spent
the entire time wringing her hands nervously and fretting over its
safety.


So all you babysitters beware – don’t rest your head on
The Pillow, lest you lose it.


Your head, I mean.