When I Was 9

Dear Audrey,

Your mother was born February 27. I turned 9 on March 15, just 16 days later. To me, she was my real live baby doll. Of course, being the oldest and being 9, I thought I was old enough to be the little mother. Mom let me change diapers - back in those days there weren't Pampers or Huggies. I remember having rinse the dirty diaper in the toilet and I accidentally flushed one down the toilet.

We moved to the house in Pearland in April - your Mommy was just 6 weeks old. I remember helping to keep her occupied - she would sleep in her infant seat in a corner in the dining room while Mom cleaned the kitchen and put down shelf paper before the move.

The neighborhood was a new one and they were constantly tying in new houses to the public water system and having to flush the pipes. As a result we had a lot of rust in the water. Mary Lee got colic really bad from the water, and it seemed like it was the worst right as Mom was trying to get dinner on the table. Of course, I was old enough that I could hold Mary Lee and tryi to comfort her, under Mom's direction of course. (You had colic really bad when you were about 3-4 weeks old, but your favorite time to scream and cry was around midnight to about 2 in the morning - poor baby, you had a hard time of it.)

When I was 9 I had to change schools for the second time. I was able to finish out 3rd Grade at my old school because Mom would drive me in the morning, then turn around and drive Kathy to Kindergarten at lunchtime, then turn around and pick us both up in the afternoon. That was 3 trips into Houston every day for almost 2 months. But that fall, I started 4th Grade in a new school. Unfortunately, none of the kids that I had become friends with in the neighborhood were in my grade, so I didn't know anyone. I soon made friends at school, but I still couldn't wait to get home so that I could play with Mary Lee. My new friends thought it was really cool that I had a baby sister

She was my real live baby doll, and she will always be my baby doll in my memory, my baby sister. I miss her.

Love,
Aunt Maggie