Lawrence Park

The about-to-be-new-parent can’t help but visualize what the new baby is going to look like and how she’s going to act. There are often explicit images that dance before your eyes of faces and actions. Somehow we extrapolate these images into an overall idea of what the child will be like.

As any seasoned parent knows, these images only rarely intersect with reality or it takes awhile for the baby to grow into the image (e.g. one of us kind of skipped the Baby Penny stage in the imagination, choosing instead to visualize Toddler Penny).

Now this is not to say that this is disappointing. On the contrary, it’s fun to see how our dreams of Penny are shaping into the reality. It’s just that before the arrival, no parent visualizes Poopy-Diaper Penny or Target-Vomiting Baby.

The new parent trudges through these stages, eventually arriving at an intersection of dream and reality. And these few occasions are enough – much like that rare but perfect golf stroke or perfect bowling game – to keep you dreaming about the future.

We were lucky to have had such an intersection last weekend, when the weather and state of the yard permitted us to go out back for a picnic. Pictured above, the scene was reminiscent of an English Romance novel (more Jane Austen than Emily Bronte). Penny—clad in a cheerful floral print skirt and floppy pink hat—enjoyed playing on the grass as the wind gently blew apple blossoms to the ground. Newman playfully chased birds and squirrels, pausing to rest occasionally in the herb garden. And mom and dad stretched out on a blanket under the warm sun, listening to baby chatter and coo.

Next point on the Imagine-Penny Timeline: pigtails.