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I'll say one thing for the house-building crew--they sure are punctual. At 7:02, they were in the hole, moving the forms. I believe the first nail gets pounded today. Will and I will be ready with the camera.
Unless, of course, it takes place while we're at the doctor. Today is his nine month checkup. Scary how fast he's growing.
This weekend, for reasons I no longer remember, we signed him up to be in the "Beautiful Baby� contest at Kingston Days. We saw the article in the paper last weekend and thought it would be fun. The effort we put into it was limited to my mom�s and my conversation about what he�d wear (his Red Sox shirt and cap, of course), and my trimming his nails so he wouldn�t scratch up his face.
Kingston Days is the town�s answer to a fair�the Plains (the big grassy area in the center of Kingston Village) is covered with food tents, a children�s tent where they have sack races and balloon tosses, a stage where local musicians play and places like the gymnastics and karate studios do demonstrations, a dunk tank, and some local arts and crafts vendors. There are several celebrations like it in the area, all around the same time. We thought the contest would be a few babies, all from the area or �drop-in�s� who saw the sign while at the fair. The paper is the local rag, about 10-14 pages, read pretty much just by the town.
We didn�t bank on the power of the baby contest. Or the fact that the article said it was being run by a theater company. Never mind that the theater company is a local non-profit that puts on children�s shows at the town hall. That part wasn�t in the article.
We got to the tent early. It was the end spot for the children�s parade, made up of �floats� on bicycles and wagons, where the judging took place. Since my cousins were in the parade (as the Creatures of Kingston Lake, with their Barbie Jeep all decorated with seashells and seahorses), we had some time to kill during the judging. Will was contestant number 5 overall, number two in the �Boys, seven to 12 months� category.
As we sat and waited, the line grew. And grew. And grew. The three-legged race had to be moved, as there wasn�t enough grass space between the mommies waiting to register. We chose a shady spot to sit, near the registration table, so we overheard a lot of the conversations. When the 100th contestant had been given a number, the contest was closed. They�d only planned on 50 babies at the most. The next woman in line, with kids numbers 101 and 102, started complaining, her voice escalating over the crowd. �I came all the way from Boston for this, and you�re telling me I can�t be a part of it? I find that unacceptable. You need to let me in.�
Of course, once she was in, the woman behind her (and the one behind her, and the one behind her) started in, too. Final tally�108 contestants.
By this point, I was ready to forget about the five bucks and move on. Ah, hindsight�
The contest was supposed to start at 11. We got underway after 11:30. Then we had to work through the different age groups�girls, then boys, 0-6 months, 7-12, 13-18, 19 and above. Then the judges had to tally the scores.
Mothers waited until the last possible seconds, and then changed their kids into elaborate outfits, combing and spraying hair, adding bows, prepping their children to woo the judges. I held in a barely-controlled laugh. Did these women not realize the prize was a trophy? From Kingston Days?
By the time we went through the line, Will was glassy-eyed with fatigue and cranky as anything. He�d missed a nap. He wouldn�t give more than a halfhearted smile. He burrowed in and wished for his blanky. I felt like the worst mother in the world.
Afterwards, we found a quiet, shady spot and he ate and snoozed. When he woke up, he got French fries. All was forgiven.
He didn�t win. But neither did the kids who had traveled � all the way from Boston.� Not surprisingly, all the trophies went to local kids. I wasn�t sorry about that.
Never, ever again.
The rest of the weekend was much more enjoyable. Jim came up and we celebrated his birthday with lobster and the sweetest corn and ice cream cake. After Will conked out, we snuck across the way with the monitor and played cards with the cousins (the Husband won his first game in two summers� worth of weekends) and ate kettle corn like it was going to disappear. Which, of course, it did. Entirely. Two huge $6 bags full. Sunday brought the pancake breakfast and the car show and playing by the lake and lunch on the screen porch and plenty of time to just be.
I�m so glad Will has the chance to get to know his cousins like this. They aren�t his first cousins. He�s a little lacking in that department at the moment, with my half-brother Ron�s kids in Washington and my stepsister�s son being only a town away but with parents who have no sense of family or desire to build one. But he does have three little girls who absolutely dote on him, and whose faces light up when he arrives. He�s starting to recognize them, too, which thrills them. It�s a connection I�m happy to foster.
He�ll grow up well-loved. Even if he�s not elected the most beautiful baby at Kingston Days. Those judges were blind.
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