E-mail Exchange with a Third Grader

Here's a sample of the e-mail conversation I had with Doodle last week. It should have clued me in to the likelihood that she would want to sleep with me; the need doesn't seem to have waned at all after a week. I'm stiff and sore from being squashed between two girls.

My e-mail to the girls:
I took a walk on the beach at 6 a.m. and got you each some pretty sand dollars. The other shells that I got are the kind that we can find in the Atlantic, but a few are yellow or orange. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you and miss you. Love, Mommy

Doodle's reply:
I can't wait till you come home. I have to sleep by myself tonight. I really don't want to.
P.S I do not want to sleep by myself. See you when you come. I love you and I miss you.

Doodle's e-mail reminds me of the first post-kid business trip when she was slightly over a year old. Being away from her for the first time was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I arrived home around 10 p.m. after she was asleep in her crib. My movement awakened her enough that I heard her utter her first two word sentence "Mommy home." I can still hear her sweet, sleepy baby voice.

Doodle at ages 1, 2, and 3. I didn't have a digital camera until Doodle was 4, so I have very few scanned baby pictures.