Balimbing

According to my dad, Balimbing, also known as Star Fruit, is a fruit in the Philippines that has many faces. Lucy is my little Balimbing. With me she is one way, with others...well...you be the judge!

In the beginning I complained a lot about Lucy being difficult for me to handle. She was and still is very strong willed, gets cranky, wants what she wants, knows how to cry her lungs out, and has no volume control whatsoever. When we are alone she whines and complains but when I bring her around friends, for example, at my former workplaces, she is nothing but smiles and joy. Then there was last week when she had a fever for four days. We brought her to the doctor and she was irritable and cranky waiting in the doctor's office. An hour later of complaining from her, the doctor walks in and Lucy automatically flirtatiously tilts her head and smiles at him. She sure didn't look sick to him! And then there are the couple of times I left her with a babysitter. When we used to put her down for a nap we had to do a whole thing to get this kid down....Nurse her, bounce her, rock her, flip upside down for her...Everything! What did the babysitter do? She sat in a chair and hummed and didn't even realize Lucy fell asleep! Then there are the mornings. Lucy used to smile at me and wait for me to wake up. Now she only turns to me to nurse and she patiently waits and turns towards her father every time he moves, breathes, or snores hoping he is going to wake up and take her....never turning back to me after nursing... Mommy who?

My little Balimbing...There are multiple sides to everything...What her side is, I don't know. She is my complex baby.



Above: Grandma Marilyn, Lucy, and Daddy having brunch at The Inn of the Seventh Ray .
Left: Lucy checking out Rockett Wong