Recovery Time

Do you remember Weebles? “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down”?

By the way, I always thought they were “Weeble Wobbles,” not “Weebles,” which goes to show how effectively that advertising phrase caught on plus how important it was to me at six that everyone have the dignity of a full first and last name.

If you’re not familiar with them, Weebles are egg-shaped plastic “people” with a weight in the bottom. When you tip them to the side, they pop back upright, (unlike real eggs which untidily roll off the counter to their deaths. Which is a bummer for a small child looking for a good time from an egg-shaped friend.) The Weebles’ resilience makes them seem perky and well-balanced. Or out-of-touch, like that friend you have who smiles no matter what and sometimes you think she should really get some therapy, just in case one day it all backs up on her.

Anyway. A. is like that. Not the crazy, the resilience. Like most babies, when she tips over, she pops back up, but it’s not just the fall down/get back up. Her emotional recovery time is remarkable. When she gets shots (not shot, shots), she cries for twenty seconds, looks sad and is on to the next thing. She bumps her head and cries a little if we look worried. Closes a drawer on her fingers? Tiny short-lived weeping. Isn’t allowed to put her fingers in the wall socket? Complains, moves on.

For a while I thought maybe she had that thing that was on House that one time where that girl couldn’t feel pain so her mom had to keep track of her all the time because she could break her leg and not know it or burn her hand and not notice. Sure it’s rare, but so what? A. could have it. She’s special.

I kept asking R. if he thought maybe that’s why she didn’t seem to mind cold diaper wipes when all our friends’ babies freaked out at chilly wetness. It seemed like a reasonable explanation and not an overreaction at all. Like when you have a sore throat and go to Web MD and find out you have dengue fever because you maybe feel like you also have dry mouth and had a headache that one time and the medication you’ll need is still being tested but would cause serious liver damage so you decide maybe you’ll just take some Robitussin in case it’s just a sore throat.

(To read side effects lists, you really have to be surprised that anyone at all still has an intact liver. Liver damage is on pretty much all of them. And all the patients on House end up needing a new one at some point in the episode, so there’s probably a shortage if you do damage yours.)

A. must have gotten that snap-back ability from her father or the good will of the universe, because I definitely do not have that. I have a quick trigger and a long recovery cycle. I’m trying to get more Weeble. Except for the bottom-weighted thing. And the egg shape. That’s just unflattering.