Five

Ava turned 5 today. We have a series of "friends" and "family" celebrations planned over the next week or so, but kicked off the festivities with a song and a few presents this morning. I really can't believe it's been five years since our "baby" joined us.

We'd gone back and forth to the hospital a few times in the weeks leading up to her arrival. She was strapped in, comfortable and not quite ready to make our acquaintance. On the day we were actually admitted, we had workers in the backyard of our old house trying to accomplish an emergency cesspool replacement in January, which required using heavy machinery to break through about two feet of frozen ground.

After a morning appointment with Gwen's doctor we were told to go home, pick up our "go" bag, and head on in. We called my mother and asked her to come over to watch Madison. When she arrived we rushed out the door, waved goodbye to the crew trying to jackhammer through our lawn and told Mom not to flush the toilet - resulting in a look of unsettled anxiety that might have reasonably led a passer-by to believe she was the one about to give birth.

We knew we were having a girl and had gone back and forth on a name. I liked the idea of Ava. Gwen was pushing Darcy, but the fact that there seemed to be so many Canadian hockey players skating around under that designation - notably Darcy Tucker of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who at the time had recently blown out an opponent's knee with a violent hip-check - was a stumbling block for me.

I was sold on Ava, but have to confess to a moment of doubt when they handed her to us and we looked down at this precious little face. The name seemed a little "big" and sophisticated for the owner of the eyes staring back at us. Gwen had the same feeling. We agreed to hold off while she and the new member of our gang got a little sleep. A couple of hours later we got her back, overcame our reservations, and Ava got her name. Believe me when I say she's grown into it.

Our Ava Bean, 5 today, looking and acting very much like a confident little girl. A little girl whose parents moved immediately from deciding what she would be called to watching five years go by, in what seems very much like a blink.