Maddie and Lena

One time Lena made a necklace with Froot Loops at an afterschool program. As soon as Bill saw her, before they’d left the school, he warned her not to wear the necklace around the dog. Despite this she left it on, and within 5 minutes of her arrival I heard her cry out. I turned from the stove to find her bent over clutching the necklace

near her neck while Maddie hung off the other end, jaws clamped shut. It took both me and Bill
to extricate the two of them. Lena kept her cool until it was all over. Then she realized the danger she’d been in and collapsed into tears. Later she made a drawing about the episode.

For all that, I don’t think Maddie ever injured Lena during the vulnerable toddler years, when kids totter around with half-eaten graham crackers in their hands. I guess Lena just never did that. We had a pretty strict rule that she sat in the high chair to eat for this very reason. Maddie also wanted to be in the high chair. I think it must have been around that period of Lena’s life that we bought a kiddie door gate to keep Maddie out of the kitchen during meal times...