Baby girl
Inside Mom's tummy
We're all so
Excited to meet you
We take turns saying names
I wanted Tinker Bell
Little sister
With the big brown eyes
She named you Hope
Because you're her sunshine
I like to think my name stuck
Because your first one is Bella
Smaller one
With the pink wire glasses
You have a gap
Between your two front teeth
Your bangs are chopped and uneven
Most adorable thing I've ever seen
Bella Hope
With the skinny bones, blond hair
Barbies and Play-Do
We fill our days with these things
Search and find books, Polly Pockets
Our brother's Legos spilled across the carpet
My sunshine
Mom thought you were hers
But your brightness
Has filled my days too
Your little hand, sticky and warm
Always holding mine when I say to
Little sister
Ever since your first day at school
I've been your protector
You were always the most important
More than Mom, more than Dad
More than the others; more than me
Baby sis
I've scolded you relentlessly
And held you down
As you kicked and scratched and screamed
A big brat, you were
But you were also my big brat
Growing girl
Let's ride our bikes around the neighborhood
And train you up
For a new year of soccer
I can spray you with the hose
And you can run through the rainbows
Preteen Sassifrass
You're hair is getting so long
And you're heading to sixth grade
You still wave at Mom and kiss her goodbye
That's good, you need to do that
But you head off alone now
Teenage wonder
You grew up while I've been away
I'm no longer your guardian
Those don't leave
You can march and play better than me
You know what the bad things mean
Bella Hope
I still have dreams of you, and quite honestly
I figured you'd fade with the rest of them
But I only have ever missed you more every day
Your smile comes back to me at night
When the world goes still and gray
Baby Hope
I only see you every now and then
And just like the rest of them
Soon enough I won't even know you
Then, one day you'll wake up with Mom
To find that I'm gone, perhaps for a very long time
And, Little one
I hope you know that I love you forever
And when you're in the dark places
Remember that you are the sunshine
That lights up my nightmares
And that you've been my greatest love