Li'l Hil. Infant. Popeye face when you looked at her and tried to get her to smile. She would wink one eye and scrunch up her face, totally disgusted with your feeble attempts. She would smile when she was good and ready. Crawling: Picked up every speck of anything she could on the floor. Would look at it, look at me, smile and put in her mouth knowing full well I would say no. She would smile more and in it went. Until I fished it out. Standing: Jump in the crib, up, down, up, down. Until I walked in and she will fall flat down as her sister sat in the next bed laughing. The moment I left the room, the same up down up down, until I came into the room and flat. Kindergarten conference: Teacher said she was so well behaved, never spoke out of turn, never broke the rules. Was a little lady. Hmmmmm. First grade: Teach is going to read them Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factor over a course of weeks. EAch child will have a chocolate bar to eat as she reads. Anyone with any chocolate left will win a prize. Hil won. Hands down. No one else had any left after the first few days. She was determined. Pointe shoes. Pointe shoes. Pointe shoes. She was determined. She did it. High School, a leader, a singer, a dancer, a good student. Graduates college. One of my goals to get them both through college. They both did it. Japan. Chicago.

She is a girl on the move. Looking for places to be and things to do. Always going. And I still see that baby, that little one, with her Popeye face. Her way, when she is good and ready.