by Christopher Alan Sweeney

Created on: February 28, 2010

Little Miss NO! That’s what I called her. No matter what you wanted her to do the answer was: "No!"

“They say if the first child is an angel then the next one will be Beelzebub!” That’s what her mother told me. I’m not saying she was prescient but she did name her for the witch in ‘Bell, Book and Candle’.

Rob was the angel. The instant I turned the key in the ignition he fell asleep in his car seat and didn’t wake up until we got where we were going. If I asked him to do something he did it without a second thought or any complaint. He slept through the night and was potty trained months before children are supposed to be. He was reading picture less books at age three. His teachers loved him and there was never an issue about school until college.

Well Gillian wasn’t Beelzebub but she was certainly a difficult child. It’s a good thing that I only sleep four hours a night because Gillian never slept through the night. She would have worn out normal parents who needed more sleep.

By the time she decided to cooperate with the potty training I think she could have written a dissertation on the subject. Yes, she was smart as a whip and you knew it. Therefore what she was doing was intentional. She just wanted to p… you off.

Gillian demanded – no, commanded – attention!  My buddy Guy said: “Chris she just wants attention. She doesn’t care whether it’s negative or positive attention.” I think he was right.

I remember well one night when her mom was working as a nurse at the hospital across the street. She worked evenings and I worked days as a construction superintendent. We had this little old German lady as a babysitter because I was also attending Law School. Well this must have been a Wednesday because it was the one night that I didn’t have school and I was home typing briefs on my old Smith Corona. I had papers and books all over the kitchen table and was totally engrossed in the issue before me. The angel child was asleep but little Beelzebub was awake and toddling around.

I didn’t know what she was up to. She had opened the cabinet doors to the canned goods and was rummaging through them. I’m not sure I even thought about it. She wasn’t bothering me. Until she slipped and hit her head on the floor; then I felt it and heard it at the same instant. The sound of my baby daughter’s head striking the floor so upset me

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