Dreams of Freedom

When I got home from playing music at a party tonight, baby let me give her a two-minute hug and gently hugged me back. More or less inert in our arms for the first several months of life, now she holds onto us like a monkey. Sometimes, too, she pushes away from us, wiggling and writhing, when she wants to be put down. She likes to follow the dogs out into the screened patio, sensing the independence they enjoy when outdoors. She stands at the sliding-glass door and watches them, hands against the glass on either side of her head, and dreams of having so much freedom.