the arrival of the navel

Multiple choice.

I am holding:

a) A stale raisin
b) A shrunken head
c) The stump of my daughter's umbilical cord

Answer: c. Her umbilical stump fell off on Cinco de Mayo. John was changing her and found it in her diaper. He excitedly called me in from the living room.

Now, this may not seem like a very big deal, but to me it is. It's the end of some kind of era, the beginning of Luciya's life as a real person. For more than nine months, her life came to her - from me - through this cord. Her blood, her oxygen, that garlicky dinner I ate. She was attached to my insides, she lived through me, and when she came out of me and sampled the oxygen of us Earthlings her daddy snipped it clean. And since then she's had this wrinkly little brown stump right there in the center of her little round belly.

And now, who has the cutest belly button ever?

a) Luciya
b) Our 2 1/2 week old daughter
c) Is that spit-up all over the bed?
d) All of the above

Answer: d. Just when you think she couldn't get any more adorable.

Even though she spits up all over the bed.