Page:Our Little Girl (1923).pdf/18

 First Thoughts.” Mother had lost little time in setting down these first thoughts, which were noted in a post-Spencerian holograph: “My baby is here and it is a wonderful baby as all of us agree and give thanks that it is here. The doctor says it is a fine child and may it prove to be a blessing for all of us. Motherhood is a wonderful thing and I am so happy and proud that I cannot speak.”

Here the space became a trifle crowded and the remainder of the First Thought had to be wedged about the margins of the page.

“We shall have baby baptized Dorothy Reitz Loamford after my grandmother Dorothy and my family name Reitz and a prettier or more appropriate name could not be bestowed. Baby will be fed for the first time tomorrow God bless her little soul and may she grow up to be a blessing for all of us.”

On the back of this page was a crushed sliver of crocheting. This sheet bore the caption “Baby’s First Sock.”

The great discovery that Dorothy was an unusual girl seems to have been established in Baby’s Third Month.

“Uncle Elliott was here today and looked over baby and said ‘Yes, she is a typical Reitz.’ All ready I can see the Reitz look on baby’s face when she is smiling and when she is ill she looks a little like her father who is very happy and proud of her. I know that she will grow up to be an unusual woman and may I be spared to help her.”

It was on Baby’s First Anniversary that the field in which Dorothy was to achieve greatness was indicated.

“We had a little party in honor of baby today and it was a great event with all of her surviving grandparents present. She smiled at Grandma Reitz and Uncle Elliott. Uncle Elliott brought her a toy piano and she would not [2]