Rolegraphy

This is the most creative thing I have done in the last year.  No idea what possessed me to take on a task like this, but at some point I thought it would be a good idea to create an infographic of Lucy’s first year.  Not a new idea by any means, but I had only ever worked on Annual Reports in a corporate context, so I just needed to translate that experience into documenting a little people.  I have a calendar where I keep track of  milestones and things, because otherwise my soggy brain vaporizes events instantly and they are gone forever. I pretty much scribble in the white square every time she burps or farts, only because I have visions of ending up in the E.R. one day and having doctors shout questions at me, like Has she eaten anything strange in the last 24 hours, or When was the last time she burped and farted?  I must watch too many crime dramas because I always think that any minute now, a person in authority is going to demand that I account for my time.  So I log my time.

It’s possible this child will develop reflexes like a cat (hmmm. and like me).  If that happens, we won’t have any E.R. visits, but if not…I find myself preparing for the occasion.  Like last weekend, when she discovered the top of a stairwell, walked right up to the edge and extended her foot.  Like a bigger person does.  And she just leaned forward and stepped into nothing.  Somehow, I knew to be right there and grabbed her by the arm mid-air as she nearly tumbled down and procured a broken bone and a concussion for her 1st birthday. As usual, her mind is far beyond what her body is capable of.

So, back to the annual report.   I will be honest, I am SO proud of this project.  Not because it is brilliant design, because we all know it’s… rudimentary.  And let’s be frank, it isn’t even really finished.  Time finished it.  But the fact that I accomplished anything creative at all…ahhh. I reach up and give myself a nice good scratch on the back.  I also kept a baby alive for a year.  So I’m like a plate spinner.  Except with swords.  That are on fire.  And this little project  really cured what ailed me.  I needed something super-tangible, with a beginning, middle, and end.  That I could hold in my hand or hang on my wall, and refer to later.  Because while Lucy is my little human project, she is a work in progress for the next 17 years.  And then whatever she turns out to be, she gets to claim for herself! With this annual report, the positive elements far outweigh the mistakes, and it fills me with joy.  Hmm.  Come to think of it: precisely how I hope my daughter turns out!