Why I love Abbie Hoyt
18 August 2009
So my fabulous friend, Debbie, read my blog about McKenna loving tomatoes. On Sunday, she brought a couple of yellow tomatoes from her garden which McKenna loved. She devoured one for a snack in the afternoon, though at first she was hesitant because that morning we wouldn’t let her have one for breakfast. So she kept looking from the tomato to me, saying, “May-toe—no bite.” I finally convinced her that yes, I did in fact intend for her to eat the tomato I’d just set on her tray.
Then, yesterday, McKenna pulled out her phone and called the tomatoes. It seems with the yellow tomatoes, her obsession has increased. She then wanted me to call the tomatoes. It was difficult to keep a straight face as I did the whole, “Hello? Oh, hi tomatoes. Sure, you want to talk to McKenna…”
On days like Sunday, when I deal with the extremes of McKenna being a sobbing mess because we won’t let her eat a tomato for breakfast, and then her being the happiest child in the world that afternoon as she shoves a big yellow one in her mouth, I often think to myself, “How would Abbie handle this if she keeps the baby? How would she deal with the unpredictability?” It’s tough for me, and I’m ten years older than her. These are the kinds of things—the joy of a pretend phone call to tomatoes juxtaposed with the frustrations of tantrums over breakfast foods—that no amount of studying can prepare you for. And it’s why I have such a heart for Abbie Hoyt.
I’m working on page proofs for book two right now, one last check for typos, and I just want to sob for Abbie as she continues in her pregnancy. I loved being pregnant, but of course I had been married for a couple years, felt ready to have kids, and I wasn’t doing it by myself. Writing Abbie’s parts in The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series was often the most exhausting and the most rewarding.
In the next day or two, I’ll have the new blurb and cover for Out with the In Crowd up on the web site. It’ll still be another month or so before I can get the first chapter for y’all, but as soon as I can, I’ll post it!
Comments
An excellent point. As she sobbed hysterically, it occurred to me that if McKenna wants to eat tomatoes for breakfast rather than biscuits, bacon, and eggs, I probably shouldn’t get in her way. But of course by then we’d already said no…
Posted by Stephanie on 19 August 2009
Tomatoes are great for breakfast. They are a fruit.
Posted by Beth Hines on 18 August 2009