The Plaster Disaster

Everyone talks about how as new parents we should treasure every moment because she will grow up so fast. We have taken this advice to heart and I bought a baby book to record “firsts,” “hopes and dreams” etc. We also received a baby’s first handprint kit as a shower gift and thought we would celebrate her two-week birthday by making a charming little handprint as a keepsake and a way to preserve this special time when her hands are so darn small and irresistibly cute.

On Sunday afternoon I decided the time to preserve the hand had come so I dutifully followed the instructions to make the plaster mash for her little hand. As the instructions told me to do I waited until she was asleep and when Patrick was around to assist in the imprint process. I poured the white sludge into the mold and set the timer for two minutes so it would be of just the right consistency to capture our little girl’s little hand. The alarm went off and I called Patrick to the kitchen…oh this is going to be so precious I thought, and just look at her sleeping like an angel.

I spread out her hand and place it in the plaster, hold for 5 seconds just as I am told and… crap she pulls in her thumb just as I pull out her hand. Undaunted, we wash her hand, smooth the goo and try again… this time she makes a fist and its ruined, so we try again, and again. By the fourth try she is awake, none to happy with us, and most of her arm, in addition to her hand, is coated in plaster. At this point we decided that the hand was just not going to work so in an effort to preserve anything for posterity we thought we would try a foot. Of course by this time at least 5 minutes have passed and the plaster is starting to harden. Undaunted we decided to try the foot anyway. Well this approach failed miserably too and resulted only in Genevieve screaming and plaster coated foot and leg (this of course is not to mention the plaster on Patrick and I and our kitchen.) Of course right as this happens our pregnant friend Annie comes by with dinner for us, screaming baby as her welcome to our house... maybe pregnant people shouldn't spend too much time with newborns (and certainly not bawling ones), it might make them uneasy about their decision :)

So in the end all of our well-intentioned efforts at posterity preservation of her appendages ended only in her second ever bath (which of course made the poor thing even more upset…. What torturous parents she has)