Libby came from a long line of Irish mothers who believed that babies should be plump, pink-cheeked and blue-eyed. She had heard it all her life. Fat Irish babies all dressed up in their prams, the picture of health. Slightly rain-soaked at times but radiantly rosy and most of all, plump. She was a bit doubtful about her first-born—cute but not fat enough. Not as fat as the neighbour’s baby but then Baby Lois was two months younger than the baby next door. Perhaps, with time, the desired plumpness would come. Still, she worried and wondered.
It was her afternoon custom to dress Baby Lois in her finest, put her in the pram with the blue satin pillow with the white organdy pillow case and cover her with the pink and blue quilted cover, all gifts from the Irish grandmother far across the sea. Libby strolled with her baby every afternoon.
She remained preoccupied with her baby’s weight. Fortunately, there was a butcher’s shop on the corner. The butcher was an obliging gentleman who was only too glad to put Baby Lois on his scales. One fateful day, Baby Lois weighed in at ten pounds ten ounces. She was two months old and had not doubled her birth weight. Libby was filled with a sense of foreboding and could hardly contain her tears. She made the journey home and tucked her little one in her crib.
Winston came home. He immediately saw that Libby was upset.
“What’s wrong? You have been crying. Is Baby Lois okay?”
“Oh, I don’t think so. The butcher put her on his scales. She is not gaining enough weight. Should we take her to emergency?” Winston was a graduate engineer. He had all the answers at his finger tips.
“There is no need for that. When she wakes up, I will find the solution to this problem.”
Baby Lois woke up and found herself in a laundry basket, balanced on the end of a broom, competing with a pound of butter placed near the fulcrum. That was how Winston termed it. Engineers know everything. After pages of careful mathematical calculations, Winston announced that Baby Lois weighed ten pounds ten ounces. Libby looked at him in stark disbelief. Her tears flowed afresh.
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