The Perfect Child

Piper is questioned about how she could have been unaware of Hannah’s pregnancy. She says that Hannah didn’t tell her and that she herself didn’t stop by Bauers’ house for several months. Once Hannah’s baby was born, Piper found out. She believes it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of anything if she had known, but privately she isn’t sure that’s true.

Hannah puts off telling Christopher about her pregnancy, because she is worried that he will react negatively. As Hannah predicted, Christopher reacts with shock and almost dismay, and his main concern is how Janie will react and adjust to it. Hannah is hurt by Christopher’s reaction and storms off.

Christopher notices how happy Hannah is and wants to be excited with her, but those feelings never surface. Hannah notices that Christopher seems disconnected from the idea of having a baby. Christopher takes Hannah in his arms, and for the first time in their marriage, he lies to her; he tells her that he is excited and has just had a hard time showing it.

Hannah and Christopher tell Janie about the baby by bringing her a cake with a stork on it and a T-shirt that says, “I am a big sister” (172). Janie doesn’t understand at first, so Christopher gives Janie a basic explanation of pregnancy and says that the baby will be here soon. Janie doesn’t seem either upset or happy about it. Meanwhile, Christopher and Hannah finally find a preschool that suits Janie, and she even makes a friend there. Hannah starts preparing the house for the baby, no longer doubting that it will indeed come.

Christopher doesn’t want to attend the baby shower, nor does he want Janie there, but they are both asked to come anyway. When Hannah asks Janie to go play outside with her father so that people can get the party set up, Janie refuses, and Christopher carries her outside anyway. Later, Janie takes a cupcake from the expensive cupcake tower without permission. Both Christopher and Hannah tell her to stop, but she doesn’t listen. Instead, she bites into the cupcake and tells Hannah she will be a bad mother, which makes Hannah’s heart wrench. Even Christopher is hurt on Hannah’s behalf and becomes angry with Janie, taking her to her room and closing the door. Janie cries for a while until Christopher is able to calm her down.

Christopher and Hannah go to Janie’s preschool after being called in over serious concerns. Janie was found to be purposely hurting the girl she claimed was her friend, repeatedly and severely enough to leave bruises. When Janie was asked why, she said she liked seeing people cry. Janie’s teacher suggests talking to the other girl’s mother and explaining Janie’s past, but Hannah doesn’t think that it sends a good message to excuse Janie’s behavior that way. Christopher tries anyway, but Janie is expelled two days later after she pushes the girl off a slide and breaks her arm.

Hannah reads that getting a pet can help children adjust to the addition of a new baby, so she and Christopher let Janie pick out a kitten of her own. Janie is excited at first and spends the day playing with the cat, but on the very first night, she pokes it with a pin and causes it to bleed. The cat becomes instantly petrified of Janie, and when Hannah asks why she did it, she replies that she wanted to see if it would bleed.

Piper claims not to know enough about “sociopathy” to say whether Janie showed signs of it or not. She assumed that because Janie had been hurt, she was now hurting others.

Dr. Chandler has Christopher and Hannah fill out questionnaires about Janie’s behavior and determines that Janie likely has reactive attachment disorder, which is a severe difficulty in forming relationships that results from having no close relationship with a primary caretaker. Dr. Chandler describes children with this disorder as being manipulative, overly affectionate with strangers, and likely to throw severe tantrums, all of which describe Janie. Christopher feels like this challenge is insurmountable, and Hannah worries about the safety of her baby.

Hannah’s water breaks and she and Christopher rush to the hospital while Janie stays with Allison. The labor is painful and long, and Hannah goes through it without the aid of any anesthetics. She gives birth to a baby boy whom she names Cole after Christopher’s grandmother Nicole, and she instantly feels like she was always meant to be a mother.

When Christopher and Hannah come home from the hospital, Janie refuses to meet or even look at Cole. She clings to Christopher, and Cole seems to never stop crying.

Cole’s pediatrician says that Cole is healthy and that crying a lot is normal in babies. Hannah is anxious for her mother to come to town so that she can get help from someone with experience.

Christopher goes back to work, but when he returns home after his first day, he finds the house in total disarray. There are messes everywhere, and Hannah is beyond exhausted. When she starts to cry, Christopher offers to take Cole for a drive to get him to sleep, but Hannah doesn’t want him to go. Christopher insists and drives around for a couple of hours while Cole rests in the back. When they get home, Hannah is more distraught than Christopher has ever seen her. She yells and cries, telling Christopher that she thought something horrible would happen and forbidding him from ever taking Cole out like that again.

Hannah apologizes to Christopher for getting so upset with him. The next few days don’t get any easier, as Cole still cries constantly and Janie is reverting to past behaviors like urinating on the floor. One day, Janie looks at Hannah as she breastfeeds Cole and demands to have a chance to try it. Hannah denies her, but Janie keeps insisting, so Hannah puts Cole down in his carrier. Janie pinches Hannah’s breast and then kicks Cole’s carrier over, sending Cole to the floor. She goes to her room and cries continuously until Hannah yells at her to stop.

Later, Hannah goes into Janie’s room to find her covered in vomit and instantly feels guilty for yelling at her. When she gives Janie a bath, she apologizes for yelling, and Janie replies that “Mommies always yell” (217). It’s the first time Hannah has heard Janie hint at Becky’s behavior, but she doesn’t want to push her, and Janie doesn’t say anything more. After her bath, Janie asks for some of Hannah’s milk again.

Christopher comes home and finds Hannah angry and distraught. He suggests getting a nanny, but Hannah hates the idea and refuses. Hannah says she wants to try letting Janie breastfeed, which Christopher finds strange and possibly problematic. Hannah gives it a try the next day anyway; Janie seems happy at first but then bites Hannah’s breast so hard that she needs stitches.

Hannah gets Allison to watch the children while she’s in the hospital but doesn’t tell her what Janie did. Later, Christopher gets home and finds Janie in her usual happy-to-see-him mood. He tries to be stern and tell her that she can’t hurt people, but Janie admits that she likes to.

The police push Piper to admit that she was absent from the Bauers’ lives during the first few months after Hannah gave birth, and Piper cries thinking back to this time.

Hannah can now only breastfeed with one breast, which almost immediately causes problems: Breastfeeding becomes intensely painful, and both breasts become infected. Hannah has no choice but to bottle feed, though she cries doing so, as she feels robbed of a hallmark experience of motherhood.

Meanwhile, Hannah’s infection develops into a serious fever. She needs to go to the hospital and is prescribed strong antibiotics. Allison takes Janie for a few days so Hannah can recover, and when she brings Janie back to the Bauers, Allison seems alarmed and disturbed. She describes Janie’s behavior, noting that Janie was urinating on herself and standing over Allison and her husband while they slept. Janie claims to no longer like Allison, who she says is mean for not wanting to play with her. Hannah doesn’t want Janie around anymore and starts to worry that Janie might be a real threat.