yesterday

Yesterday was a comical day (looking back.) At about noon, I was prepared to journal how "together" things felt as a mom. Night before last, I had scribbled out a schedule that Lauren Clay and I would follow so that we could accomplish some things that needed to get done. We got up, ate a healthy breakfast, took a walk right on cue (the next door neighbor even stuck her head out and said she was impressed to see us out and about so early), ran into one of our new neighbors and her 2- and 4-year old on our walk and decided to stop by the park with them, then we came home and had a super healthy lunch (which Lauren Clay finished.) We got the oil changed and the car washed and Lauren Clay fell asleep on the way home from our errands... which usually means I can easily put her down for a nice long nap. That's when I was thinking I was going to spend a few minutes patting myself on the back via the blog. Of course, I should know better than to admit when things are running smoothly. As I put Lauren Clay in bed, she popped up and would not close her eyes to go back to sleep. Sometimes when she jumps up after a short nap, it means she just wasn't ready to take one. She'll wake up and immediately smile, want to play, and act pretty well settled. Not yesterday. Before finally going back to sleep-- 2.5 hours later-- she had screamed, cried, and thrown multiple dramatic fits on the floor without any apparent trigger.

She did end up having a nice nap, and got to spend some time with her grandparents while I worked with a grad student on her dissertation. I was a little nervous about the evening routine, but it went much more smoothly than the past two nights. I did give her some teething tablets before bed because I've noticed her gnawing on anything she can shove into the back of her mouth. Last night after prayers, she climbed into bed on her own and I just stayed next to the bed and read. Meanwhile, she read at least 3/4 of the books on her shelf. Every once in a while, she'd read a page, then stick the book in front of my face so I'd look at the pictures. The cutest part of the reading was that she was saying lots of the correct words with all the appropriate inflections. She read her Carl book about Carl's birthday and sang happy birthday for the picture of the party. She read Pinnochio, and on the page with the blue fairy, she correctly said, "Blue Fairy is kind to 'Pi-neck-io'. She helps him." She read a Spanish book about a Rhino who sits on his sandwich and can't find it (because it's on his bottom.) On each page, she'd point to an animal and ask if it had seen the sandwich, then she'd reply, "No..." and continue, "on his bottom" and giggle.

She read and read and read until almost 11 pm, but she didn't cry once and she stayed in bed the whole time. Looks like we need to start the bedtime routine a little earlier (like 4 pm?) to have her asleep at a decent hour, but I'll take a quiet late bedtime over a fight to the finish at any time.

We're off to take a short walk before heading to campus to meet a former student for coffee and conversation!