Today was one of those rare, glorious days - I almost got it all done. Isn't that great! Almost everything on the mental to-do list got checked off!!! Let me tell you about it...
It started this morning at 8am when Lily got up and Chase brought her in to snuggle with me in "Mommy's bed." (I know some of you out there are thinking how
She cuddled for a minute, then announced, "Hungry baby," meaning, of course, that she was a hungry baby and wanted breakfast. When I asked what she wanted, she gave her standard answer whenever she's hungry, "Yogurt." (She would eat yogurt 40 meals a day if I let her! We should buy stock in Yoplait...)
So we had breakfast. While she ate, I did the dishes from the night before like all normal human beings. (Seriously, who does their dishes promptly? If you do, I don't want to know about it. Let me enjoy my delusion.) And I also started the first of many loads of laundry. When she was done, I got her dressed, set her in front of a movie and took a shower. (I swore I'd never use TV as a babysitter when I had kids, but her movies are educational. Really!)
I got ready for the day and even braided my hair and put it up all spiffy (nobody noticed all day), and packed up our backpack. We got on our bike and rode to the park where we met some friends. Lily's funny. She doesn't like to perform for other people or generally do anything but sit back and watch unless it's for only the people she knows really well. Since we were there with friends, she went down the slide once and refused to go anywhere near anything else.
As soon as all the friends were headed out (with their backs turned as they walked away from the park), this is what Lily did:
Do you see her? Yep. She's climbing the stairs. And that's no small slide, but it is the slide she has conquered (as long as no one is there to see it). It's like one of those tree in the forest things, "If Lily goes down a slide at the park, but there's no one there to see it, did she really go down the slide at all?" *sigh* But she's SO cute when she does it!
I love the above picture. I'm not sure why - I guess it's because she's on the brink, sitting at the precipice. All that's left to do is go. And she will, when she's good and ready and when she's doing it for the right reason - Lily cannot be coaxed, cajoled, convinced, or coddled into performing or showing off. I love that about her.
After the park, we loaded up on the bike and headed to the library, one of Lily's favorite stops in town. (She's always heartbroken if we go to the mall, which is across the street from the library, and don't stop at the library - it's so great that she loves books that much!) They have this really great little table and chairs by this big window back in the toddler/children's book area. Lily often previews books while sitting there.
Today they had her favorite book in, which means we checked it out and it's now at our house. It's the book there in the picture - I always secretly hope it's not there when we go. It's huge and heavy to carry in a backpack on a bike, and it's annoying to read, but she loves it. She can spot it from across the library if it's in... and it's in every other time we go (because the times it's not in are the times we're dropping it off because we've just had it). Wait...
Actually, it's a boring great book! You should consider checking it out for your child! It's very popular - it gets checked out approximately every 3 weeks!...
After the library, we went to the thrift store and got 2 shirts (for $1/ea!) and headed home. We changed the laundry, ate lunch, and Lily went down a bit early for a nap. And that's when I really got going. I cleaned, like really cleaned, the bathroom for the first time in like I do all the time. I took care of a bunch of those little piles of stuff that get stuck here and there when you say to yourself, "I'll deal with that later." And I sorted through the pile of mail/bills/papers that's always sitting on my counter. (The fact that it's still spread in 5 different piles on my kitchen table is not important. I sorted it. That's all that counts.)
When Lily got up from her nap a bit earlier than I expected, we did a little of this:
Ok, so we didn't really make brownies. (Some of these pictures weren't taken today, but they DO demonstrate what we did!) We mixed up dough for Runzas, and we snacked while we did it, but it was quality kitchen time in any case. She likes to be my "big girl helper" and do things like hand me eggs from the carton, "help" pour ingredients into the bowl, "help" stir, and "help" taste everything. Very helpful, indeed. :)
After switching the laundry for what seemed like the millionth time, we went outside to tinker with the flower beds, and after a few minutes Lily suggested another activity. I consented and we did this:
I love living a couple of blocks from the pool!
We were there for an hour and a half, the first 2/3 of which we spent mostly sitting on the side or wading in up to Lily's thighs and watching all the big kids play. After a while, the older kids started to thin out, and Lily realized that we were nearly alone in the big pool. Time to turn on the Lily charm!
She jumped off the edge of the pool to me (with me holding her the whole time) in the 4 ft, and I'd swing her through the water, and she'd giggle and giggle and giggle. We'd sing and I'd swing her to the tune of the song. We'd pop up out of the water when the weasel in the song pops. It was delightful, and my arms will probably be sore tomorrow, but it was totally worth it.
(As I was writing just now, I think I figured out why Lily doesn't show off with others around. It's because if she turned on the Lily charm for the whole world to see, everyone would be as smitten with her as I am! And I'm very happy to keep her to myself for now...)
To clearly voiced protests, we left the pool. In the locker room, I changed Lily back to her clothes for the walk home. Just as I pulled off her swim diaper, she said, "Potty chair?" So I said, "You want to sit on the potty chair here?" She said, "Uh-huh." So I rolled my eyes and settled her little buns on the side of the toilet seat. And wouldn't you know, she actually went! Not much, but enough that it was definitely potty. I practically threw a party right there in the stall! We talked of nothing but M&M's and stickers on the walk home.
After receiving said rewards, we changed the laundry (again), got out snacks, and started making the runzas. ...Ok, so they weren't really runzas - they were pizza pockets, but made with a runza dough recipe that I really like. We made 12 pockets and they were delish! With such a good dinner, we had to make a good dessert, so we made a strawberry pie and stuck it in the fridge a few minutes before Chase got home.
We switched the laundry (again) and ran a bath (in a sparklingly clean tub) for Lily, and cleaned the girl. With a freshly smelling baby in freshly washed jammies, Daddy couldn't help but snuggle her and put her to bed. Which just left me to clean up the kitchen and then deal with this...
(Yes, that pile of laundry is taller than the seat of the couch and larger in diameter than 2 of the cusions.) How does this happen? Why do I let it get so out of hand? My mom was incredible! I remember her folding each piece as it came out of the dryer. I am clearly not capable of such a feat. And as bad as that pile looks, it doesn't even include the next 2 loads of towels that came out after I took the picture! *sigh*
For those wondering, no. Chase didn't help me fold THIS TIME (although he does help fold more often than not, and he's very good at folding too). He did, however, set up and run the entertainment for me while I folded. I'm totally addicted to Friday Night Lights (the TV series) on Netflix at the moment. So in all honesty, I saved the dreaded fold for when I could lose myself in the lives and problems of fictional characters on screen. It was glorious!
And now that huge pile of laundry is all happily integrated and settled in where it belongs:
It has been a good day. It's so rare that I go to bed able to tell that nagging voice in my head to stuff it cuz I got it done - at least most of it. I feel like I get one of these days every month if I'm lucky, or more realistically every few months. So this post is to brag a little, because I did it. And if I'm being honest, it's to document that this ever happens at all!
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