Today.
| March 12, 2012 | Posted by Lisa under Uncategorized |
Today was so ordinary. It was my day off with Alice. She woke at 7:30, we gave Dad goodbye kisses, had breakfast in front of Yo Gabba Gabba. We shared oatmeal and then she had yogurt. She’s eating so well with her spoon until she gets impatient and just shovels it in with her first. She flailed her arms and smiled when she saw the orange fluff of DJ Lance’s hat. Kicked her ham feet. We played upstairs a while until I got the feeling that she was getting bored with me. I put her in her wagon and we took a walk. I get the feeling that now she’s at a school where she spends most of the day outside, she gets cabin fever if kept indoors too long.
I fed her lunch: an egg, black beans. She stuffs the food in her chubby cheeks and says, “OHHHH!” in a low moan… and smiles at me. Such a silly girl.
She skipped a morning nap and went down finally at 11:40. She was reading books before she fell asleep.
I was counting on 2 hours and she woke, crying after just 1 hour. I think it might be the massive molar she has coming in. She was groggy and couldn’t stop crying, stopping only when I sat in her chair and held her, tight, to my chest, and sang, “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” over and over… about 20 times. I realized that she hasn’t let me hold her for this long since I stopped breastfeeding. I rested my cheek on the top of her head and breathed in, trying to remember her baby smell. I asked her if she wanted to go back to sleep and she walked into her room. I rocked her a while, put her back in her crib, but she just cried. I got her out after 10 minutes and she instantly stopped. She was awake now. She reached for the light on her fan to turn it on like her Daddy taught her. I held her up and after a minute had to pry her chubby hand off of the cord.
She was warm and sweaty and soft and squishy. I kissed her open mouth, wiped her nose, changed her diaper against her whines. She is still healing from a horrible diaper rash that came on due to eating oranges at school last week. No acidic fruit for Boobin. Her hair was in tight curls in the back, one big loopy curl on the top of her head, and flat on one side where she slept.
We went grocery shopping. I got home and started dinner.
I fed her a snack: cheese and grapes. I cut the grapes into fourths because her Dad is afraid that she’ll choke on halves.
We went in the backyard. She played in the rocks and I snapped her picture. I noticed that the highlights in her hair are perfect. She toddled around the yard, losing her balance on the rocky terrain but recovering easily.
She helped me put her ride-in car together, getting in it when I needed to turn it over to put the wheels on. I realized that she understands me more than I was giving her credit for. I asked her to get out of the car and hand me the blue wheel… and she did it. She even took the wheel out of the bag before she handed it to me. I’d really been underestimating her.
When I was done assembling the car we went on a walk. I got about a half mile from the house when Alice decided she was done. DONE. She put her feet down so I couldn’t push the car any further, got out, and ran to a stranger’s house. I bribed her with iPhone games. That bought me about 50 more feet until she stopped the car again. So then I was carrying 25 pounds of Boobin, who is wriggling to get down so she can run away from me, pushing the stupid car, and sweating.
I stopped by Matt and Leslie’s because I saw Matt’s truck in the driveway. I borrowed their stroller, walked back to the house, told her there was no getting out when she asked, “Up?” three times, put her in my car, drove back to return the stroller and get Alice’s car that she won’t ride in.
We drove to meet Ali and Logan at the park. She saw Logan in the swing and decided she liked it ok. She laughed her gorgeous laugh until she’d had enough. She ran and played on the toddler slide, going down over and over. Mollie came outside with her girls and Alice played with Annie.
We went home, I fed her dinner: cheese, pork tenderloin, green beans, and grapes. Dad got home, gave us all kisses, and we ate and watched more Yo Gabba Gabba, this time Dad’s favorite episode, “Sleep”. I sat on the couch. My whole body hurt. Boobin wore me out.
I took her upstairs and Dad changed her and put her in her jammies. He handed her to me, I rocked her awhile and asked her if she was ready for nite nite. She pointed to her crib. I sat her up and told her, “Thank you for spending the day with me. Mommy loves you so much.” I kissed her chubby cheek and her open mouth. I layed her down, showed her the books in the crib, and waved bye. She put her fingers through the slats of the crib, wanting me to grab them, and I did. She smiled. I didn’t want to leave. I told her I’d see her in the morning.
Most boring blog post in the history of blog posts?? Yep. But, gosh, I just want to remember. I want to remember what it’s like to have her sit next to me and watch tv, her tiny hand absently rubbing my leg, her little body fitting snug between me and the couch arm. I want to remember how impossibly smooth her skin feels, how full her cheeks are, how her laugh is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard. I want to remember how comfortable she is with me, how she brings me rocks to put in my hand, how she brings me books to read to her. How she hands them to me and turns to sit in my lap, her spot. How when she says, “MaMaMaMa,” she’s looking at me. Her Mama.
My feet ache, my back is going to hurt all day tomorrow, and I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. Tomorrow I have to spend the day apart from her, and my stomach feels like there is a brick inside just thinking about it. My mom is right- Boobin is addictive. Three day weekends will never be long enough to soak her up.
I’m grateful to have her and wistful that tomorrow she’ll be different.
I think it’s a beautiful blog post. What a perfect memory.
NOT the most boring post! One of the most beautiful, maybe
I read every word. It was so fun seeing into a day in your life. You have such a sweet, sweet girl.
I’m so glad your finally experiencing the things I did with you and now can understand why I did and said the things to you. Baby girls are the best things in the whole world and the best thing is even though they don’t always like it they will always be your baby girl no matter how old they get!
This is beautiful and so perfect at capturing your day with your daughter, thank you for sharing.