Typical

This morning Bitty and I spent an hour and a half and visited three stores in search of a rain cover for the jogging stroller.  I had to get my run in with the baby today--I slept too late to run by myself in the morning, and I have Jesus class this evening.  The gal at REI finally found one in the back room--the name-brand expensive one,of course, not the cheaper knock-off.Fifty-five bucks for that thing.  Ridic.  

We got home and after I fed Bitty some lunch I got the stroller out of the closet and took it outside, just as the clouds parted and the sky became dry.  I hate irony.

And you know I'm only taking Jesus classes so I can drink wine at church on Sundays.

Serious

My husband was surfing the news on the CNN website today, and a story was featured that got me all choked up.  It's about a woman who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma when her newborn daughter was just a few months old.  Soon thereafter, the baby was diagnosed with a different type of cancer.  I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that it's one of those stories that makes your stomach tense and brings tears to your eyes.  When you feel like life is tough with your newborn or infant, it's a reminder that some are facing much greater challenges.  Right now, my heart goes out to this family, and I feel very, very grateful.

Link to the family's blog here.

Replaceable

Today Bitty and I enjoyed the beautiful weather with a picnic at a park, just the two of us.  It was perfect.  It was so quiet and peaceful, as we were the only ones there.  The main attraction of this park is a lovely rose garden, and the last of the summer blooms greeted us with their dazzling color.  We listened to the birds chirping and felt the breeze brush over us.  I watched as Bitty crawled through the grass, every so often turning to look back at me as if to say, "Can I keep going, mama?"  She doesn't get to do this much--the landscape around our townhome is filled with some type of bugs that feast on us both like we're their last meal.  She was very interested in the sensory experience of the prickly green grass beneath her, and at one point stopped and spent a good fifteen minutes pulling clumps of it out of the ground, until finally she decided to take a bite of the soil wrapped around the roots.  Judging from the look upon her face afterwards, I don't think she'll be doing that again.

We returned home and I carried my sleepy baby to the front door, and as I got my key out, she suddenly perked up and started huffing a breathy "huh huh huh huh huh."  She continued as we walked inside, where the dogs, as they always do, welcomed us home with their excited panting, "huh huh huh huh."  And it clicked!  Bitty anticipated the dogs' reaction and was mimicing them!  I was so amazed!  I bent down with Bitty to the dogs' level, and the four of us shared a moment of panting together, which Bitty found extraordinarily amusing. 

As I took her upstairs to get ready for her nap, I thought about my efforts to teach Bitty sign language.It has been discouraging; she is always interested in her toy, or her food, or her sippy cup whenever I'm trying to sign ball or eat or more or drink. I was beginning to think that it was all pointless, that she clearly wasn't ready to communicate in this way.  But now, I started to think that maybe I was pointless.  Lucy and Riley taught Bitty her first sign.  The dogs are better at this than I am.   

Lucy and Riley will be charging $45 an hour to conduct sign language lessons with your baby.  Group discounts are available.  Please call to schedule your appointment today.

Rainy Days

It has rained cats and dogs for six straight days in Northern Virginia, and it's about getting Noah's Ark up in here.

Do you all know what to do with your kids in this situation?  Because I am running out of ideas!  Here is how we've spent our time so far...

We watched the rain.

We fingerpainted with pudding.



Bitty had the time of her life for five minutes.  Then she crawled into the pudding, and started slipping and sliding on the floor like a drunken sailor on ice.  She didn't think it was fun anymore.

We trained Lucy to run through the tunnel.

Then we trained Riley.

It still rained.

We hit the bottle.



Wait a minute...I think there's something in the sky...it's big and glowing and yellow and seems oh so familiar...

An Empty Classroom

Bitty and I went with some other mom and baby friends to a spraypark today.  The littlest ones splashed in the bubblers and water tables, and the walking ones happily declared war on the sprayers!  We packed a lunch to eat in the picnic area, and it was probably my most favorite afternoon of the summer. 

Water tables make Bitty just want to DANCE

On our way home, we went by an elementary school.  Today must have been "meet the teacher" day, because I saw lots of parents and kids on the sidewalks; girls marching along in their skirts and mary janes and the boys in their jeans and collared shirts.  As we drove past, I found myself with tears in my eyes, reminded of the excitement and anxiety that I always felt on open house day. 

Except not this year. 

One of my favorite parts of the school year is the "getting ready" part.  Unpacking boxes, things seeming so new and clean (because I had gone to such painstaking lengths as I packed them away in June);  it's a new beginning, a fresh start. Usually, throughout the summer I had researched and thought and planned and daydreamed about the changes I would make for this year.   It was exciting to prep for the "new thing" that I was convinced would engage and enthuse my new students. 

Except not this year.

I miss my old profession.  Clearly. 

Yet, I am reminded everyday of why I made the decision to stay home with Bitty.  Such as the look upon Bitty's face when she climbs up and reaches the top of the stairs.  I think of opening the door to her nursery and seeing her awake from her nap, pulled up, and smiling over her crib with a look that says "Come and get me, mama.  I'm awake!"  Just today, she crawled through the unlatched baby gate into the kitchen, and then sat up on the other side, and closed the gate behind her, before continuing on in her pursuit of....well, who knows what.  Probably the trash can.  It was one of those moments that I realized, Ohmigod she's watching our every move.  She shut the gate just as we always do.  It was a moment that I wouldn't give anything for;  a moment that I again realized, I need to be here.

My teacher friends are all starting school next week.  They are all setting up their classrooms, attending the newest motivating inservice, and prepping for the school year (or at least grading period) ahead.  They are organizing their classrooms in such a way to serve as a "second teacher" and planning their directed lessons in a differentiated way so that they appeal to all of the students...The enhusiasm, the hope, and the potential of a new school year...of a new class of students...is exciting. 

And I miss it.

I write this, again, with tears in my eyes, of the tug-of-war struggle within me.  I love being with my own sweet baby, yet I love teaching your babies, too.

I'm honestly not sure how to end this post.  Except to say love your baby's teacher.  Because she loves your baby, too.

Resource: Costumes!

I have been perusing Halloween costumes online and I came across this site with some of the cutest and funniest baby and toddler costumes.  I can't decide which to get for Bitty!  I am really looking forward to Halloween.  Last year I was, of course, pregnant, and as I watched all of the parents with their little ones dressed up in costumes and trick-or-treating, I was so excited that I would get to be one of those parents this year!   We are thinking about all dressing up, as a family, with a theme.  What do you think?  Should we do it?