I want to remember today.
I woke up at 5:45 when Mimi woke up. I could hear Ernie reading- she was dressed and sitting in the front room (loudly) reading to herself from the Friend magazine. She was SO EXCITED to go visit my parents today. She's been talking about it all week- she was going to go to the park, Grandma and Grandpa were going to take her, and she would eat SALAD. (That last part I think was more for her listener's benefit- she would never actually eat salad. I'm not sure anything leafy has ever voluntarily passed her lips.)
By 7:15 we'd eaten our oatmeal- baby and I had ours with peanut butter and brown sugar, Ernie had just brown sugar, and Daddy had brown sugar AND pancake syrup (it's good, I make it.)
By 8:30 everyone was in the backyard, Daddy's orders. There was work to do! I dressed, tidied the kitchen a bit, put a load of laundry in, and then went in the backyard to see if Ernie and Mimi wanted to walk with me to the mail box to drop off our bag of canned goods for the USPS food drive.
On the way back from the mailbox, Ernie ran ahead while shouting "Jump OVER the hurdles! Jump OVER the hurdles!" and leaping over every crack in the sidewalk. She recently spent 2 days calling and e-mailing Nana, reminding her to post a video of Uncle P running his hurdle race. She was pretty excited when THREE videos showed up in an e-mail addressed to her. Ernie normally calls Nana every day, and now that this e-mail business has started between them...well, watch out. Ernie is getting better at spelling, and enjoys typing.
At one point in her hurdling, on the way home, Ernie stopped at stared at a huge crow landing on the top of a tree. She stared....and then BARKED! When the crow flew away, she put one hand on her hip and smiled a smug grin, then kept running for home. Mimi and I followed behind- we smelled the lilac bush, and chased a cat into our neighbor's yard.
Wonder Daddy pulled out 5 or 6 huge boxwoods for me- these things have been neglected, choked out with blackberries, and even had a hot tub set on top of them at one point or another since we moved in. And now, they're in the compost pile and will be replaced with tomatoes. Among other things. Wonder Daddy is pure awesomeness. (Oh yeah- he made the bed this morning, complete with all 8 throw pillows. Nothing but awesome in this man.)
By 10:15 we were all filthy. Actually, I take that back. Wonder Daddy and I had dirty jeans. Ernie was spotless (surprise, surprise, since she spent much of the time explaining just why she couldn't possibly pick up branches, and could we PLEASE go for a walk now?) and Mimi...well, I think she was solid mud up to her knees. Wow, kid. Momma is considering whether or not it would be easier to just send her into the yard in her diaper, since skin is so much easier to clean...but there's the whole cut and abrasion issue...OK, I guess we'll stick with play clothes. But something must be done about the shoes.
Wonder Daddy and Ernie cleaned up and hit the town to do some secret errands. Mimi and I finished up a bit more weeding and compost-pile-tending. I stripped Mimi down for lunch- she was beyond tired at this point and couldn't look at her lunch without sobbing. So I sat down to eat it myself. Yummm....and she came to sit in my lap. Took a bite. "Do you want a straw, Mimi?" Solemn nodding. I came back a minute later to find her gleefully stuffing french toast in her mouth, a new girl. She gladly accepted the straw, and continued to eat. Yay for eating! Yay for sneaky Mommies!
We showered, and Ernie and Wonder Daddy came home and presented me with my first mother's day gift- Ernie picked out a BEAUTIFUL bouquet at our farmer's market. I adore them- flowers just make me so happy. They bring LIFE into our house.
We packed everyone in the car and headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's. Mimi was seriously displeased when I put her in the crib there. She sobbed and cried- I went in to try and settle her down, but it was no use. She was falling down tired, mad as a hornet about being in a strange crib instead of dancing with Grandma, and wanted thre entire world to know. Ernie happily ate her customary top ramen with yoshi sauce, and chocolate milk in a sippy cup. Old habits die hard, and this particular habit is coming up on...3 years.
Wonder Daddy and I made our apologies for the screaming baby in the basement, wished everyone a happy and successful afternoon, and ran away to the bus stop to go see a show in town. WOW, it was fun! Rain is a Beatle's tribute band- they performed a collection of songs spanning the Beatle's entire career, including costume (and facial hair/wig) changes. Fun stuff. (I texted Dad from the bus- Mimi did eventually fall asleep. Phew.) My normal ticket is up on the balcony, but today we were main floor, row R. Everyone was up dancing, clapping, cheering- wild. There was a fellow across the aisle- he must have been over six feet tall, wearing an aquamarine polo shirt, white leather shoes, and a white linen suit. He shook his shoulders, dancing along, to most of the songs. (My parents bought my sister and I tickets to the six Broadway shows coming to our local theatre this year. WHAT a great gift! I gave my Chicago ticket to my sister's friend, so B gave her Rain ticket to Wonder Daddy.)
We caught the bus back to our town, dashed home so I could change out of my (hot) clothes, and went to the park to meet my parents and the girls.
We nearly lost Ernie at the end. OK, well first Mimi ran towards a 4-foot-drop while I wasn't looking. Then when the girls were doing one last pass-through of the playset while Daddy went to get the car, Ernie finished her pass...didn't see me, and took off to find me. A friend found her running for the road- she was planning on turning left. ACCCKKK! She made it clear to the end of the parking lot before someone saw her. I'd guess that was a good 200 yards, around corners and down hills. I couldn't see where she'd gone, and didn't want to leave the play set and party until I'd checked to make sure she REALLY wasn't there, because if we weren't separated (yet) I didn't want to be the one to walk away. Sheer will power is keeping me from imagining what if Mike hadn't seen her... she would have just kept on running, right into town, looking for us.
We made her repeat our new mantra a few times: Mommy will never leave me behind. Mommy will never leave me alone. If I don't see Mommy, I'll stay put until she finds me.
Finally, after the girls were tucked into their respective beds, I went outside to tidy up the last of today's tools and Wonder Daddy went out to get gas in the car, and came home with two enormous milkshakes. From our favorite hamburger stand.
I love that man.
Not every day can be working in the sunshine, parks, and plays....but I want to remember this day for a long time.
