Chronicle of a weekend

Idolization of big sister has begun (of course I came in at the tail end of the conversation):

I should say, too, that I stopped filming when I did because I thought Edith was about to wield that blanket in a boisterous, matador-like style that threatened injury to the babe. Instead, she was preparing to share her beloved blanket with her sister, spreading it over Alice and tucking her in.

That was typical of what was a generally good weekend. I feel the need to record some of these days, if only for my own sake, because I imagine they will soon be a blur.

Saturday Tom left early for a day-long professional conference in Trenton, and a friend from church arrived shortly thereafter to babysit Alice, so that I could take Edith to her parent-child swim lesson. She continues to be more interested in the imaginary mermaids at the bottom of the lagoon than in the YWCA swim instructors' requests that kids pull with their hands and kick with their feet...but fortunately everyone is laid back, and so we have fun.

Back home, we three girls then vegged on the couch for several hours, as I let Edith watch Peter Pan 2.5 times (bad mama moment). The amount of housework to be done was plaguing me, but every time I tried to leave the room to vacuum or do laundry Edith began to wail. She has developed an overactive imagination about the monsters lurking in every room of our house and professes to be unable to be out of sight of an adult. Add Alice's disinclination to nap, and it made for a mellow morning on the couch.

But eventually I couldn't stand looking at that undone housework anymore, not to mention missing a beautiful spring-like day outside. So I persuaded Edith into our second walk downtown. Once she got outside in the 50-degree weather, her spirits shot through the roof, as she skipped along the sidewalk imagining the flowers she's going to pick as soon as spring comes. She's my child: solar-powered. We arrived downtown and sat outside Edith's favorite ice cream shop enjoying outdoor ice cream in February, then went to the cool new indie bookstore to stake out a corner in the children's section and read for two hours. Found a beautiful illustrated Cinderella that makes it seem the prince and princess have time to fall in love with each other and do so for reasons of personality. In other words, it was legitimately romantic. Having recently finished Edith's first Beverly Cleary book and first complete unabridged chapter book, Ramona the Pest, we also enjoyed a chapter from another Ramona book.

Tom picked us up as dark was falling in order to drop us back home before going to lead a small group at church. But we chafed at not seeing him longer, so he brought us all along to the small group session. We completely derailed the Bible study portion of it, but Tom claimed that seeing the children did some of the members good. I know that seeing him did us good.

Today Edith was in one of those magical moods where she's inclined to cooperate, agree, and engage cheerfully throughout. We find ourselves staring at her, wondering how to bottle it. The first joy was that she participated readily in Sunday school class when the music teacher came in to work with the kids. In fact, all the kids participated enthusiastically in music, making for a banner morning in the three-year-old class, to the great pleasure and relief of me and the other teacher.

Edith continued in this cheerful demeanor in church itself, where the children's sermon was much better for having a complete complement of elementary choir kids there, instead of just Edith.

After church at our usual diner lunch she chatted cheerfully with our favorite waitress about Valentine's Day, then she dug into her pancakes with intensity and gave me and Tom some room actually to chat with each other.

It was another beautiful day, and after lunch Edith proposed we go to one of the local farms. We agreed on the condition that our turnaround time changing out of church clothes at home be fast. She agreed--and complied, staying focused on changing and beating me back out the door. Then when we switched farms on her due to time constraints, she agreed to the change without complaint.

All of the considerable snow we got this week melted at once this weekend, making for a muddy mess at the farm. There were signs warning people to park with care, and we saw at least two cars spinning their wheels in mud. The footpaths around the farm were even worse. But it didn't keep Edith from cheerfully tromping around gathering spilt feed corn and scattering it for the animals.

After the farm trip we attended a surprise party in Butler, our old grad school apartment complex. I enjoyed seeing a bunch of the history grad students, most of whom I feel out of touch with these days.

Then the tables were turned, and rather than Tom heading to an evening meeting at church, he went home with the girls, and I got to go to a fancy dinner with a job candidate for a position in my department. What a pleasure to enjoy good food at a new restaurant we've never tried because it is so expensive, as well as friendly adult conversation! The other person in my department with a preschooler and a newborn was also there, and it soon transpired that the job candidate had the same. So the conversation turned at times towards childcare and pumping in spite of our best efforts...but it also dealt with pedagogy, politics, and Princeton. Such a refreshing change of pace.

Now on to the week.