Monday Monday
2006-09-12, 15:45

It used to be last year that I lamented the coming of Mondays during the school year. I had grown used to having those evenings all to myself, while H was off at orchestra rehearsal, allowing me to putter around at a non-scrutinized pace, doing as I please (as long as I managed to finish what was expected), and generally acting the bachelor for a few hours.

But now, I've got this, like, baby and stuff, and Say Goodbye to Free Time, because babies are work and then there's other things that need to be done and then suddenly the night is used up and No Bachelor Time. Oh pity! And woe is me.

But now, now things are different. Or at least, my attitude is different. Monday has become Me And The Baby time. Yesterday was H's first rehearsal of the season, and hopefully last evening will set the tone for the whole of the performance year.

Laurana was being her usual cute and mischievous self. For once she managed not to be too grabby or wander off while we were at the grocery store, the place where you feel like you're always one glance-away-from-the-baby-for-a-second-too-long from 'clean up in aisle seven.' We went home and had some dinner and she managed not to cover herself in food, though we did have some containment issues: whenever I tell her that she shouldn't do raucous things - like, say, whip her head back and forth to pretend she's spinning - while she has a mouthful of food (no trips to the hospital on my watch, mister!), she'll then spit the food out onto her plate and continue her faux spinning, rather than just chewing and swallowing first. And when I try to chide her for it, she smiles and says, "Hi dada" as cutely as she can muster. Ack. She will certainly be the death of me.

After dinner we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood with the stroller. It got to be a little after 8pm, and she looks up at me and says, "Home. Baba (her word for 'bottle'). Night-night." We went home and got her ready for bed and she was lying down by 830pm. The girl certainly likes her schedule lately, as she's been asking to go to bed at about the same time every night for the last two weeks or so. I don't mind a regular schedule, either. And I don't think it's because I'm getting old and that's what you do when you get old. I think it just makes it easier to plan the evening, especially when you have things to do that require more focus or physical attention than can be provided when you have a toddler clinging to your leg, saying, "Up. Hold." You just can't say no to that.

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