A Date, A Night Owl, A Chunk of Salt and A Memory

Today Jr. and I are having a play date! I'm looking forward to it. I met the mom at Belles Mamans and scrounged up the courage to ask her if she ever wanted to get together for a play date. I wasn't expecting anything so I'm pleased that this will be our third play date even while Belles Mamans closed in December. Her son is really adorable and she is my kind of gal: easy-going, likes Kraft Dinner and will be bringing store-bought dessert today. All in all a winning combination in my books!

Last night Jr. woke up at 1 and was up on and off until 2:30. I'm not sure what it was about (am I ever??).  When we saw the pediatrician for her 9 month check-up he said she didn't need a bottle in the night anymore. So we slowly started replacing the formula with water until it was completely water. Eventually she stopped getting up for it. Genius! Then she started getting up at 5:30 so to give us more sleep, we gave her a bottle. This would buy us anywhere from an half an hour to two hours. Brilliant, right? Maybe not so much. Eventually the time started getting earlier and earlier. First 5, then 4:30, then 4, then 3 and now... 1?? No, no, no. We're backpedaling here. Unfortunately, the only reason she went to sleep last night was because hubby finally gave her a bottle. I guess we're going to have to re-wean her. BLAH! I suppose we should have left her in her crib until 6am before going to see her. They're just too smart, these little blobs-turned-little-people. I don't know if they know they're smart but they figure stuff out pretty fast.

Worst parenting award nominee: my kid ate salt. No, not table salt. The big chunks of salt you put down in your driveway to make the ice melt. Yup. One of those. I was sitting on the couch probably checking Facebook for the umpteenth time and I looked up to see her put something in her mouth. By the time I realized what it was, it was too late. Gone. I tried to make her drink something but she refused. She seems okay... but I can just see that being her first memory and being forever scarred. Maybe that's a good thing. Salt is the white killer or something, right?

Dear Person That Gave Me My Favorite Memory, (other than hubby)

I remember it was very warm that summer. By the time we arrived it was dusk and you drove us straight to the beach. The sun was setting and the sky was a dusty rose-orange. We sisters stripped down to our bathing suits and ran toward the water. The beach was practically deserted. The water was so still that the sky was a perfect reflection off of it. We waded in deeper until we could dive in. The water was warm and as I went under it enveloped my body and felt almost silky.

That's all I remember about that moment but it's one that has stuck with me. A lot of my favorite memories were from camping: spending all day at the beach, eating roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, sitting around the fire, Family Camp when Grandma, Granddad and all the aunts, uncles and cousins would come out for the weekend, buying candy at the store, playing badminton with Dad, reading book after book while eating sunflower seeds until my lips were swollen, playing card games and Monopoly on rainy weekends, and the time you took out the tiny black and white television so I wouldn't miss Dr. Quinn.

Thank you for those great childhood memories.

Love,
Missy