Last weekend, Jonathan took Cody up to Belmar for their annual Guys' Weekend to see the surf tournament. Which meant I had 48 hours just with my daughter, for the first time in a year. It was just fabulous. She had her usual moments of testing, but overall we had the most delightful time. I felt like I got to know her more -- and better -- last weekend than I had in the past month. We got so much time to just talk...uninterrupted. Just her asking me things, and telling me what she thinks about, without any interjections, corrections, or competition from her brother. She is even more wonderful than I thought.
We didn't do anything too exciting -- we ran lots of errands, but they all went faster with just one kid. And we went "shopping" at the little antique store in Occoquan. They gave her candy corn when we popped in Friday. Then we went to lunch at a little cafe we love, and a little band set up shop in the gazebo, so we had some live music and did some dancing. We fed the ducks, and walked down to see the waterfall. It was just perfect. Apparently she thought so, too. Saturday morning, we ran a couple of errands and then I told her it was her turn to choose what we did for the rest of the morning. She said, "Could we please go to Occoquan and go see the waterfall, and then go shopping, and then have WUNCH at the CAFE and DANCE?" And so we did, right down to her asking for candy corn and "my very own sack, and some candy for my brudder," but minus the dancing (no musicians). We just did the whole thing all over again, and it was just as perfect.
We ate dinner in the dining room, and watched videos of Aidan the whole time. She clapped each time, no matter how many viewings she'd had.
She had a long bath, all to herself, and a pile of stories that she chose, and long cuddles, and she even let me do her hair. She sorted clips and barrettes while I brushed and bunned. And no one jumped in every two minutes demanding attention.
She's very into sorting right now, and putting everything exactly where it belongs. (She's a Montessori child if ever there were one.) So we went to Michaels and bought her "my sorting tray!" for $2, and a bag of buttons for another $2. That has bought us hours of concentration and pure pleasure for her. She sorts them all by color, one color per compartment.
We brought them to Mass--and here, let me pause to mention that we stayed for the whole Mass, with only a few admonitions to "use your church voice!" Not only did I get to pay attention to ALL of Communion, but we could not leave church until every last button had been placed where it belonged. There were no cars in the lot by the time she finished, but unlike usual...there was no rush.
We also bought a bag of little pinecones and she chose a fall basket for herself "and for my brudder!" Another 20 minutes passed while she took the pinecones out, one by one, and placed them in the "right" basket.
All in all, it was a lovely weekend, and I hope for one with Cody soon. Having extended alone time really kind of makes you wish you could raise them one at a time. I was better, she was better, and everything was just less frenetic. Now I have to figure out a way to replicate some of that in our daily life...just in time for Peanut to arrive. : )
