Little sprout, big smiles

Even though it included a substantial trip to Massachusetts, today was another happy one for Madeline.

For the first several hours of the day, Summer and I alternated care for Madeline while she was awake and both got work done while she was asleep. Caring is easy when Madeline cheerily goes along with our every proposal. Here she's perhaps enjoying the somewhat-damaged discount-store Van Gogh print on our bedroom wall?

And here she's succumbing to a nap after our very first time getting all the way through One Fish Two Fish (why the gold cover? it's the party edition!). She'd soon be transferred to the co-sleeper.

After waking up and eating, Madeline had some time in the vibrating bouncy chair. Here she's beaming in response to Summer's funny faces.

And she practiced grasping-and-manipulating -- just after this picture, she pulled the blanket up over her chest.

After another relocation, she practiced even harder, getting various parts of lizard-friend into her mouth for a good gumming.

The end of the day's not well-documented, as we kept quite busy. First we went up to Ikea in Stoughton, Mass. Objectives: storage for baby stuff, picture frame for my desk at work, planters in preparation for the much-beloved 19th Annual Rare and Unusual Plant Sale run by the equally-beloved Southside Community Land Trust.

Madeline slept most of the way up, neglecting her usual protest against any out-of-state experience. Then she slept in her wrap as we navigated the store, achieving each objective. When we approached checkout she woke up, remaining calm until we reached the car and she demanded a meal.

She fussed a bit on the drive home but then fell asleep. We (having craved chocolate cake since watching this video) elected to try dinner at the East Providence Gregg's, which happens to be on the back way we were taking home and which happens to make a mean chocolate cake. Our second dinner out with Madeline was a success! She woke up on the way in, stayed wide awake for the whole time, but didn't make a fuss until the very end when we were loading her into the car seat. Even then the fuss was very minor.

So: we had quite a day together. When I stop to reflect, as I try to do frequently, I'm very grateful and oh-so-happy that Summer and I have this opportunity to spend so much time with our little sprout and her big smiles. It's a rare thing in this place and time, and we are lucky.