A day of progress

As Summer suggested yesterday, naptime achieved a new degree of success today. This morning Madeline already showed signs of sleepiness at 8:30 and fell asleep in her crib without assistance at 8:45. When she woke up an hour later, she was downright cheery.

After only a meal, Madeline already seemed sleepy again. We tried a few activities, but none seemed as enticing to her as sleep. So by 11:15 she was napping in the crib again.

Unfortunately, the nursery emitted emotive wails at only 11:45. Madeline was awake and had decided that she was still quite sleepy but no longer enamored of her crib. The result was another nap-on-dad in the rocker from noon to one. Still, that means the 9 o'clock nap and the noon nap both happened, and there was an hour and a half of crib napping this morning -- we'll chalk this morning up as a success.

Summer appeared early today, as we had plans this afternoon to attend a party at her advisor's house, a beautiful place in posh Barrington. Madeline, lying with her legs propped up against the back of the futon, seemed surprised to see her mama.

She was even more surprised at first -- or maybe confused or overwhelmed -- to see a bunch of people from various points on the familiarity continuum at a place that was totally new to her. But she was happy to be passed around a bit and to check out her new companions (by the end of the evening, though, the trees swaying and shimmying in the wind seemed to capture a greater share of her attention than did her more immediate anthropic surrounds -- perhaps a result of overwhelm). She also seemed unfazed by the couple of foot baths the ebullient dog gave her. In fact she did quite admirably overall, never making a peep beyond her inquisitive coos and gurgles despite a stay of almost four hours! And as we were serenaded by accordion after dinner, Madeline fell asleep in my lap.

Today marked another milestone: first this morning and then over and over again tonight, Madeline grabbed her feet without the slightest assistance. As she repeated the performance tonight, she appeared delighted and surprised at her new ability.

But the routine soon became old hat. Madeline moved on from excited thrashes and giddy smiles to a cool, calm look as she nonchalantly held onto her foot.

And so it was a day of progress.

Tomorrow's the first outdoor farmer's market of the year. We signed up for our first direct CSA share this year (the past few years we've received pre-selected fruits from an amalgam of farms coordinated by Brown), so the market will be extra-exciting. Also, there will be a ceremony at the park marking the restoration of its fountain, set to be turned on for the first time in 29 years! Excitement!