The last week has found all of us at Casa de Big Mama homebound and stir crazy for days on end. By Wednesday, I was so desperate to get us out of the house that we kept a scheduled playdate with one of Caroline’s friends, in spite of the fact that I had to start my car thirty minutes before we left just to thaw the ice off of my windshield. I had reached a point of desperation and honestly, would have put us both in snow shoes for the one mile journey to our friend’s house just to get out. We were in dire need of a change of scenery.
After our playdate, Caroline had her first trip to the dentist, which went really well. All that guilt my pediatrician laid on me about Caroline having her paci until age two (actually she had it until she was three, but I started lying to the pediatrician around her two year appointment, but lying is such an ugly term so let’s just say I didn’t fully disclose) was completely unfounded. The dentist said that Caroline has great, healthy teeth and the best part is that she has great spacing which means that she may never have to endure the orthodontia hell that her Mama is currently undergoing.
The dentist said “Wow, she has really great spacing so you probably don’t have to worry about flossing her teeth” and I said, “Oh yes, that’s why we haven’t really flossed her teeth” while what I was thinking was “WHAT?! I’m supposed to floss her teeth?” I thought I was up for Mother of the Year because I manage to get them brushed at least once a day…most of the time. Don’t throw flossing at me, I’ll short circuit and our entire oral hygiene routine will go out the door. It’s just too much.
On Thursday Caroline was finally able to go back to school (is that Handel’s Messiah I hear in the background?) and I had tons of work that I needed to get caught up on after having a holiday on Monday and then two ice days. By Thursday afternoon, I was missing our leisurely days of doing nothing and we still had a birthday party (which I still have to tell y’all about, but it needs its own post) to attend that evening.
We were so tired after Thursday that we all slept in until 9:00 Friday morning. This may not sound like anything special to y’all, but it is the first time in the history of the free world that Caroline has slept even remotely late. I’m sure it’s not a trend, but it gives me hope for a brighter future filled with mornings that start a little later than 6:30.
So Friday morning after the sleeping late, P mentioned that he wanted to head down to the ranch for the day and asked Caroline if she wanted to go with him. God bless her little heart, she was so excited at the prospect of going to the ranch with her daddy that she immediately ran into her playroom and started packing her camo hunting bag (don’t all three year old girls have camo hunting bags?). She packed her toy gun, her binoculars and her magnifying glass. Here she is packing.
I watched her pack her little bag as she chattered excitedly about everything she was going to see and how she and Daddy were going to shoot some ducks, and I got a little teary eyed. I’m not sure what choked me up the most, the fact that my little girl loves her daddy so much and was so excited to spend time with him or that FINALLY the day that I have dreamed of lo these three years, has finally come and I get the house all to myself while the two of them go off to enjoy a day at the ranch.
It was a little piece of heaven here on earth…for all of us.