I’m trying to savor these sweet days home with Baby V before Odie is done with work for the summer.  I’m certainly looking forward to his vacation and our family time, but these mornings of being home alone with my baby will be over forever.  As you already know, I have to go back to work the last week of August, so Baby V and I won’t be spending a sweet September together, watching Today on NBC and playing in our jammies.

So, in the spirit of “Be here, now,” I’m enjoying this morning with Baby V.  Odie leaned down to kiss her goodbye when he left for work at 6:45 a.m. (I know, “ouch!” right? That’s the life of a teacher), and he woke her.  We usually snooze until at LEAST 7:30, sometimes as late as 9.  But they got some cuddle time before he left for work, and I’m glad for that.  It must be hard enough leaving for work in the morning, but having to see V and I snuggled in bed must make it that much tougher.  For that reason, I’m glad he got to see ME drag my tired ass out of the warm covers to stumble to the bathroom (yay, alone!) and rinse the sleep crackers out of my eyes.  Probably made it easier to leave.

I think Odie and I both dreamed of cat murder early this morning as our Orange One batted one of V’s noisier toys around the house, meowing and trilling as though it weren’t 4 a.m.  That’s pretty much her routine.  Note to self: put the baby toys away before bed.  Not only does it suck to walk out to the living room in the morning and see it is a disaster, but the stupid cat can’t play with her toys in the wee hours of the morning if they’re all safely in the toy boxes.  I keep meaning to have the house in some sort of order before bed, but I just collapse in my chair when Odie gets home from work and then I’m USELESS for the remainder of the evening.  The wine is a big reason.  My 1:00 a.m. headache last night tells me perhaps TOO big a reason.  Time to cut back, I think.  It’s so easy to fall back into the three glasses a night routine of the pre-pregnancy days.  Especially when “the night” starts at 4:30 and ends around 10.  What’s 3 glasses of wine over 5 1/2 hours?  A headache, apparently.

I just finished spooning yogurt into Baby V’s mouth while she signed “more” before every bite.  I think she’s starting to get what “more” means.  She used to think it meant Cheerios, because that’s what I’d always give her after saying and signing “more.”  For a while, when I asked “Do you want some more?” she’d look at the Cheerios box.  She also signs “All Done!” early in all her meals.  And during diaper changes as well.  “Dyyyyy-pooooo!” she calls them.  And often, “poo” is right on.  She will fart now and smile and say “poop.”  She also says “pee pee,” and once she said it and then did it and I got RIDICULOUSLY excited.  Potty training is in our future.  It looks like day care will play a role.  Wah, I wasn’t going to think about day care this morning.  Too late.

Baby V just grunted until her face turned red and said “Poop,” so off I go.