Small Victories

I'm watching Marta happily tear apart a Dora the Explorer book in her crib, because I will let her do anything today to help her forget that she has a hacking, rumbling cough that occasionally makes her throw up with its intensity. (Should I be consulting a doctor about this? I truly have no idea.)

Yesterday, when she was only showing signs of a slight runny nose, I took Berit to Target and the carousel at the mall in Traverse City, and we spent the entire day (driving) shopping, leaving Trevor to deal with naps and baby-rearing in general. He's only put Marta down for a nap once before, when she was exhausted and would have done just about anything for a crib to sleep in. Yesterday was an experiment to see if I could leave, and it worked, and even better, Trevor is now compulsively saying magical things like, "She's literally the smartest baby in the world," and "She talks like a person. A real person!" Of course I know these things. It's quite another thing when someone else recognizes them, and says them out loud, repeatedly. 

Now that Marta has calmed down for her nap, I'm off to sort the Easter toys and candy that I hid under my bed last night before the kids could see them. While at Target I picked up a little Swiper action figure for Marta's Easter basket (Swiper is the sneaky fox from Dora the Explorer whose catchphrase is "Oh, Man!", for those of you not in the know), and I'm so pleased I did because while we were on a walk last night she was singing, "D-D-D-Dora, o-o-o-o-o-o-man."