Easy Breezy Day

Trevor took Berit downstate last night so she could spend the weekend with my mom, which left Marta and me to ourselves today. When she woke up I "fed her breakfast," which was actually her sitting in her high chair for two minutes while nibbling toast, then me offering her bits of my breakfast while she ran around the house because SHE CANNOT STOP RUNNING/TWIRLING/FALLING for one single meal.

We were downtown by 8 a.m., with Marta singing "DOWNTOWN, doo doo doo doo do doo, DOWNTOWN..." while we parked at the carriage house and walked to the bookstore, the farmer's market, and Hallmark, where I bought her a handful of charms for her Crocs and apparently those were all she needed to be complete forever and ever, because since then, she hasn't allowed me to take her Crocs off, even to sleep.

We went to the park where she spent half her time in the swings. Wearing Berit's clothes from two summers ago, Berit's old hat and Berit's old Crocs, I kept thinking of her as 18-month-old Berit, and every time the swing swung up and I saw her face I had to laugh, because she is such a different child yet here she was, looking so much the same.

We walked back up to the car and headed home for her nap. I prepared to deliver the three dozen macaroons I had said I'd make for the Christ Child Society's summer party, only to learn that I was a month early, and now had three dozen macaroons (dipped in chocolate) at hand. So off Marta and I went to surprise our friends with cookies.

And then, the thing that always happens when I'm down one child for an entire day happened: The day became as long as possible. I kept looking at the clock, waiting for 6 p.m. and bath time, but no, it was 3:45, 4:12, 4:15, 4:19, barely 5 p.m., never ever bedtime.

And now, finally, she's in bed, and I'm procrastinating before doing my ab workout and washing the floors. It's a regular party over here on Friday nights.