On Friday I worked from home. And a good thing I did too, for multiple reasons. I had a few things I absolutely had to finish up, and then I heard "Mommy! Mommy! Look!" For weeks now Thora has been pulling herself around, sort of crawling like a worm. On Thursday at Gymboree, she got up on her knees and went two paces before faceplanting and giving up. But on Friday she figured it all out at once and I was so happy to be home to see it!
We started Saturday with our neighborhood parenting group's Saturday morning storytime. We ran into some parents and babies we are getting to know, like M and her baby A. Thora really liked singing and dancing and shaking a rattle-thing, and unbeknownst to me at first, she especially liked chewing on the toes of the daddy sitting next to her (who wasn't her daddy and moved his feet away as soon as he realized that my kid was at his feet and his kid was on the other side of the room!).
That was followed by a clothing swap hosted by the same group. This was our first. We'd brought two big bags of things we had that Thora never wore or grew out of or that we just didn't want to hang on to. I wasn't really sure we'd participate in the swap beyond donating because I am paranoid about the whole bedbug thing, but when one of the organizers asked me to help sort since we were two parents with just one kid at the storytime, I said sure. Laying things out, I took a look. There was one adorable outfit in a 2T that I wanted to hide because I liked it so much. Fleece leopard print top and bottom, with a matching vest of fake fur, lined with leopard. So cute and punk rock. But I put it down, thinking it would be rude to get started taking stuff before the swap even officially began. I moved away and blinked and suddenly there was a woman next to me, fingering the outfit longingly. I assumed she was another volunteer who had seen me looking at it and wanted to chime in with "awww so cute." But no, this woman was on a mission. "They said we could come in now," she murmured, and deftly took all three pieces of the outfit, tucked them into a plastic bag, and walked off. Whoosh, the parents all swooped in. I was undone, paralyzed, unsure of myself. I assumed they would all start grabbing like Sniper Mom but it was actually quite civilized. When I regained my composure, I did find a few things that I liked for T in larger sizes that Johnny doesn't hate. It was all well worth it, especially when I saw other parents pick out some of the clothes we brought with us and squeal to their friends/partners/kids "Ooooh look at this one!" and happily stick in in their bag. And all the summer clothes and everything left over went to a clothing drive for Haitian children.
After that we walked down to Central Park. My department at the ASPCA was putting on a special event in conjunction with the Mayor's Alliance for New York City's Animals right at 110th and Lenox. All five of our mobile clinics were there and so was one of our vets with her giant Great Dane. Thora looooved her. She petted her, pulled her ears and poked her eyes, and Zephyr, gentle giant that she is, didn't even flinch.
Then we checked out the DJ booth and my coworker K took Thora to dance with Maddie's Fund's mascot, Maddie the schnauzer.
Thora and I headed downtown after that to meet J for lunch at Caravan of Dreams. Thora had unchicken nachos (well, not the nachos, but the guac and the seitan) and we shared spinach ravioli. Think she liked it?
And hugging Auntie J, after getting cleaned up:
And today we had our friends B and C and their baby H over for breakfast. We were all in the same childbirth class together last year and we've kept in touch. H and T were instant friends today. (And H has the coolest pants on, does she not??)
Then naptime and grocery shopping, and home to play peek-a-boo with Daddy on the floor and grab the cats until bedtime. What a great weekend!
Awww! I feel like I always see Shiva with Thora - it's cute to see Rayna with her too!
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