Vacation!

I'm on vacation this week and even though it's only Monday, I've been able to spend a lot more time with Lily than normal. I struggle with not being in the position to stay at home with her. Sometimes I even resent my husband for getting to bond with her and make the impression on her I wish I was making. The fact that he doesn't appreciate every waking hour in her presence is more than I can even comprehend. Of course I think he's a wonderful father, if I didn't I wouldn't agree to leaving her here with him every day. I even suspect he might have more patience than I do for the most part. His desire for her to become a scientist (or do whatever makes her happy) and how he teaches her please and thank you by actually saying please and thank you, and that he takes her to lunch with his mother almost every week even though he's not accustomed to seeing his mother once a month tops, and how he shows her how to use a band saw or swing on a homemade swing from a tree, his love for her is clear. He's just not the person who wants to play with a 2 year old all day long. Every day. Forever. Crazy, I know.

Anyway, her exzema has been flaring up the past couple of days and she's been itching like crazy. She hardly slept the other night for scratching and waking us up more than a couple times while she screamed about her intense frustration. So I took her to the doctor this morning to find out what I can give her to get some relief. And to avoid scratching all the way to Wisconsin.

For some reason, she doesn't like doctors anymore. I told Dr. Best I didn't know why she was so frightened and she said it's because she's two. I hope so, otherwise I'd wonder what evil thing Lily was sensing about Dr. Best. Was it a baby sixth sense kind of thing? I hope not.

Either way, knowing that she hated Dr. Best to no end, I knew the part where she gets her ears checked and her mouth inspected weren't going to go well. This is where I prove I'm the best mother ever. I grabbed her baby cabbage patch doll and quick shoved it between Lily and the doctor, thus insisting the doctor inspect the baby's mouth and check out the baby's ears. As any good doctor would, she successfully does the probing and lays the praise on thick. "What a good job, baby...let's give the baby a big hug!" When it was Lily's turn, she took it like a freaking pro. She even handed her paci to me to hold while she stuck her tongue out with no regret (a tiny bit of hesitation, but no regret). I couldn't believe how awesome it was. And how proud I could be of such a BIG girl.

Then tonight I let her stay up way too late, we were having such a good time together. She swung on the hammock with me listening to all the outside noises in our neighborhood. We heard the wind rustling through the trees, cars pulling out of their driveways, daddy cutting wood in the shop and dogs barking. I was sincerely thinking about how I would explain the gunshot if that was the next noise. Fireworks? Thunder? The big bang...again? She acted so surprised every time there was a new sound, that big "OHHHH" face of mock surprise. Only coming from Lily, I don't think it was mocking anything. I think she was really terribly excited by each and every sound she heard. Then she scooted down to my belly where she could put her head down without her cheek sticking to my chest skin. She's funny about skin on skin, apparently.

We also went swimming today (I apologize but I can't not tell you about the bathing suit I found at the Gap today for $31 on sale from $50 when the Gap store I was in doesn't even normally carry bathing suits the only reason they had the one I found was because someone returned an online order...finding it was perfect in every way) but swimming did not put her in a good mood in spite of her refusal to get out. Every piece of dirt that made it into the water was highly distressing. I have no idea how a child of mine could have such issues with dirt. "It's diwwwwty...it's diwwwty!" Our house is not short of dirt in any way. In fact, it's a disaster most of the time, it's not like she's un-used to finding tiny pieces of dirt...oh, everywhere.

Go back and re-read that part where I pulled out the cabbage patch doll at the doctor's office as a reminder of what a good mom I am regardless of the DIRT.