Tales of the Compressed Day Off

Yesterday was my compressed day off - which naturally, I spend with Rebecca.

What did we do?

Highlights:

• We watched the squirrels in the backyard. They may not be kitties, but they are still intriguing with their fence acrobatics.
• We coloured and coloured and coloured (Note: It seems evident that Becca is a southpaw. If she picks up a crayon in her right hand, she will transfer it to the left. All her colouring is done with her left hand).
• We danced in the living room to the music on the radio.
• We read some books.
• We sang the Skinamarinky-dinky-dink song many times.
• Rebecca was "reading" a magazine when I picked her up, and as she twisted around, she gave me a paper cut on the mouth. It was so painful that I chucked the magazine across the living room. That was my parental "low" moment of the day. I didn't make any inappropriate exclamations or direct any negative feelings towards Rebecca, but I was definitely ticked off with the magazine.
• We were rescued from our shopping cart woes by a considerate Daddy who witnessed our struggled to extricate safety straps from a cart. It was a long time before anyone offered to help, despite the fact that I was trying to achieve my task one-handed.
• This same cart turned out to have a defective wheel. This only became a problem in the cookie aisle when I moved to the side in order to let someone pass. Afterwards, I had to use all my strength to get the fully loaded cart to turn left. In the meantime, Becca had been denuding the shelves. We don't buy cookies for home, so it must be the packaging that appeals to her - but still!
• I couldn't find Hershey's kisses for my recipe. I told Rebecca that I needed Kisses, and she gave me about nine kisses. That was the best moment of my day. And she made the mmm sound before each kiss.
• Rebecca tried to take food from someone else's cart.
• Rebecca said "flower" for the first time. (Today, she said "crayon" for the first time).
• Rebecca and I visited with my parents. She was adorable and affectionate. She hung out with Mom while I went for a run with Dad. When I came back, she was watching me from the front door, and gave me a big hug.
• Rebecca scraped her knee for the first time, running to the park.
• Rebecca rode on the swings and said "whee" almost the entire time.
• Rebecca put her feet in the fish pond and amused the goldfish.
• Rebecca played with water in a small washing basin. She systematically added leaves. weeds, and small clumps of dirt to it. It was fascinating. I don't know what her goal was, but she was certainly determined. She was so angry with me when I tried to take her away from the basin, that she tried to bite me.
• Rebecca had a bath in my parents' soaker tub and had her hair washed with salon shampoo.
• Once in the night, Rebecca woke up with teething pain. I cuddled with her on the couch while I watched the tail end of "The Astronaut Farmer", and it seemed to distract her enough that she was able to go back to bed - no problem.