Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away

The weather this week has been perfectly gorgeous. It has been in the low to mid 70's all week, sunny and bright.

Lauren and I have been playing outside everyday. Usually we go out after her morning nap and play for about an hour, and then come inside for lunch. Then we either go back out, or goof around a little inside before her afternoon nap. (Although yesterday, she refused to take the afternoon nap. Duuuuun dun dun duuuuuuuuuun.) When I asked her if she was ready for her nap, she said "no" and she meant it. We've also been going outside in front and waiting for Mr. Fro to get home in the evenings.

My aunt and uncle have a 10-year old, and they asked me if we wanted his outdoor play house for Lauren. I said sure! She loves it. She likes to go inside, open all of the windows, move all three of the chairs outside, and then go back in and close all of the windows, and move all of the chairs back in. Maybe she's a budding interior decorator!

She and I have also been walking around the yard touching different plans and trees to see how the feel. Yesterday I showed her how to fill up the bird bath with the hose. She wasn't crazy about that.

On Monday I took her to her first class. It's a Tot Rock class and she's in it with four other kids. She's the youngest, but only by a few weeks. They played with bells, and ribbons, and plastic bugs. At the end of class she got a bumble bee stamped on her hand. For the rest of the day she kept pointing to her hand and saying "bee!" Even today, with the stamp long washed away, she points to her hand and says "bee?"

It was fun for her to play with other kids and I got to meet some other moms. I have this vague hope that I'll be able to make some friends this way but I'm really not very good at initiating that kind of relationship. I did hang back and walk out of the class with another mom, and made some conversation with her but then she headed for the elevator and I went for the stairs. After I got outside I thought maybe I should have gone to the elevator with her to keep up the conversation but maybe I'm just thinking too much (and trying too hard.)

I had dinner with two good friends on Monday night. We try to get together for dinner periodically but only manage to actually succeed about twice a year. They are both pregnant with their first babies right now, one is due in October and one is due in December. It was fun to hear all of their tales and I tried really really hard not to give too much advice or say too much been-there-done-that stuff. I did make a recommendation on a diaper pail, and I gave my one friend the business card for Lauren's pediatric practice. Other than that I just enjoyed listening to their tales of morning sickness and sore tailbones.

I've been hungry lately. I've been snacking a lot. I guess I'm not sure if it's hunger or boredom. I try to pick healthier snacks (salad, fruit) but sometimes I choose the pecan streusel cake. Let's just say that I opened up the cake on Friday and it was gone by Sunday and I'm the only one who ate any of it. There's another pecan streusel cake in the freezer but I'm resisting the urge to take it out.

Mmm. Cake.