I did not blog on Friday. I called the truck dealership about getting the power steering fixed (It was a serious workout parking that thing!) and they surprised me with an invitation to bring it right in. So, Guppy and I packed up a bag of tricks and went in to entertain the staff and salesmen by gallivanting about the showroom like a pair of loons. Once we had the diagnosis and time estimate (broken pump, 2 hours), we got a shuttle ride to the swimming pool!
And that was AWESOME.
Guppy hung onto me like a little barnacle at first, then accepted a floaty barbell and a vest, and was off on her own. At first she wanted to cling, then wanted at least a hand on her, then nothing - but I'd better stay close, and by the time we left, she was paddling off by herself and not at all bothered that I'd swim a few paces away to catch a ball and talk to her from across the lane. She even off-balanced once and dunked herself under - and after I got her back up on her barbell, I backed off again and she was just fine. We were in the pool for a little over an hour, and it was my idea to finally leave. That's at least double any previous pool time. The swimming teacher was there and very pleased with Guppy's progress. She says Guppy's ready for the big girl class! Horrah! We'll start that in June.
Swimming success!
Back to the dealer, to get a truck that turns without having to throw all my weight on the steering wheel, getting a load of water at the fillup station, and then home.
At the water fillup.
Our Friday evening adventure involved broken glass. Lots, and lots, and lots of broken glass. Guppy stood up in my chair and pushed over the floorlamp, which hit the ground with an amazing explosion and shattered the glass lamp from one end the living room to the other. There was glass in the kitchen, there was glass in the bathroom (the door was open). There was glass in the pile of Guppy's favorite blankets. There was glass under all of the chairs. There was glass ON the kitchen chairs. So then there was a lot of sweeping and vacuuming. Miraculously, the lamp still works, just needs a new glass bowl. When I yelled at Guppy to STAY IN THE CHAIR, she buried her head in her arms, then she sobbed at Jake, "I need a timeout."
Saturday, Jake took me out for Mother's Day dinner (a night early, to avoid the crowds). Guppy has gone from wailing inconsolably when I leave the room to pushing me out the door, demanding, "Can you go now?" Because Aunt R is WAY more fun than me.
My little girl is getting all independent and grown up. *sniffles* Also, she just got another one of her molars, and she is starting to refer to herself reliably as 'I' instead of 'Me.' I think last week's dose of extra monster was another mental level.
We had dinner at the Lemongrass, and we were going to go play mini-golf, but in getting ready to go, the topic of coats came up and I bemoaned my lack of a light-weight nice coat. I have a fabulous heavy coat - absolutely gorgeous, and utterly useless at temperatures above about 10 below. But for warmer weather, I have a lot of fun, casual (mostly worn-out) things, but nothing appropriate for a date night or dinner. Not that it matters a LOT in Fairbanks, mind you, but sometimes you like to look good.
So, instead of mini-golf, we ended up going coat shopping. I got a beautiful little peacoat, light grey, that should go with anything nice that I have, a moderate winter clearance coat to replace the one I wore out this winter, a pair of pants, and a sweater that I love to pieces. Shopping without a 3-year-old in tow is blissful. Best Mother's Day presents ever.
This morning, we got up and motivated, and started cutting ceiling boards for the bathroom. We've got it about 1/3 put up, along with insulation for sound protection from the bedroom, and another 1/3 cut, waiting for Guppy to get up from her nap to go up. They are cedar boards and not only does the bathroom ALREADY look an order of magnitude better, but it smells AMAZING.
Now, sea monster coloring pages! I have finished two of the sketches I started (one posted earlier as a Mother's Day freebie), and have a third nearly there. We are less than $100 to professional printing, and I'm really, really hoping we get there so I can make these generally available. :)
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