plans vs. reality

My plans for today:

• Go to work, be on top of things, leave early.

• Take Imogene to the children's museum, out to lunch, and to run some errands

• Get there via the most direct route

My reality today:

• Forgot something important at work; scrambled to get it done in time.

• Roadwork. Took a different (winding) route.

• Halfway there, Imogene got carsick (was it because of the winding route?).

• In the parking lot of a hotel (the closest parking lot I could find), I realize I don't have extra clothes for her. There's a jacket in the car, though. Her dress is removed, contained in the only plastic bag I have. The jacket is put on.

• I realize she needs a diaper.

• We go into the hotel. I ask the nice front desk lady where the bathroom is. She kindly tells me.

• No changing table. I put the hood on the jacket up and change the baby on the floor.

• Oh no. No, no, no.

• (Her diaper has exploded. Her pants are no longer wearable).

• We leave through a side exit of the hotel. She's wearing a jacket, a diaper, and bare legs.

• We go home.

• No museum.

• No lunch.

• No errands.

• Maybe tomorrow (no winding roads, though).

good place bad place

A good place to go with an 18 month old:

The apple orchard, or any other farm/orchard setting where you end up deep in (fairly structured and cleared) wilderness, far away from cars. We went apple picking today and just like when we went blueberry picking this summer, I felt so relaxed. Garret and I were able to walk and talk without necessarily managing Imogene. She just walked along with us, stopping to admire apples every now and then, enjoying her own little time and space in the quiet of nature. Man, it was lovely.

A bad place to go with an 18 month old:

(buckle up, folks. this trip is about to get bumpy)

After apple picking, it was late afternoon and we had a busy night ahead when we got home (Garret was prepping for a film shoot and I had some work I had to finish up). We were hungry so we said, hey, let's go get Chinese food! It wasn't a takeout place (though you can get takeout there). It wasn't quite "fancy" either, but there were tablecloths (cloth ones) and nice glasses (glass ones). They gave us a high chair and put a stained tablecloth underneath it, which I thought was brilliant. The staff was super accommodating and lovely. Not lovely? My toddler's behavior, which could be described succinclty as: "MONSTER!"

She didnt' want to sit in her high chair, she didn't want to eat the dumpling I gave her, she didn't want me to take the dumping away, she threw the dumpling!!!, she wanted a spoon, she wanted to put that spoon in a (nice glass!) glass of water, she wanted an ice cube, she wanted to eat the ice cube, she wanted to spit the ice cube out, she wanted to get out of her high chair, she wanted to 😫 steal my eggroll, she wanted to stand up on our booth and stare at the people at the next table............................................. I wanted out. I wanted out! Out! Out! Out! As Imogene dumped a cup of hot tea all over the table, I asked Garret to see if we could get our food to go, and I whisked her away from our table.

On the way out we spotted a fishtank. Her eyes got wide and she looked at them with the kind of wonder and calm determination that only a child has. She was watching those fish, watching them, and I was watching her, wondering what she was wondering about, and how my feelings can pivot from extreme annoyance / embarrassment / GET ME OUT OF HERE to such wonder in a split second. Such is life, right now. Such is life.

wool socks

I had a thing for the newspaper mid-day today (a day and time when I'm usually home with Imogene). Garret decided to take Imogene out to run errands while I was there. I got out earlier than expected and kept thinking about how I wished I could have a buffalo chicken wrap at the local bar/grill. Then I realized, oh wait, I can! So, me and my computer went and had lunch, which for a mom who hasn't gone out to lunch alone in quite some time felt quite cosmopolitan. To continue with my day of luxury, I stopped at the bakery to grab an oatmeal raisin cookie, which I decided I'd have once I got home, with some french press coffee.

That's when the true luxury kicked in and geez, I should have entered it sooner: home. I don't remember the last time I was home alone, but it was a while ago. I changed from the dress I was wearing into leggings, a t-shirt, and this super comfy t-shirt material cardigan I have. Then to really add to the omg this is greatness of it all, I put on some wool socks. It isn't even cold out, but I'm comfortable.

In approximately 25 minutes I'll start feeling like the house is too quiet, but for now, it's

coffee and this new Vermont cookbook I got and haven't even opened yet. 🙌🏻

Though, I'm sitting on the less comfortable end of the couch, because the other side is wet from a spilled cup of water. Imogene's toying with learning to drink from open cups, which is great, until there's water everywhere. Then it's not so great.

Other things:

- Imogene has been eating like a fiend since we took away her bottles. She's also on a milk strike...which we are trying to remain calm, cool, and collected about.

- For the past two nights I've had the intention of making this shrimp & cheese grits recipe. Maybe tonight is the night.

- The leaves are starting to change in a big way

- I'm reading Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco and I am enjoying it throughly.

- The book links in this post are from independent Vermont bookstores. Amazon gets enough references!