Everybody's smiling, a sunshine day

Today was pretty much a perfect day.

Ari woke up around 8 AM. I actually didn't even hear her--it was Tony who nudged me awake and asked me to get her. He said he hadn't been able to sleep last night and had still been awake at 4 AM. I got Ari out of her crib, told her Daddy was sleeping when she asked for him, and then took her downstairs.

We ate breakfast together--she picked at a cereal bar and gobbled down some watermelon while I ate a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats. When we were done, it was back upstairs, where I caged her in her crib so I could take a shower. I feel bad doing that, but there are still enough things in her room she could get into trouble with, and when I'm in the shower, I obviously can't hear her or help her. As soon as I got out of the shower, I got her out of the crib, pulled the gate across her doorway, and let her play while I got ready.

Want to know what kept her occupied while I got ready?



Yup--2 shoeboxes. And a few colored pencils and her new pair of shoes. And once she got tired of putting those objects in the boxes and taking them back out, she moved on to other things.



This game kept her amused and quiet for probably about 45 minutes (what? It's a Saturday--I took my sweet old time getting ready). When I was done, I decided to take a few more pictures of her. Here she is "hugging" Mickey.



Then she climbed into the rocking chair. I asked her to smile and lo and behold, she did.



Then we headed off to Target. I took my time there, figuring Tony was probably appreciating the peace and quiet. He was awake when we got home--he said the dogs had been jumping up and down off the bed and barking at who-knows-what, so he really hadn't gotten any more sleep. The day was so gorgeous that we let Ari play on the back porch. As I've said before, she loves coloring, and Tony got her some sidewalk chalk, which she adores.

She is a Very Serious Artiste. (You have to say that phrase in a French accent, of course.)



Would you believe me if I told you she wrote her name all by herself? Would you also believe me if I told you the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?



I love the lighting on this shot.



Check it out, she wrote my name too!



After a quick break for lunch, we were back outside again. This time, Tony manned the camera.



I drew her a flower, and she knew what it was. Sweet.



As you can see, I am also a Very Serious Artiste.



She was doing a happy little dance for us.





Then she started shouting about an airplane. This is my Skeptical Face. (But it turns out, she was right.)



Just being insufferably cute...



Insufferably Cute, Part 2...



And one last picture. I know it looks like she's giggling, but she was really being fussy because it was naptime. (But check out her cool new shoes--Tony picked them out last night.)



So it was naptime for Ari, and hang-out time for me and Tony. We used the DVR to watch the season finale of Scrubs (which I hadn't seen), and last week's episode of "The Office" ("Job Fair," which Tony hadn't seen). Then I went on a lovely 30-minute walk, accompanied only by my iPod, while Tony worked on church stuff.

Ari woke up after a couple hours, still in a fabulous mood. I made dinner, we ate, and then we all went for a walk together. After one lap, Tony and Ari visited the playground while I did one more lap.

As we were walking home from the playground, Ari hesitated, squatted a little, and started whining, "Poopy." I thought nothing of it, because she is starting to be able to tell us when she's pooping. But as I carried her upstairs, she fussed and squirmed, and it all quickly turned into screaming when I got to her diaper. Sure, she had poop, but it was barely solid and had leaked down both her legs and was already leaving a blistery rash on her thighs. We were baffled--she ate nothing unusual today, and it wasn't like she'd been in that diaper for hours and hours. I felt horrible as I carefully wiped her while she screamed and writhed in protest. I took her naked little butt straight to the bathroom and got the tub ready. We had to coax her into sitting down in the water, and once she did, she seemed to feel a little better. We let her linger in the tub as long as possible, dried her very carefully, slathered Balmex all over her bottom and her thighs, and sent her to bed.

But other than that sad ending, this really was a perfect day.