Fall Back

Apparently my kids took the prospect of an extra hour of sleep as a personal invitation to make sure I got as little as possible. Pippa was up at 5 to go potty. Why this has anything to do with me, I am still not sure. On other occasions she’s gotten out of bed on her own, gone to the bathroom, and gone back to bed on her own. I know this because the sounds of her door and the toilet flushing wake me up, even without the baby monitor. So I guess independent toileting is possible at 1 AM, but not 5 AM. Anika climbed into bed with me at 6 and I smelled pee immediately. Sure enough, her pajamas are wet and when I get her back to her room, her bottom sheet and quilt are wet too. I don’t know how she’s suddenly soaking through her pull-up, but I think tonight we’ll have to take her to the bathroom before we go to bed. I looked for the overnight pull-ups at Walmart, but they didn’t have any in her size. And unfortunate fact of life when your three year old is the size of most five year olds is that a lot of the things made for her level of development are just too small for her to actually use. I don’t think she’s ready to be night-trained yet because she just sleeps right through, but maybe a trip to the bathroom before Alan and I go to bed will help her learn to wake up when her bladder is full.

Walmart was an absolute madhouse today. It’s never my favorite place, but it’s the only place we can get prices even close to a Commissary. Regular grocery store prices make me woozy. But it’s like the moment November hits people seem to realize that they’re due for their annual grocery shopping trip. I noticed it when we shopped at the Commissary too. Why are the stores busier at the holidays? Not for toys and gifts, just regular groceries. We shop at the same time every Sunday. Last Sunday was normal. This Sunday the line was 25 minutes long. At the Commissary on Fort Carson it literally wrapped around the outer aisles of the store.

On top of the bizarre wait, I couldn’t get Anika’s Christmas present. The one chance I had to shop without her with me and they did’t have the Barbie set she wants. Figures. Still, I’ve got time.

Today is our dog’s second birthday. Daisy is such a sweet dog. She’s not loving apartment life anymore than I am though. She’s still a Very Good Dog, but I think she’ll be very happy to go up to Vermont and run until she collapses. So will the girls, although I think I’ll need to buy them some warm socks and maybe even boots before we go up. It’s definitely going to be cold and it’s threatening snow. If the weather is too bad we’ll probably have to skip it, but I hope it’ll be okay. It’ll be weird driving in “proper” snow again. I grew up in snow and even took my driving test the day after a huge snow storm, but the snow is Washington is something else entirely. Even a small amount caused ridiculous accidents no matter how slowly you drove. I wouldn’t even drive in it at all. It was crazy. (Really amazing for building snowmen and forts though.) So I’m going to have to re-learn some of those New England skills. I am glad that we live so close to Pippa’s school. I’d much rather walk in snow and slush and good boots than drive in it, especially up and down hills and around curvy New England roads.

Alan asked me what I’d like for Christmas. Literally the only thing on my Christmas list is a house. Very hard to gift wrap.

~Liz