It's All in How You Carry Yourself

As much as I like having the girls and Jack with me, I also like some one-on-one time with Baby Brigid, and I get that when Jack takes the girls to the lake, as he has the last couple of weekends. I know Margaret and Patricia are enjoying themselves at the lake: they get to go riding; they watch TV on "grandma's TV" (they have cable); if it's at all nice -- by definition a temperature higher than 50 degrees -- they go swimming; and they play "Sims" on a computer that allows them to load a CD-Rom. Brigid then has my undivided attention. We laugh and sing and snuggle. We go garage-sale shopping or walk at the mall. I have yet to take her to the park, although I think she is almost old enough to sit in the baby swing. We have a nice bath and snuggle some more. And then when Daddy and the girls do come back, she shakes with excitement to see her family. I love that, and I know they do, too. Oh, to be greeted with such love and enthusiasm. Brigid definitely knows her family and loves her family.

Brigid and I stopped at a couple of garage sales this weekend, one of which was just down the road on Oak Street. I saw they had some kids' things, so I pulled over. I snagged a nearly new exer-saucer for a buck. A buck! Even if she only likes it for a few minutes at a time, it's sure worth a buck. It gives me the chance to put her down in something other than the playpen or crib so I can go to the bathroom. She was excited by the prospect of it at first when I cleaned it up (not much to clean. It was in great shape). But then she realized she wasn't being held by a human being so she began to whine. Brigid is a happy baby, but she sure does love to be held. I want to get a "hip hammock" by Playtex. It's a backpack you wear on your hip and the baby rides along that way. Jack loves the Sling-Ezee. I've used it on occasion, and although in his words I'm not cleared by the Sling-Ezee board to use it -- it comes with a user's CD to demonstrate it's proper usage -- I've managed to not let Brigid drop out the bottom of the thing. But this hip hammock seems like a good idea. I played with it at Wal-Mart the other night and I think it's for me. Jack also has a new backpack -- also a garage-sale find -- a nice almost-new LL Bean backpack. Brigid seems to sit well so far.

But how long Brigid will even tolerate being carted around is questionable, expecially since she would much rather be crawling around and pulling herself up. Now that she can pull herself up, that's all she wants to do. But she strands herself there once she is on her feet. She's not sure yet how to get down, short of falling backwards. If she's in the crib, that's usually not a problem. But if she's standing in the living room, then she's likely to take a hit. We were at Michelle's yesterday, and she kept trying to pull herself up on the toys Michelle brought out again, but they're not stable enough to hold her, and she would swing down to her side. We were catching her and helping her down all afternoon.

Brigid and I also visited Frances' garage sale on Saturday and piked up the game of Clue for the girls to play. They played a version of it at a friends' house so I knew it would be something they would enjoy. They were very anxious to start playing, but as always, they ask to play something or watch something 10 minutes before it's time for them to go to bed. Plus, I have to get more score sheets for the game. Frances said we could even make them on the computer ourselves.

We have no Jenny today so Daddy has Baby B to himself until I get home from work. The two of them are going to join Patricia at school for lunch today. I think Patricia will enjoy showing off her baby sister. I don't know if Daddy will receive the same attention.