Hiya and Helwo!

Margaret did an exemplary job babysitting yesterday and had a long day of it, having to watch Baby Brigid in the morning and afternoon. At some point in the day, Brigid took another tumble, striking her nose on the foot of an antique sewing machine cabinet I have in the livingroom. Her nose looks like it has a little sunburn on it. But she was her usual self not long after. We had Grandma and Granddad Downs over for dinner last night and Brigid ran around and enjoyed being the center of attention. She has started waving and saying "Hiya!" over and over again. She also has "helwo" down pat when she holds the phone or anything else that looks like a phone up to her ear. She goes back and forth between Hiya! and Helwo! depending on the situation.

She ate dinner fairly well, enjoying Daddy's bread and zucchini lasagna, and then she enjoyed smooshing Grandma's banana walnut cake and whipped cream onto her face and into her hair. Needless to say, she had a bath right after. She loves her bath, and all I have to say is, "Do you want to go upstairs and take a bath?" and she's running for the hallway door. We keep it gated, so she'll stand there like the horses in the morning waiting to be let into the barn. She wants to climb the stairs, and she does a good job of it, but I have to be right behind her. But she's a funny kid. She knows where she's not supposed to be. If the gate wasn't up or latched, she'd stand there, waiting, kind of looking over her shoulder at you, as if to say, "What do I do now? Do I go?" Sometimes, she'll devilishly stand somewhere on the threshold of a forbidden zone and laugh an almost evil laugh .... "Hahahahahaha, here I am, about to go where I'm not allowed. Hahahaha." But she really rarely ventures in without your knowledge. Then you go and retrieve her and close the door or hook the gate and she's usually fine with it.

So last night, she certainly was ready for and happy to have a bath. But when she got to the top of the stairs, instead of heading right to go to the bathroom, she turned left and made a bee-line for Margaret's room where she pulled her threshold laugh and looked at me, then looked in the room, and back at me. I took a step toward her and she went in to pick up one of Margaret's stuffed animals (in this case, a Build-a-Bear Workshop dog). She then hugged several other stuffed animals and American Girl and My Twinn dolls before I was able to steer her out the door and down the hall to the bathroom. She has gotten to the point where she's now helping when you undress her. I'll say, "Lift your arms" when I'm removing her tops and she does so dutifully. She'll lay down if I need to remove her pants or diaper and then she's happy to be placed in the tub. I bought a pitcher specially made to pour water only on the baby's head and not down her face, and that's an improvement. We're still using the special soap for her rash on the back of her neck. I don't know if I see any improvement yet.

This morning was the last day (moment) of school for both Margaret and Patricia. Margaret got her report card at 8 a.m. and I picked her up about 8:15 a.m. She was beaming, having had a remarkable first year in public school. Can't do much better than straight-A-pluses. Ok, she got an A-minus in gym. Curse that gym teacher! She did great academically and socially she's blossomed into quite a butterfly. Today she's going to her friend, Natalie's, house for a birthday sleepover. She stayed the night the other night at her friend, Maggie's, house. I'm so happy because at St. Peter's, although she had friends, they weren't local kids -- many came from surrounding districts so they didn't get together very often thoughout the school year and then never during the summer.

Patricia's day ended at 10 a.m. with a 10:30 a.m. orthodontist appointment where she had some tightening and springs added to help open spaces where teeth still need to come up. She had new colors: red, white and blue. She picked up her report card, which I have yet to see, and then went to meet her new 5th-grade teacher, Ms. King, and said most of the same kids seem to be in her class. That's a good thing, because so many of them have become good friends.

So now the summer has started officially. Brigid isn't going to know what hit her, having her big sisters there with her all summer. Wish I was off as well.