Long, Full Days Turn Her Into A Vampire

Brigid had a full and very tiring day yesterday, so full and so tiring that she refused to take a nap. Jack had to go to the hospital in Burlington for a test for his back, so I took the day off and the three of us went over while Margaret and Patricia were in school. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and if circumstances were different would have been the perfect day to spend in Burlington, sitting on the terrace of the Vermont Pub and Brewery. But alas, it was not to be. Instead, we parked at the new parking garage of the hospital and made our way through the huge newly constructed wing to the neurology unit where Jack would have the test that consisted of being stuck with electrified needles along his leg. Because the test would take an hour and a half, Brigid and I left and spent the morning running around the mall where she proceeded to tell me in her way that she wanted a drink at Auntie Anne's pretzel place. She says something that sounds like nee nee nee when she wants something or needs a drink. She points wildly and when you guess correctly, she suddenly stops pointing wildly and calms down. We had our drinks and I took the opportunity to go into the Children's Place and browse the sale racks. Found a few pair of summer PJs for Brigid and then gave her a couple rides on the tiny coin-operated carousel. In my day, it cost a quarter. This thing cost a buck. But she really enjoyed it and protested loudly when I took her off after her second ride. I was going broke.

We left the mall in time to get back to the hospital to pick up Jack. Good news: there doesn't seem to be the nerve damage they originally suspected; bad news, there's no real difinitive answer. So he'll go back to the neurologist in Plattsburgh for further options. We let Brigid run through the hospital lobby on our way to the parking garage -- this new hospital wing is huge. Looks like an airport. So she had fun waving to all the people passing by. She also found it interesting to squat down and feel the floor, which looked like pebbles but was smooth tile. She likes to feel rough textures and compare them to smooth textures. This puzzled her a little bit and I think she enjoyed that. She also liked pushing the elevator buttons, and seemed to understand when I asked her if she'd like to push the button.

It was beyond her lunch time, so we went to Denny's and she ate a considerable amount of egg, or negg, as she says. That "N" sound seems to creep into a lot of her words. We stopped on the way to the ferry for some ice cream, which she calls "mmmmmm" her word for most foods. But she didn't sleep. I thought for sure she'd fall asleep in the car, but no go. We got home in time for the girls to come home from school, and because Jack was going to exercise during his dinner hour, I took the girls to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and then headed over to Sam's. It was an aborted effort because at that point, at 5 p.m., Brigid decided it was time to melt down in a "I'm over tired and about to explode" episode. I was holding her and she rested her head on my arm. Then suddenly I felt a tremendous pain in my arm -- she was biting me! I pulled her away from me and she was crying but it was a weird, outer-body-experience kind of cry. She broke the skin through the sleeve! She fell asleep in the car right then. We went to Border's so Margaret could pick up the next book in the series she's reading and I pushed the sleeping BB in the stroller. When she woke up, she was happy to run around the children's section, pulling books and stuff animals off shelves. I spend most of the time at Border's following her, putting books and stuffed animals back on their shelves.

I worried her late nap and fussiness wouldn't bode well for getting her to sleep at night, but we got home, I gave her a bath and she was in her new PJs and ready for bed at the usual time. She slept through until 6 a.m. and was happy to come into bed with us for some boob time and a few more hours of sleep. She was in a happy mood when I left for work this morning, and Jack was going to take her to babysitting at the YMCA this morning while he worked out. I'm anxious to hear how that went. It will be her first time in that kind of setting.

Aside from a bite mark on my upper left arm that looks something like a vampire's pierce, none of us are worse for wear after yesterday's long, long day.