The Perfect Day

Lately I've noticed a lot of lists of "things you don't know about me" on Facebook. Many of those lists have included the person's dream job. I'm currently "employed" in mine right now, and I've got enough of a self-esteem issue to be pretty sure no one wants to read a list that long about me (although I secretly wish everyone else would just keep posting more and more of things I don't know about them - I love glimpses into others' personal lives....it's why I get so excited at Christmas when we drive to see lights, and some people leave their curtains open....yep, I'm that creepy lady!). Tonight, though, I began thinking about my "dream day" or my "perfect day", and I do believe that I lived it today. Of course, I thought that the day I graduated from high school and celebrated with my family and friends and felt so very loved; and I thought that the day Mike proposed, and I remained in a delirious state for months, hardly able to comprehend that he so seriously wanted to spend his life with me (when both members of a couple feel that way, it seems to work really well!); and I felt that way the day we got married with all our family and friends around us - the list of "perfect days" goes on and on, I suppose, but today really....today was a rather ordinary day that just could not have been better.

Mighty Mouse had yet another rough night last night, but the minute Daddy got up with him (after I'd tried for over an hour to settle the little chap), he settled like a charm, allowing us both a few more minutes of sleep before an overly-excited Sunny came bounding onto our bed (at 6:50 a.m.). Today was her first "Mommy date", and she went to bed last night saying, "I just can't hardly imagine what tomorrow will be like!!!!". She and I were on tap for a 4:30 date to pet the cats at a local shelter. We're a glamorous pair, she and I!

Although the day started early, it was just so nice. Miss Mouse and I had our second "Mommy date". We went downtown to a vendor market, for lack of better term, where I had registered her for a bath bomb making class. An extra treat was that her friend was along with his mom, as well! He and she had attended a preschool mommy/tot class together several years ago, so it was really fun to see them together again in a class. He's a sweetie, and when she told him her news about a new brother or sister, he responded with an adorable, "Well! That's really exciting!". Anyway, the last class she and I attended there had turned out to be a child-only class, so I ended up shopping the store for an hour while she learned to make felted hair ties. It was cool, and I was impressed that the minute we got to the car, she was telling me which one of the hair ties she had made was going to be for her sister. Still, we didn't get to really spend any time together, which had been the whole point of the deal in the first place. So, I was very pleased to read in the class description this time that it was a class where parents were needed to help out. Yay! Basically, all I was needed to do was look on and watch her make the bath bombs, as it turned out. I did try to help with the molding of the spherical bombs, but I pretty much "helped" the same way a two year old "helps" with cooking or dishes. I think she'd have done just as well if I'd have kept my paws off, but she's patient with her mama!  The class went quickly, so she and I spent some time shopping around the store before we headed home. Just to have uninterrupted, focused, one-on-one time with her was really special. She's already cooking up ideas for our "December Mommy Date". It involves Mexican food and shopping at the same vendor market! I think she was particularly intrigued by some knitted tree ornaments that had been made by a 12-year old little girl and were for sale at the market.

Mike had Mighty Mouse down for a nap by the time we got home, and he and Sunny had just been sitting visiting about what her "cat petting date" might be like. She spent most of the day wondering if there would be "fLuffy ones" (emphasis on the "L" because she CAN say it now but makes a concerted effort to emphasize it when she does!) or if there would be orange ones or black ones ("Like Jeeves"....my parents'/sister's cat who disappeared awhile back). I'm not sure whether Miss Mouse was more excited to show Sunny the bath bomb she made her (again with the "this one is for my sister" - so sweet - and fun to see that her friend was saying the same thing about one of his being for his four-year-old brother!) or whether Sunny was more excited to see the thing!  I made lunch while they "caught up" on all they had missed being apart for two hours. This included lots of sniffing of the bath bombs, of course. Miss Mouse had picked "Sugar Plum Fairy" scent for hers; the other choices were "Elf Sweat", which I couldn't really describe,  and "Reindeer Poo", which was definitely minty.

This afternoon both girls happily took their quiet time - in different areas of the house! Usually this is a struggle because one would prefer to never have me out of her sight (Miss Mouse) and one would prefer to never have her sister farther than arm's reach away (Sunny). They spent an hour, though, with Sunny dancing to a cd she hadn't listened to in awhile (so she told me as she sang a list of states from a "sing to learn" cd that I'd forgotten we had) and Miss Mouse working on a lego project at the craft table in the basement. They joined together after that to do more dancing, but it was just fun to see them enjoying themselves separately for the moment!  One of the great things about homeschooling is doing everything together; one of the struggles of homeschooling is doing everything together. So, this afternoon was smooth and really enjoyable!

The sun disappeared early tonight as clouds rolled in, and Sunny seemed to resemble more and more a tiny, charged ball of electricity. She had decided that the cats probably knew she was coming because, no doubt, they had been given baths and brushed especially for her arrival. I loved it! She so often is unsure of herself and terrified to make a mistake or say something wrong; it was so nice to see her so confident that these cats were just sitting WAITING for her!

All the way to the shelter I prayed that they would not suddenly turn us away for some reason - suddenly changing to age requirements or something. Sunny had three false starts with the mommy/tot preschool program last year before we finally just gave up on the management ever getting their act together, and I just didn't know how we would deal with another "you-get-to-do-this-fun-thing-so-let's-get-all-excited-oops-I-guess-you-don't-let's-just-go-home" situation. Thankfully, this time things worked out for her!!!!!  We were welcomed into the shelter and told to pick any of their eight rooms and just see which kitties seemed to want petting. While in our first room choice, we heard that room seven had some extremely cuddly, sweet cats, so we headed over there. Wow. Yep. Sunny made some fast friends with Malcolm, Maizee, Marissa, and Chuck. Chuck needed a nap, so he didn't spend much time with us. Malcolm, though, could not get enough of little Sunny and wanted her to keep petting him and playing with him even as he curled up for his own nap. Maizee stuck her nose close to Sunny's and sniffed, decided she liked this little girl, and promptly crawled onto my lap into order to position herself for petting by Sunny. All Sunny had to do was LOOK at Maizee, and the cat would start purring!  (*Yes, Grammy, there was sanitizer in each room, and Mike made her take her boots off immediately when she came home because "You wore them on the cat floor, so you don't wear them on our floor!*)  This one-on-one time was also very special. More often than not, Sunny would choose to have Miss Mouse along with her rather than having alone time with one of her parents. When we got home, though, I bent down and thanked her for our date, and she threw her little four-year-old arms around me and squeezed me as tightly as she could. It's been good for her this year to be in Sunday School; I teach her class, and, although a little girl she made immediate friends with got moved to a different small group, she feels very sure that she is "a helper" for the children who do attend our class. It's just another way that she can start to see herself as a person in her own right in addition to being "Miss Mouse's little sister", and it has been fun to see.  There was much discussion about which cats where which, what colors they were, what sizes they were, and which one we would pick if we could get a cat (*Calm down, Grammy, we aren't!).

I had left out all the supper preparations and hoped that Mike would have time to throw everything together during Mighty's nap.....which he never took. Mike still got everything done, though, and we sat down shortly after coming home (and washing our hands with real soap and water) to a delicious supper.  As a final highlight of the day, the girls each took baths with their bath bomb. These bath bombs are such super cool little things; I just can't say enough good about them! The girls came out so smooth and soft that there was totally no point for lotioning; plus, they make this awesome "fizz" sound when you drop them in the water; PLUS, if you color them, as she had the kids do at the workshop, they turn your water a cool color, not to mention the delicious scent they give off! Miss Mouse chose purple coloring for hers. Currently the tub needs a little scrub (it doesn't stain; it just needs a little rinse-off similar to chalk-ring in the summer), and the bathroom smells almost overpoweringly of this grapey-sweet-spicy yummyness.

Isn't it good that no one has "tagged" me to list off ten things about myself? This is only the description of one, very good, very-nearly-perfect day, and it turned into a novel.