Another day off ?

Hip, hip ! Hooray !

Happy Veteran's Day from your favorite government workers. Oh, I do love that government offices recognize so many holidays throughout the year ! Although it doesn't even begin to compete with having the summers off, (like some people I know), but a random free day every now and then is pretty rewarding to me.

I think we signed our names on the "Bad Parents' List" today when we took Elaina to the babysitter's house while we were home. Oh the guilt ! However, I will always stand firm on my justification that the time she is having fun and playing with the other kids while we work our tails off at home, makes for more free time when we are all together. I can't even begin to list the countless number of little things I was able to accomplish today without Elaina's assistance. I feel good about the progress I made in tackling the little things I've put off doing. Eric, of course, was playing the role of a carpenter from 8- 5:00. He put in a very full day to say the least.

I did make arrangements to pick Elaina up early and we played and read books until dinnertime. She ate surprisingly well and even began asking for what she wants. We have been working on saying meat, fish (Goldfish crackers), milk and sippy. "Sippy" applies to any liquid contained within the actual cup which is not milk. Most often, she is happy with water and rarely even likes it flavored with juice. She is very good about saying "coookeee !" in her monster voice, with her crazy eyes and smiling face. I wouldn't know how she ever came to know that term. Certainly not from her mother ! Elaina likes "Cooookeeez !" I guess we're both guilty. Oh yeah, and she knows how to say brownie too. She's just smart, I guess.

We spent the rest of our evening dancing the night away. It was like the way-white-not-so-talented-scaled-down-version of American Bandstand with toddlers. Right here in our house ! It all started as Elaina began to bounce and turn in circles from the ABC song blasting from her LeapFrog Fridge Phonics. I decided to help her out a bit and swept her off her feet and we danced and bounced together. The ABC song has never rated on Billboard's Top Ten, although, watching Elaina bounce, you'd never know it. From there, we moved onto her favorite songs on Noggin.com and Daddy came in and bounced her around and taught her a few new dance steps. Then it was bath time. Daddy took a shower in one bathroom, while I scrubbed Elaina down in her bathroom. Eric had turned up Classic Country songs on the music channel, tuned into some old Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Johnny Cash. Elaina loved it. She tried to climb out of the bathtub to join the party before the soap had a chance to suds. Once she and daddy were cleaned up, we all met in our bedroom, turned on the disco ball and shook our groove thangs. She squealed in delight and had so much fun ! I guess that would explain why she carried her blanket into me and tried to direct me to the night-night chair only 20 minutes later. She was the dancing queen for the evening !