The morning did not turn out as I expected, but much better, a sweet, sweet, time. I succeeded in one of my primary ambitions for the visit, I helped Emma to get some rest. When I heard the baby stir around 6:30 a.m., I simple took her right out of Emma’s arms, told her to go upstairs and sleep, and to my surprise, she did. She must have been exhausted.
For some strange reason, Emma does not like to be told what to do. I can’t imagine why. I seem to be drawn to women like that. Maria and I had the most wonderful time taking care of Robin. She is a happy, cheerful and agreeable person, she and Fate clicked big-time, they each sparked the pirate in the other.
We all had breakfast together. We changed her diapers, prepared her formula, changed her clothes, gave her the bottle, then some chunks of banana, some berries, some dry cheerios. Maria started to dance behind me after breakfast and Robin joined in. Come and see.
We spent the next few hours on the living room floor – we built an improvised play pen, and we both climbed into it. She seemed to love every minute of it. Maria’s powerful nurturing instincts revealed themselves, and I felt as if we see Robin every day. We are all quite comfortable with one another.
Fate is just crazy about the baby, she comes up gently and licks her on the cheek, she comes running when she cries, she just seems devoted to her. I am certain that if these two lived together they would be inseparable. Red mostly ignores her.
Robin is a cheerful and adaptive and verbal child, we babbled earnestly back and forth at one another. She kept smiling at me and jabbering at me, I returned the favor. I think we all did some major bonding this morning.
When Emma came down, I made her one of her favorite breakfasts – I made it for her many times when she was young: multi-grain toast, scrambled eggs with Gruyere cheese, cottage cheese, milk, sat and pepper, and coffee. It was a hit, it was such a pleasure to be making her breakfast again, it brought back a flood of feeling.
It’s going to rain almost all day, so we are mostly housebound. We are planning excursions to the Battenkill Book Store to visit their great new childrens’s section. We plan also to all go see see Leroy, the two week old Boston Terrier puppy we are thinking of buying.
Tonight’s dinner: chicken sausage, potatoes and salad. (Last night, pasta with spinach and ricotta cheese and a salad.)
Emma slept for several hours, and we had fun every minute of the time. This is something Maria and I had never done together before. We are both pretty good at it.
It is raining outside, but quite bright inside. The day and the visit got off to a great start. I love holding a baby again, I loved the laughter and smiles we were exchanging, I loved doing this with Maria, we are a pretty potent team.
It is a nice time, I’m doing some writing, Emma is doing some work, Robin is babbling to herself on the floor with some toys, and Maria is in her studio. The world is right.