Pick Up

Inspirational song: Do It Again (The Kinks)

"Hey, Mom! Somebody stole the pile of crumbs and trash I left on the living room floor! But don't worry. I went and got more."

--Saoirse, translated from the original Woof

I had to wait until my four hour long annual commission updates class was over to clean up. Through the whole Zoom, I was acutely aware of the polyfil, garden soil, and chew bone fragments on the carpet, but I had to wait until I was no longer on camera. This was a much more interactive meeting than I usually have going. I certainly couldn't blow it off, turn the camera to black, and tidy while I listened to the narration, not that I usually do that either. The class went well, I was able to ignore the mess enough to learn, and I had the afternoon free to address it.

I pulled the chairs and ottoman off the vintage carpet, threw away the puppy toy massacre debris, vacuumed and shampooed. While I waited for the rug to dry, I moved on to other rooms. I washed dishes, swept all the rest of the floors on this level, mopped the kitchen, and pulled out one of the small accent rugs I had put away before the puppy showed up. I came back into the living room, and there was Saoirse, in the middle of the rug, with a particularly brittle chew bone that she was chipping crumbs off of, and the last shreds of the bunny that was made of firehose and rope. Sigh. I pulled the vacuum back into that room, and ran it again, while Saoirse smiled at me like she was proud of herself.

Tonight was game night for the larger group. My daughter had to work this evening, but my son-in-law came over with the baby to play. It's always a little tough, because bedtime comes about two-thirds of the way through the game, so Grumpus really starts to live up to her name. She twists and squirms, and we pass her back and forth between us until she loses all good humor and has to go home to bed. When the kids are joining remotely, one of them always has to go off-screen and convince her to settle in for the night. Overall, this is one of the best kid ages. She's funny and fascinating, and watching her learn is joyous. But being pre-verbal has its limitations, and it will be nice when we get to the point where we can tell her to go into a dark room and unwind while grownups finish their game. We will get there soon enough.