Today, in lieu of Mom’s Group (it got cancelled due to many people being out of town), Ms. Megan and I decided to go ahead and take the girls to the park and out for lunch afterwards. Charlie did really well at the table, and once she saw Lindsay sitting in her high chair like a “big girl”, she wanted to be a “big girl” too! Our friend Ms. Rachel met us with her older girls Maddie and Claire, who LOVED entertaining our younger ones.

She fell asleep as we were pulling into the garage, and yep, you guessed it, that measly catnap now has her all stirred up for the afternoon. I try SO hard not let this happen, even crank the music in the car and/or throw things at her (soft things, of course) to keep her awake, because inevitably, she will talk in her crib for the duration of naptime. We’ll just call it Mommy’s “quiet time” for today, Charlie…

No-nap days like this actually DO end in my favor, believe it or not, and today is a great day for it…Vann has a late meeting and Mommy is solo this evening. Guess what, girlie? Bedtime comes a little early for you, my dear!!

Edited to add: Whew. As I suspected, Charlie was so exhausted by 6:30 pm putting her down was quite the challenge. You have to wonder why they don’t just beg for the bed after getting up earlier than normal and not napping…but when I turned out the lights and stepped out of the room, the crying lasted for approximately one minute, and then it was silent.

I promptly took my first shower in days (yes, days) and am now sitting here in the quiet…the only sounds being the whir of the air conditioner and the trickle of the cat’s water fountain. And man, I am EXHAUSTED. Vacation couldn’t come any sooner.