UPDATE!

1. Field hockey season started over three weeks ago, and it's been great to coach without a practically full-term baby (a.k.a. Rudy, last year) in my uterus. But after-school practices mean that for at least the past three weeks, I have been missing nap time. Rudy's nap time and Marley's quiet time is the magic time. When things GET DONE. Or at least started. You know, like a non-chicken-nuggie dinner? So, there is a large pile of clean clothes in Marley and Rudy's room that I need to put away. But before I can get to it, I've got to do the seasonal and size swap. And therefore the pile has been growing. Oh, who cares, right?

I DO! Witness the organization of my kid plates, cups, and silverware and think about how an ever-expanding pile of clothes might make me jittery.

2. Marley started ballet and tap class two weeks ago. She absolutely loves it, and I absolutely love her. Her stubborn femininity is no longer a surprise. At almost-four, that's just who my Beanie is. She wants everything to be pink, she wants a VANITY for her birthday, and she is convinced that when she grows up, she will be a Real Ballet-er

This is not what I envisioned when I was pregnant in 2005. I went to Smith College and still drive around with a strip of "This Insults Women" stickers in my car so that I can slap them on offensive ads or, I don't know, the Barbie Happy Meal toy Marley got today. (I don't. Those stickers are at least ten years old and I've never used them. They're mostly a women's college souvenir.) Before Bean, I wanted some scrappy girl climbing trees in grass-stained jeans and tiny Chuck Taylors. That was dumb. Now I want Marley, dancing around after lunch in a ridiculously poofy tutu, and little glittery-pink princess shoes. An actual Barbie, for example, can wait. But I need to just let her be. She is pinkalicious, and she is just what I needed.

3. And: Rudy needs glasses. Seriously. Officially. When field hockey started and dance class started, I started noticing Rudy's left eye turning inward.

That kid got more and more wonky as the days passed. And so I got my referral and got Toot to the same pediatric ophthalmologist that Marley sees. Tomorrow morning, after I take Marley to school and my mom to her adult day care, I'm taking Rudy to look for some decent frames and a sweet strap that will keep those babies on. And what if Rudy's been so chill and delightful these past eleven months because she's been happily tripping out? What if things clear up and she SEES her sister playing with smushy wine corks and wants a better deal? Just kidding. Mostly.