Soggy Saturday

Today was such a beautiful day - it showered and drizzled and misted off and on all day long! I'm sure I would get tired of such weather eventually, but the drought has really taken a toll this year. I like to see my grass getting greener and my roses perking up. Many of my plants didn't make it, but those that did are much happier now. Once it cools off, I can remove all the dead stuff and plant pansies; they'll last the whole winter and well into next spring down here.

James spent most of today working on his car, trying to get it ready to give to his dad in a few weeks. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal, but his car (a '77 AMC Hornet Hatchback) hadn't even been cranked in almost a year. We moved here, drove it back in front of our shed, and it sat and collected dust. For some reason the Allen clan has a fondness for Hornets, to the extent that they're trading us a '99 Pontiac Montana minivan for the Hornet. I definitely think we get the better end of that deal! I've wanted a minivan since we had Wendy; it's hard to get a 23-lb squirmy baby into the middle of the backseat of a small sedan! It's also been hard to change her diaper on road trips - she's outgrown every horizontal surface in my little Mercury. In the van we'll have plenty of floorspace for that.

I've been a little wistful today, reflecting on the fact that my baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a toddler, and becoming more and more independent every day. She still comes crying to me when she gets scared (like about an hour ago when she knocked the vacuum over) and if I'm on the floor she's climbing all over me. For the most part, though, she wants to go and explore and figure stuff out. I'm definitely thankful for that; I think it's a sign that she's intelligent and has a good healthy curiosity about life. But it makes me a little sad, too. I already miss those baby days of rocking with the swaddled, sweet-smelling baby with the cloudy blue eyes. Hopefully by Christmas next year Wendy will have a sibling - babies can be somewhat addictive!