I didn’t think my morning was going to go too well.  Amanda decided to stay home from work today, which is no biggie as far as my day’s prospects go, but Milly woke up about 45 minutes early and was pretty upset about it.  Normally I’d just bury my head under my pillows and let her wait it out, but I knew Amanda was trying to rest so I got the baby up about half an hour early.

I instigated the offense in the Sippy Cup Rebellion, and the first salvo worked momentarily, but the Bottle Loyalists won out in the end.  Just a minor setback; the Sippy Cup Rebels will win in the end.

Even after giving Milly her bottle though, she was not very happy.  She was very fussy and made a lot of bratty noises (“NUH!”) while I was trying to get some oatmeal ready for her.  Once I did finally have the food ready though, she was pretty content.  She also ate about half a banana, which I gave to her in sections.  She doesn’t seem to like slices, but she does like chunks.

After breakfast Milly was much happier, though she’d get angry any time I was out of her sight.  We played for a bit then I decided to take her for a walk.  Since it was a lot earlier than the usual time we go on morning walks, I thought I’d make this one a little longer.  Then, as we were walking, I figured I’d just take her on down to the grocery store for a nice, really long walk.

By the time we got to the store I’d taken Milly off my shoulders and was carrying her facing forward with my hands clasped under her bottom, almost like a sling.  A woman coming out of the store commented on how cute it was while we were walking in.

We walked around the grocery store a bit and I ended up buying a doughnut.  We sat down outside and I gave Milly a few bites, which she liked.  I wiped her hands and face down with some sanitizing wipes I saw at the front of the store (for grocery carts) then we headed on back.

I decided, for the heck of it, to walk back along Murrayville Road instead of going through the neighborhood.  I probably shouldn’t do that as a general rule because of the faster traffic, but we had no incidents and it was actually a lot faster.

We played a little more when we got back.  Milly found a hat and kept putting it on my head and on her head, and on Harvey’s once or twice.  I’d taken my shirt off because I was a little sweaty from the walk (it’s very humid already this morning) and Milly pinched one of my nipples.  Those little tweezers she’s got for fingers hurt, but it was funny.

Shortly after that she started yawning, so I put her down for her nap.

I’d gotten a text last night from Mike Nowak asking if I wanted to do lunch at 11:30.  Last night I told him I wouldn’t even be able to get out of the house until after Amanda gets home around 12:30, but he called this morning to talk about it and I told him I was planning on talking to Amanda about it, since she’s actually home today.  I mentioned it to her after I put Milly down, so I’ll be going out.  She still shouldn’t have to worry about taking care of Milly very much since she shouldn’t get up until about 12:30 and I should be home not long after that, if not before.

So, given Milly’s mood early today, I thought I was going to have a rough time this morning.  Instead I got to spend some good, quality time with my beautiful baby girl.

Zach Dotsey