Milly slept late but was fussy by about 10:30 so I put her down. She screamed and hollered for a bit but quieted down before too long.  I heard her making some noises now and then, but she didn’t seem upset and I had a lot to do (and was getting a lot done), so I let her stay up there until she started knocking on the door, which I think was a little after 1:00.  Amanda had worked a little extra and was picking up lunch, but she was home not too long after I brought Milly downstairs.

The big news of the morning, though, was that Milly got up from her table and went to sit on her potty.  I realized after she got up from it that she had gone to sit on it to pee, which was awesome!  I mean, she actually knew she had to pee and took action to get it in the potty!  As a reward, she got a toy camel that Karen had been given when they went to Brilliant Sky yesterday.  The person working said Milly had been so good while playing in there, plus they were overstocked on the item.  I named it Humper.

There was an earthquake in Virginia today, not far from Washington, DC.  I saw mention of it on The Devil’s Den then went to check the news, where I couldn’t find much information yet.  Facebook and Twitter, however, showed a different story.  From what I gathered throughout the day, Amanda, Lisa Hauenstein, Anna, a client of mine and maybe a couple other people were the only people in Wilmington NOT to feel it.  I felt exremely left out.  I seriously did.  I was sitting at my desk when it happened and Amanda and Milly were on the couch.  Amanda said maybe she didn’t feel it because Milly was crawling all over her at the time.  I don’t know.

I spent most of the afternoon running errands, including picking up the X3 I’m borrowing from Anna and Barry, picking up my paycheck and visiting a client to help set their email up properly.  The place I get my check was right across the street from where I was picking up the check anyway, so it wasn’t a huge deal.  It was also the first time I went to their new office to pick it up.

I also stopped by Taget on the way home to pick up something for Amanda.  She was going to do it herself, but Milly was acting up and she didn’t want to take her shopping, so she’d have had to go back out anyway.

Target was pretty busy, since news of Hurricane Irene had it landing right up Wilmington’s butt as a Category 3, though later reports had it going more eastward and hitting the Outer Banks.  Regardless, water bottles were in short supply, so I went ahead and grabbed a pack of those too.  And then, of course, I made the worst possible choice I could have made in choosing a checkout lane.

I did a little more work back at home then called it quits so I could spend some time with Milly.  I was originally going to leave the house when Amanda left for Small Group, but that was canceled tonight because of a lack of places to hold it.  Then I thought about leaving in the morning, but I had too much work to do, and if I left I’d have no time to do any of it.  In the end, I decided to leave after Milly went to bed.

We played a bit, and I watched her play.  We went outside, where Amanda and I took things down or moved them in preparation for a possible bad storm.  Milly played in her little sink then wanted to help me and Amanda as we moved things.  It basically consisted of her touching a chair while we picked it up and moved it, with her walking along with us.  I didn’t mind how much longer it took though, because I thought it was really sweet.  After we moved things Milly wanted to sweep the patio, so she and I did that.

Milly was a little whiny when we went back inside, so I took her upstairs for a bath, which she needed after playing outside mostly in the buff anyway.  Karen, who will be watching Milly while Amanda’s at work the next couple days, brought some dinner from Arnold’s in Richlands.  At first Milly wouldn’t eat any of it, but she did like the hush puppies, and the gravy lead her to the mashed potatoes and eventually she wanted to try some chicken.  She ate a good bit of it, but she never would touch the green beans.  Still.

Milly was very palyful when we took her upstairs to her room.  As usual, she wanted me to lie down with her, and as she’s lately been wont to do, she wanted to sit in my lap.  I rubbed her head a bit, covered her eyes (which she asks me to do), held her hands… all the normal stuff.

Every night when I leave Milly I give her a kiss, rub noses and tell her, “I love you, Meliamae. Goodnight, little girl.”  But tonight I told her, “I love you, Meliamae.  Goodbye, little girl.”  She didn’t pick up on the distinction of course; I didn’t expect her too.  I did fine with it all, but my eyes did sting a little when I reached for the doorknob to leave her room.  I’ll be gone from her for four days.  The longest I’ve gone without seeing Milly before was one night.

I’d packed all my stuff up into my big old Gap backpack that Amanda hates earlier in the day, so all I had to do was throw that, my laptop case and my camera gear into the X3 and take off.  Amanda walked me out and gave me a pack of crackers and a bottle of water, which is good because I did feel a little tired later on and that helped re-energize me.

The trip to the Rouge was uneventful. Erin was up when I got there and we talked for a bit before I crashed on the couch.

Zach Dotsey