Lazy Sunday

I've got a few posts waiting in draft form to get an edit before publishing (who knew that occasionally I edited entries and eliminated spelling errors and stuff?) so I'll just make this a quick update.

We spent a very nice lazy day at brunch with some friends who have a daughter, Lucie, almost the same age as Ella- they are moving to London in a few weeks so getting a bit weepy over seeing them go. Why do nice people seem to hate France? Its like there is some sort of negative/positive magnetic charge. Everyone who I meet who is lovely is eventually repulsed and leaves the country. Anyways, today we took advantage of the fact that they haven't disappeared yet and met up a Cafe Beaubourg for brunch. For such a trendy hipster type of place they are really nice to kids. Of course, after I got out the play-doh the girls went nuts and maybe they won't be so welcoming next time B and I show up but that's the price you pay to finish a cup of coffee in peace.

Afterwards we had thought about going over to Trocadero to the newly(ish) aquarium , but the price put us off. The thing is that you have to balance the price against the likelihood that your toddler will develop an instantaneous dislike for the place within minutes, forcing you to leave before you've seen anything more than the entry hall and coat check. Since the weather today was Gorgeous, we decided to walk over to the little park in front of the Institut du Monde Arabe. The girls played on the toys while the big boys played ping pong. It was a good afternoon until one of the girls discovered a box of Smarties in my bag. It was one of those mini boxes, with little tiny Smarties- only there must be something like 200 of them. Its insane how long it takes a toddler to finish of one of the boxes, trying to pick them up, one by one, and manouver them into the mouth. I swear it took Ella nearly 100 km in the car on Saturday to eat her entire box, and then I was still picking them out of the folds in her coat whenever I turned around. Anyways, they found a box of Smarties, accidentally made it explode over a park bench and then Ella screamed while Lucie tried to stuff them in her mouth as fast as she possibly could (I don't think that they allow her candy normally). I didn't know what to do. I couldn't take them away from Lucie to give to Ella because then Lucie would scream and I wasn't absolutely positive that the no candy thing was a firm rule. But I couldn't get Ella to stop screaming unless she had a box of candy so I went into my bag and managed to find another box of Smarties. Thank god for the massive purses they have been selling the last few seasons, I am always pleasantly surprised to find that I have lots of nice things hiding in the bottom. So once Ella had her candy, I tried to out- forage Lucie and managed to get at least half of them back in the original box. Lucie's mom said that she had had enough, so to avoid any further meltdowns, I emptied the Smarties into my coat pocket (in my new ivory trench coat, just to prove that I am a mommy first, a fashion victim second) and handed Lucie the box, with a single Smartie inside just so it would rattle when shaken. Crisis resolved. But by this time, I had exhausted all my mommy resources, as had my girlfriend, and we told the boys it was time to pack up their ping-pong paraphernalia and head home. Naptime had definitely arrived.

After a too short nap, Ella was up and we cuddled in front of a the TV, watching back to back to back episodes of Seinfeld. I was shocked to find enough food in the fridge for a balanced meal for Ella- B and I on the other hand, emptied out the rest and the best that can be said is that we are no longer hungry. B and Ella took a bath, I did the story books, and she was in bed. After a bit of fighting over the remote, I have retired to the office with the remains of a bottle of Lambruso. I am looking for some ideas for a dress of mine that I dug out of the summer clothes' box. Its a pale aqua silk dress that is empire waisted and falls just below my knee. I think that I am going to have it hemmed to about 2 inches above the knee, add a ribbon around the empire seam, and embroider/applique the top to turn it from a simple slip dress to a a fancy babydoll. I have some really fantastic Jimmy Choo sandals that match the color but I know that I will never wear this dress the way it is (sale purchase when Ella was a baby and I had no time to try on clothes in the shops). Wish I had enough time to do the embroidery before our holiday because it would be nice to take with, but I am going to be busy making up Mommy and Daddy dolls for Ella to take with her to the grandparents. They are turning out great and I will post a photo when I am done but they are based on this.

The big conundrum that we are dealing with tonight is the result of a phone call from B's stepmom. She asked us when we would drop off Ella. We thought we would have to bring her to the country house the night before we left and drive home early early in the morning before our flight but the Stepmom has suggested we bring her on Sunday. For those of you a little slow on the uptake, that would mean having 3 DAYS EXTRA without a baby in the house. I think that our brains were crushed under the incredible mountain of possibilities that this presented and that is why we told her that we would talk about it and give them a call back. That would give us 16 whole days without a baby. We would be like, like... good god, like people without children who just leave the house on a whim with no advance planning or anything.

I mean, obviously we are loving parents who would be secretly spending all our time wondering if Ella was missing us, and if she was having fun, and if she was OK. Obviously. Except for the time would be hysterically enjoying our freedom.