52 Portraits, 13/52

My husband takes Zoe to Preschool each morning and I drop Lilly off at her daycare. Lilly and I leave the house around 15 minutes after Mike and Zoe (which isn’t necessarily how  the morning schedule in my head goes, but that’s just always how it works out.)  Honestly, at this point, it’s quite possible that I subconsciously take my time after it’s just Lilly and I because it’s one of the sweetest parts of my day. I scurry around and try to grab what I need for the day (which may or may not include milk for her school or diapers or a special stuffed animal that she’s been favoring for naptime) and she settles herself on the floor in the living room and plays, usually with whatever of Zoe’s toys she can get her hands on.

Often, she pulls me in and I find myself on the floor with her, just listening to her as all of a sudden, her words are becoming sentences and her thoughts are now these very important things that she just HAS to tell me.  No matter the game,  all of the characters or dolls or animals that she plays with are always either hugging or kissing, to which she adds authentic smooching sound effects. And then I’ll look at the clock and realize that we have to go, like 5 minutes ago and just like that, we snap back to reality and hurry out the door.  She never fails to say a heartfelt goodbye to our cat or remind me “Keys?” as we head down the stairs of our condo.

In the car, she requests specific music–This month, it’s been the Winnie the Pooh soundtrack–and like her big sister, always says, “Louder, please” as soon as I turn it on. She sings along, points out cars, buses or trucks along the way and comments on the weather. “Rainin’, mama.” “Cold out there.” “Sunny today.”  I just sit and drive and feel like for at least that half hour of  my day, everything is right with the world.

Even though any pediatrician will tell you that you most certainly don’t need to bathe babies or toddlers every single day,  Zoe would be nothing short of devastated if we started skipping tubs.  She’s the kind of girl who’s been known to request tubs in the middle of the day, just because. When she’s sick, she asks for morning tubs in addition to her nighttime tubby. The addition of a sister and thus, a tub-mate has just made tubs all the more appealing to her, which I didn’t even think was possible.  Lately, she’s experimented with a few big girl showers and has reported that she likes them but at the end of the day, she’s still the first one in the bathroom tearing her clothes off when I say, “Who’s ready for tubbies?”