Busy morning

This morning I cleared out our linen closet and Ellie’s toys. We have a tiny apartment, so we really have to live in a “one in/one out” principle.

My husband loves flannel sheets, and our single set of flannel sheets developed a tear last week. Yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought three new sets of flannel sheets, even though we really couldn’t afford them. We have five or six sets of cotton sheets, some of them very nice (400 thread-count percale), but we never use them. So I spent money we didn't have and bought the sheets I knew we would use, in sufficient quantity so that they wouldn’t prematurely wear out.

The cotton sheets I have triple-bagged and put in the garage. In clearing out the closet I discovered I now have one whole free shelf. Heaven!

I also bagged up Ellie’s newborn toys. Her toy box was full to burstin’, and she wasn’t really able to get to her things because everything was so tightly packed. So I have bagged up the toys she has had since infancy, and they have joined the sheets. Sure enough, she is thrilled. She has a lot more room, and fewer choices to make. As I am tying this, she has pulled all of her toys out of the (freshly) repacked toy box and is joyfully playing with toys I haven’t seen her touch in weeks. It is as if she has rediscovered her toy box.

Midmorning we went outside to play. It is certainly fall up here, so I needed to make sure she was dressed appropriately. She keeps her clothes pulled out of her drawers (her favorite game), so I was digging all over the place to make a warm outfit. I found a long-sleeved pull-over sweater that her Grandmother had embroidered on, one that was entirely too large. I remember when she gave it to us. I thanked her but inwardly knew that I was going to have to find a stuffed animal of some kind to wear the shirt, because it would be years before Ellie would fit it.

It fit perfectly.

We spent the morning running (OK, she spent it running; I kind of waddled and squatted) all around the backyard. Our yard isn’t fenced, so most of the time was spent trying to keep Ellie from terrorizing the neighbor's tomato plants. And what beautiful plants they are! She has multiple varieties—some cherry, some large beefsteak, all of them smelling divine.

We came back in and had a bath and a bottle. Her socks were filthy. I am waiting on her new order of shoes to come in, as she has outgrown her last pair.

What a little weed! She is also weaning herself, sadly. I don’t have a baby anymore.