Surviving the Shots

Last week, Daphne went to her 4-year-old check-up and had to get four shots. It could have been really really bad, and I anticipated lots of screaming and running away and hiding under whatever furniture was available. This is a kid who used to scream on the scale and scream at the sight of a stethoscope and forget about even trying to look in her ears. But it ended up going pretty well. There were some tears, but nothing over-the-top or embarrassing. In fact, she was worse about taking off the band-aids than about the actual shots. So, a happy ending to that whole ordeal, and no shots at the five-year, so it's all good.

As a post-shot treat, I took Daphne to Target with a gift card she got for Easter that I've been saving for this occasion, and let her spend it however she wanted. And she is a girl who knows what she wants. She took all of five minutes to decide. She is now the VERY proud owner of a kid-sized suitcase with a New York City-themed design on the front, wheels, and a pull-up handle. She wheeled it all around the store, showing it off to anyone who would pay attention. "Hi! Look at my cool new suitcase!" she would say. I let her pay for it by herself. By the time we left, she was such a big-shot that she had totally forgetten about the shots.

This morning, she got to pack it for the first time because she is spending the night with G-Ma, G-Pa, and Uncle Jeff (I have an all day conference tomorrow). I was surprised and pleased at how neatly she arranged everything in her suitcase. You can't really tell, because on top she put all the most important stuff:

Here she is, packed and ready to go:

I took her to Manassas, had lunch with my mom and dad, and then went to the bookstore. By myself. For two hours. It was WONDERFUL.

I have decided I should read more. I love to read, but I don't make time for it. The biggest problem, really, is finding good stuff to read. Today I chose a book called "Time of My Life," which I remember thinking looked pretty good in a magazine review that I read a while back. Easy summer reading, I think. Not too heavy or depressing. Just what I need. I am also still reading David Byrne's "Bicycle Diaries," which is really good, but I can only read a little at a time. I'll admit he uses a lot of vocabulary words that are over my head, so I get a kinda tired while reading it.

Tonight, Kev and I are going on one of my Mother's Day dates and I am really looking forward to that. For now, I'm off to enjoy being in the house by myself. I think I'll read my book!