the flow

Some days things just flow, everything goes according to plan and the day feels somewhat effortless. I have learned to appreciate these days because they are so rare, happening maybe once every couple of weeks. Life with a toddler is constant adaptation, a lesson in patience, flexibility and moment to moment decisiveness. Not to mention life with a corky dog that gets what we call "gurgy guts" in the morning, sometimes won't eat her food and will only go to the bathroom if I accompany her in the yard. So when I found out I had a last minute meeting for a project I am working on at 9 a.m. this morning at my neighbor's house plus plans to do lunch with friends, I was a bit worried that scheduling two things in a matter of hours would backfire and I would have to cancel on at least one of them. But everything went according to plan. Eddie woke up around 7 a.m. and went back down for his morning nap at quarter to 9. Evie came over to babysit while I went to the meeting. I returned around 10:45 and Eddie woke up shortly thereafter. Then after changing his poop (right on schedule) and having a quick lunch, we went to pick up lunch for our friends Hilary and Lauren who both recently had babies. We visited with little Mack and Grace and their mommies and then returned home for our 2 p.m. nap. For the past several days Eddie hasn't been sleeping during his second nap, he just plays in his crib, but today he slept for 45 minutes, allowing me to rest too. And then the rest of the evening just fell into place too with a nice family walk, dinner and bath. Just put Eddie down for bed and hoping he sleeps as well as he did last night - finally, a break from his recent bad habit of waking up so much - last night he only woke up around 10 p.m. for a feeding and then slept through the night. We aren't sure whether it was the addition of his monkey Dangles in his crib, the lightweight tight fitting pjs or the sippy cup with water that aided in his sleep...probably none of the above, just a lucky timing thing. But we repeated these elements tonight and are hoping for the same results. What a difference good sleep makes. I know this and know that the flow of today was no coincidence.