fun with rocks

Kate got a new toy over the weekend and loves it. She loves to play outside and stands at the door saying 'bye-bye' a good portion of her waking hours. Now that it's cool enough to spend some time outside we've been doing more of it, even though it means dirty Kate and bug bites. (insert cute photo here. =P)

Tim's on nights and he had her outside yesterday before lunch. She'd been a little whiny most of the morning, so when I heard wailing I didn't think much of it. Then in comes Tim, carrying Kate whose face is covered in dirt with little rocks stuck to her forehead. I guess she'd faceplanted in the dirt while trying to walk from the patio to the yard. Poor kid. Of course my thinking was, "Thank God it was on Tim's watch that Kate's first spill happened."

Then, after lunch, and just because I had been somewhat full of gratitude that I was not the bad parent for letting my child fall down on her face, Kate again took a tumble off the patio and onto - you guessed it - her head. Even better, this one drew blood. More screaming. More crying. And no Tim to hold her while I tried to clean her off.

I think she was having an 'off' day, because the rest of the afternoon she was pretty grumpy. Could be she was just mad that her face no longer looked like the autumn fairy princess face that is supposed to go with her Halloween costume. But she wasn't adjusting to a change of routine very well, and was not in the least bit happy when she got down from her highchair after dinner and wandered off in search of Daddy so she could have her bath. 'Bath' is one of the signs she actually knows and does, so she wandered up and down the hall saying 'Daddy' and rubbing her hands on her belly. It was so sad. And of course there was no Daddy to read her a bedtime story, or brush her teeth, or tuck her in. And since Tim didn't get home until 4:20am (after going in at noon...aren't nights supposed to be 'good' in that you work less?) there was no awake Daddy until just about lunchtime. We'll see how tonight goes. Hopefully trick-or-treating with me and Jessica will help get her mind off the fact that Daddy isn't home. What on earth am I going to do when he deploys?