Turning the Page

As noted in my post from last night, I need to let go of some of this.  When a family member has been seriously injured and you have few details about what happened or why, it can literally drive you mad.  I want answers.  I want clarity.  I want closure.  And yet, there is nothing I can do that is going to make any of that happen.  I want to know why this happened.  I want someone held accountable, if appropriate.  But it's all just a big question mark.  So today I worked on just trying to give my myself a break from driving myself mad.

As expected, the girls were up at the crack of dawn this morning.  I heard SB start whining "binkeeeeeee" at about 5:30, but T was kind enough to get up with her.  Still, Miss M crawled into bed with me a short time later and snuggled in next to me.  "Mommy," she whispered, "it's morning time.  See how it's light out?  Do you want to get up with me?  C'mon."  And of course I did, even though it was at least 3am before I fell asleep.

And we had a great day.  We found tons of art supplies while unpacking, including an unused canvas.  During SB's morning nap, I covered the kitchen floor with a clean drop cloth (we have, oh, half a dozen brand new ones--don't ask me why), and Miss M and I opened up a brand new set of acrylics and brushes.  We painted forever.  I love what she came up with.  It's so much better than anything I did.  There's something about how children paint, fearlessly, with abandon,  that creates the most beautiful end product.  The canvas is mostly in shades of pink and red, with a few splashes of green.  It started out being a variety of other colors, but as she mixed, painted and repainted, the entire canvas took on a rosy hue.  I truly love it.  Once I'm sure it's dry, we're going to hang it in her room.

I made the best guacamole of my life just before lunch, and ate it with tortilla chips while the girls had grilled cheese and fruit.  It was AMAZING.  Avocados are cheap here, and there are a million varieties.  Some are almost as big as my head.  When you buy avocados, you typically buy them from an avocado vendor, and they don't sell anything but avocados.  When you buy them, you tell the vendor when you want to eat them, and they select them for you based on ripeness.  It's all so. . .specific.  So, when I bought these avocados, I told him I wanted them for today.  The variety I chose was small with thick, very lumpy, almost black skin.  I bought about a dozen of them yesterday for about $2.50.  

Post-guacamole, it was naptime for all of us, and we all slept for two hours.  It was much-needed after last night.  After we woke up, we headed to the park for a while, where we kicked a soccer ball around.  SB is particularly good at it, given that she's only 18 months.  I think she's going to have a gift for sports, because she has tremendous balance (she was standing on top of her zebra ride-on bouncy toy today.  Sigh), as well as great hand-eye coordination.

I found some decent fish at a market yesterday, too, so after the park, we Skyped with grandma, then I cooked a really good dinner, if I do say so myself:  salmon, really good mashed potatoes (the varieties here are all different, and the one I picked up yesterday was phenomenal--some of my best mashed potatoes ever), and a weird variety of squash (it's about the size of a throw pillow) that baked to perfection with nutmeg, butter and brown sugar.  The girls both ate all of their dinners (rare, in this house), which was especially notable because neither has ever willingly eaten fish before.

And then, they both went to bed without a fuss.  It's been a pretty great day.  Now to put another one together tomorrow.