I rode my bike to the Promenade and returned some things to Old Navy and REI. Then I met up with Stevel and Violet at a street fair/block party the co-op was hosting. If you can imagine a large-scale event that takes up the whole block, and that has been organized by hippies, you can understand why the crowd control and traffic flow were afterthoughts. Non-thoughts. There was a carnival-style popcorn machine IN THE DOORWAY. NARROWEST DOORWAY ON EARTH to begin with, people, and it is both in-door and exit. Not so fun, the co-op block party.

Back at No. 6, Vibble played in her pool. Here are two photos of that. Never mind the captions, unless you were on Noelle and Phil’s Christmas card mailing list, in which case, enjoy the sense of life coming full-circle.

I thought about drinking the tea the acupuncturist/Traditional Medicine doctor gave me yesterday … she said I should “drink it fast in small sips at first until the taste does not bother me.” It remains yet undranken.

Next, Vibble acted like she wanted a nap. But really she just wanted to to watch TV in our room. She did let me trim her fingernails while we watched Sponge Bob, though, and that manicure was three weeks overdue. Eventually she did nap, but it was a struggle to get there.

During the nap time, I took a hot bath, then went to Trader Joe’s and OSH. Yep, I ran errands without a toddler standing up in the shopping-cart seat to scream in my ear. LUXURIOUS. God, I love this kid, but GOD, is she screamy right now. And determined to make our public outings as complicated and potentially toddler-fatal as possible. It can be trying. We really have more fun together here at home.

After her nap, Vibble ate some of her favorite foods: yogurt-covered pretzels, avocado, hard-boiled egg, apple, and DESSERT.

After dinner, and I am not making this up, this happened:

Four people—two long-time friends, and two very new friends—showed up for a little casual hanging out. They had just come from Bed, Bath & Beyond, where they had all purchased toe separators. Three of the friends were raving about their new products. The fourth one did not de-shoe, as he claimed to have some webbed toes he didn’t want to show off, and so planned to try out his new As-Seen-On-TV luxury at a later time, alone.

After the friends left, Stevel spent two hours trying to get Vibble to sleep. We had this thing worked out, before that full moon. Now we have to get anal again about the evening schedule, I think. Food in belly at 7. Butt in bath at 8. Stories and songs at 9. Power down by 10. We get lax, and we miss the good drift-off window. Before the window, she is too awake to sleep. AFTER the window, she is overtired and can’t control herself.

Anyway, now she is asleep. Stevel is submitting iPhone app stuff. I’m thinking about a second round of dessert for myself. And that is the story here.