The Dinner Table

Thanks to the time change screwing up the baby's schedule, such as it is, we had one of those rare dinners where the baby was asleep. I was actually able to sit at the dinner table like a normal person without the baby attached.

Other than the fact that I was sitting in my chair without the baby in my arms, it was a fairly typical dinner. S. F. was sitting at the table dissecting a pea instead of eating it. S. D. was being a typical 4 year old, not eating the chicken-a-la-king that a couple of weeks ago she would have gobbled up in seconds. G. and I were trying to get S. D. to use her inside voice at the table. Little G. is an incredibly light sleeper, and G. and I were hoping for us to get through the meal without his waking up.

Of course S. D. was having none of the inside voice thing. She's a very joyous child, and for whatever reason, last night she was especially so. Perhaps she was picking up on our good mood because the Redskins barely eked out a win. Whatever it was, no matter how many times we asked her to turn down the volume, 10 seconds later she was back to using her loud, happy voice instead of the quiet one. Finally G. had had it, and he really scolded her. She immediately ducked down under the table. We decided to ignore her and went on with the rest of our dinner. After a minute or two she peeked out from the table, looked in her dad's direction, realized the coast was clear, smiled impishly and said, "Whew!" That did it. We all broke up, and of course she did several encores of her, "Whew!" which sent us all into peals of laughter. Amazingly the baby slept through it all for once.

Of course tonight when the baby was wide awake, she did a great job of using her inside voice. ;p

Luxury

As I was savoring a rare, uninterrupted, 15 minute shower this morning I began to think, "Isn't it amazing how once you have children, your definition of luxury changes?"

A luxurious bath experience once meant 30 - 45 minutes in a hot, bubble bath with a glass of wine or cup of hot tea/coffee, listening to relaxing music on the radio. Now a luxurious bath experience is a hot shower before noon that lasts longer than 10 minutes and doesn't include children banging on the door, passing notes under the door, or hearing the baby cry as soon as you get lathered up.

Having a luxurious dinner involved a nice restaurant, a glass or two of wine, an appetizer, a delicious entree, and lingering over coffee or dessert while having a stimulating conversation with my husband and/or friends. A luxurious dinner now means getting to sit down while the food is still somewhat warm, getting to eat without a baby in my lap, and not having to get up or cut anyone else's food during dinner.

A luxurious bedtime experience used to mean going to bed with my husband, you fill in the blanks, sleeping late into the morning, and eventually getting up once the morning drowsiness wore off and the need for caffeine kicked in. Now it means going to bed and getting 5 - 6 hours of sleep before the baby awakens.

The interesting thing is, I appreciate and enjoy the type of luxurious moments I have now, post children, much more than the type I used to have.