Good things

1) HA! I'm going to live forever.

2) I have instituted Quiet Time, and it is going to save my sanity. On afternoons when we're home, Dutch must spend 45 minutes in her room playing quietly (she likes to do this anyway, and the new arrangement just formalizes it).

3) We have arranged a standing babysitting/playdate exchange with Alpha Girl for the summer, which will also help preserve my sanity.

4) Skipper is freaking adorable. She seems to hate sleeping, but otherwise we think she's the best baby ever.

5) Swim lessons, at a quiet pool on a cool, sunny morning, are awesome. (Except that Dutch, who thinks her swimsuit is SO PRETTY, refuses to wear the "warmbelly" neoprene suit that would actually keep her from finishing her lesson with goosebumps, shivers, and blue lips.) I sit across the pool, usually nursing Skipper and chatting with another mom,* and I can hear Dutch talking non-stop the whole time,** and I can see her beaming. She's scared to put her head in the water, but she seems to be having a pretty good time. Her teachers look kind of tired by the end of half an hour, though.

*A mom who lived through the Rwandan genocide. I learned this today, at the end of our fifth half-hour of meaningless mommy-chitchat - it made the idyllic morning seem kind of surreal.

** It's awe-inspiring. This is a not-exaggerated sample that I heard today: "I have to point my toes just like this in ballet. I take ballet! I was in a show. I was a Princess Frog! I can point my toes really well! I'm the bestest at pointing my toes! I can't wear pointe shoes yet, but I'm really good at walking on my toes! This is my favorite swimsuit! Last night I practiced holding my breath in the bathtub and my mom showed me how to blow bubbles out my nose! She put her head in the water and she blowed bubbles that were SO BIG! Look, this is how big they were!"