Prelude to Mother's Day.

On Monday, we were driving home from test driving a car when Caleb--no doubt spurred on by the recent preoccupation with the excessive amounts of snow pack--started asking questions about how the snow in the mountains turns into water for our use. You can imagine the gripping conversation that followed: talk of snow melt, the water table, and that magical process, evaporation.

Caleb, as he usually does, disappeared when we got home and I started making dinner. He emerged only when the breakfast burritos were on the table--emerged, that is, from the bathroom, one pant leg visibly soaked (though not dripping).

"What's going on here?" I asked in surprise, and probably a little sternly (since these kinds of surprises are especially unwelcome as the day--along with my patience--winds down).

"I'm doing an experiment!" he announced. "I got lots of water on my pants so I can watch it evaporate!" Then he pointed to a spot on the pant leg previously supposed to be dry. "I spit on 'em right here," he mused, "and that spot's already almost dry."

Spit, though not really sanitary, is at least not urine, so I was relieved. We discussed not soaking down our pants as a prelude to dinner and promised some outdoor evaporation experiments later on.

Unsurprisingly, this bright (!), sunny (!), warm (!) week has been marked by nightly baths, puddles of mud all over the yard (and several in the house), and the constant, weary surprise of muddy fingerprints in new locations. I keep reminding myself I'll long for these days, and a hygienic household will one day be a lonely trade-off--a good and natural trade-off, but a lonely one nonetheless.

Cecily's gift is easier to appreciate. I went to bed at 11:25 last night (she goes to bed at 7:30), and I didn't move a muscle until 6:07 a.m. Just consider the beauty of that for a second. Nearly seven hour of uninterrupted sleep! And if I had gone to bed when she did--! When I saw that she'd slept through the night, I honestly got a little misty eyed. Are we turning a corner? Is this just a day-before-Mother's-Day one-off? I'll take what I can get.

They're worth it.