My husband will be home NEXT MONTH

I can finally say it: In less than two weeks I'll be in NYC for Passover, then five weekends to get through and then Drew will be back for good. An essay about how I made it through is definitely in order!

Highlights of this weekend so far:

--Rachel did pretty well in swim lessons today. By "pretty well," that means she didn't stand at the side of the pool shrieking and refuse to go in the water. On the other hand, she clutched onto me for dear life and wouldn't let me glide her along until the very end, when I did it against her protestations. Can't really blame her -- the pool was cooler than I would have liked (it's a lap pool, not the warm, Caribbean-style temperature I was expecting) and there were a lot of kids, and the noise level was pretty high. Our class was small -- three boys, two of whom appeared to be younger than Rachel, and Rachel. She said repeatedly today that she had had fun, so I'm hoping that holds until next Saturday. The classes run until June. She is at the "Starfish" level, and I hope this will lead her to becoming an expert swimmer someday!

One cute anecdote: She picked out a very cute pink bathing suits a few weeks ago at Target and when she tried it on today she looked so adorable (it has a stiff tutu and three Disney princesses on it) that it took my breath away. "OH, RACHEL!" I exclaimed. Minutes later she announced, "I look GORGEOUS!" which made a woman near us smile. "Yes, you do, Rachel!" I said. I'm so glad she's developing self-confidence.

--Here's a snippet from our conversation over a hurried pre-swim breakfast:
Rachel: I LIKE you, Mommy!
Me: I like you too!
Rachel: I like Daddy!
Me: I like Daddy, too!

--We had a more leisurely breakfast when we came back at 12:30 or so; I fried up bacon, warmed up half a scone and made myself some tea. Rachel had bacon and yogurt. As I was preparing to clean up, Rachel said this:

"Let's go in to the bedroom, sweetie. You need to go to sleep and be nice and cozy, and I'll go into the kitchen and clean up. I tell you what -- if you wake up, we can go grocery shopping."

Then we went into the bedroom and Rachel insisted that I lie down on the floor. Then she covered me with all her blankets, gave me one of her books and insisted I take a nap. I was just starting to get into the idea when she came back, announced, "My turn!" and wouldn't listen when I pleaded with her for more rest.:)

--After returning from grocery shopping, Rachel had a snack of cheddar bunnies, chocolate goldfish crackers and trail mix. Then she announced she needed to go to the airport, and went into her bedroom to get her Winnie-the-Pooh winter hat and pink gloves.
"I gotta go to the airport!" she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"'Cuz I gotta visit my people!" she answered.
"Who are your people?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said. "I don't know who my people are."

--Tonight I explained that I was baking chicken and pasta for the husband of a colleague of mine whose memorial I went to last weekend. I told this to Rachel about three times when she asked what I was doing. (A law school professor asked for food donations for Pat, the husband of Linda, my colleague who died. I promised to bring mine in on Monday. As soon as I finish this I'm going to bake a dessert, either tonight or early tomorrow morning).

As we were getting ready to go into Rachel's bedroom for Mommy books, she said: "After I go to bed, you can come into the kitchen and eat dinner with the person who died."

Um, I think she mixed things up a bit.