catchup from the weekend

..can't believe I haven't written on the blog this long. A few highlights:

--Friday night I went to an Indigo Girls concert at the Oregon Zoo with two friends of mine. It was fun, but I found myself missing Rachel terribly. She was at an outdoor Shabbat service with Drew, who reported that she said, "hi, Rabbi!" in a big, cheerful voice when she saw Rabbi Cahana. He was quite charmed and got her to clink her water bottle with his and repeat "L'chayim!" after him. Drew also noted one slightly disturbing incident: A little girl came up to him and Rachel and started talking. "Can I tell you something about my family?" she asked. "Um, sure!" Drew answered. "We're divorced," she said matter-of-factly, but still smiling." "Do you live with your mommy or your daddy?" Drew asked, startled. "Sometimes I live with my mommy and sometimes I live with my daddy," she answered.

--On Saturday I had to work on the law magazine, so Drew took Rachel to her swim lesson and the farmer's market. Then she had a quick nap before we all went to a picnic with our Chavurah at the Lake Oswego swim park. It was a really lovely outing; Rachel charmed everyone when she wasn't in the toddler pool, which she LOVED. While she splashed in the water with styrofoam noodles and a little ball, I got into a nice conversation with a guy next to me who was watching his daughter and twin sons in the pool. He observed Rachel for a little while and then turned to me and said, "she's ADORABLE. That's my favorite age -- between 2 1/2 and 4." His 6-year-old, Sophie, generously shared her ball with Rachel and I made Rachel say, "thank you, Sophie!" when she got out. Rachel stayed in so long that she started shivering! I can see many summer swim days ahead when I'll have to drag her out of the water....

--On Sunday Drew took care of Rachel again while I worked. I also gardened for about two hours because I'll be away at a conference next week and wanted to leave the house shipshape so Drew doesn't have to bother with it while I'm gone. We all had grilled mustard chicken, corn on the cob and salad for dinner. Rachel loved the chicken but wouldn't touch the corn, which meant that she didn't get dessert (I was dying to go for an ice cream run because it was 85 degrees). So, Drew did the run after he put her to sleep and I got my ice cream. But it wasn't as fun as it would have been with Rachel. Sigh.

This morning as I was leaving, Rachel tipped her face up to me for a kiss. "Oatmeal kiss!!" she yelled, and I started laughing. Tonight I got home late but we all got to have dinner together. ("Hey, we're all wearing T-shirts!" Rachel exclaimed at one point). Shel made an "L" with two strands of spaghetti and correctly identified it, but then pretty much lost interest in dinner. As Drew was carrying her in to bed, she demanded a "Family hug!" and then touched Drew's face. "Beard!" she said (he was scruffy from not shaving). Then she touched my face and said, "No beard!" and we laughed so hard that it was really time for her to go to sleep.