I woke up naturally today. Nothing feels quite as good as opening my eyes when I'm done sleeping, and not when Sara is saying "Mama, Papa, I'm awake, I'm ready!" or when Julia is saying "aaaaahhh wahhhh!" The first thing I did was lay there wondering if they were both okay. Then I heard Sara move (she is in a single bed in the same room), and two minutes later Julia said, "maaaaaaa" so the day began within minutes of my eyes first opening. Who needs to linger in bed anyway? I'm trying to convince myself that is an overrated luxury.
My feet lead me to Julia's room. It was 7:12 AM. But hey, what is Sara doing? I saw her PJ'ed self right next to me. She had gotten out of bed, scooted down the hall with me, and was opening Julia's door moments before I had planned to! She walked in said, "good morning Julia!" and Julia said, "ah! bah!" Julia looked up at me - raised her arms up ("pick me up Mom! get me out of this crib!") and then after that I wasn't needed. Julia wiggled out of my arms, walked to Sara, they left the room together, and headed towards the kitchen.
Julia has called Sara "See-Ra" which is close to what Sara first called herself "See-Ba" (I still call her SeeBa sometimes, but more often I call her See-Bee or even Seeb.)
They wandered around the kitchen 'till Sara said, "I'm thinking about what I want for breakfast. Are you going to make breakfast now Mom?" so I gave her some cereal (dry, no milk, the way she likes it), gave Julia a banana, and made myself some strong coffee.
Two hours later Dan got up. By then we had eaten oatmeal, yogurt, and cantaloupe. He made himself a breakfast plate by simply moving around the room scooping up leftovers.
Dan telecommutes at 2:00 PM on weekdays, but not on weekends. So we don't have to rush out the door to begin our adventure - we have the whole day!
I've learned not to put Julia in a super cute outfit first thing in the morning. No matter how I put on her bib, she rips it off. No matter how neat an eater she is, she gets messy. Right before we leave for the day Julia gets a new outfit and the laundry pile gets a bit bigger. Sara wore a yellow sundress, turquoise tights, and a pink sweater.
Our goals for the day were modest. See a new nearby small town (Villedieu) and then find a restaurant nearby that is listed in our guide book that specializes in wood fired things (like pizza).
We walked over to the car. I remembered that our town was having an antique market, so we dropped off some stuff in the car (rain coats, sweaters, water) and headed over to check it out. Unlike the bric-r-brac "stuff" that was at the Sunday Uzes market, this market had exceptional "stuff." Things like:
- Wooden sewing boxes on short legs that Dan thought would be perfect for storing legos (he is right).
- Sturdy marble topped drawers.
- Micky mouse lamps.
- Old comic books.
- A kitchen set of gleaming copper utensils.
A few things caught our eye. But with no way to carry things back home we kept on walking. It was fun right up until we got our first, "I'm hungry" from Sara. So, we headed to the bakery.
I love the bakery lady. She is well-on in years, and has a kind heart. Each time I step in her tiny bakery (the customer area is probably 10 ft x 4 ft) I feel like I'm stepping into her living room. She is never behind the counter when I enter. She is always in the next room. She hops up from her chair once I make eye contact. "Bonjour Madam" she says, with a twinkle in her eye that suggests a happy heart.
I try to order in French. She fixes my words. I repeat them back. She smiles. I'm guessing my second attempt is not much better than my first, but she knows I'm trying. I picked out a lovely loaf at the top of the display case inside. There was only one of those loaves - I think she just makes whatever wants with no thought to inventory quantity. Then I asked for 2 chocolate croissants from the window display. They weren't really croissants, they had a harder consistency. They were just about the most perfect thing a bakery could possibly make. They were gone before we got back to the car.
The ride to Villedieu was quick. It was only 6 KM away. It was so cute we agreed that if it were a movie set everyone would think it was fake.
We didn't stop to look around. We set our sights on the restaurant we picked out based on the description in our guidebook. The directions in the guidebook were "off a short dirt road between Suzette and Beaumes de Venise is a lighthearted wood-fired-everything place with outdoor tables flanked by fun interior dining."
No problem. We can find that right? We did our best. Good thing getting lost is sort of fun. And, good thing we were not starving. It was a wild goose chase. We went down lane after lane, passing miles of vineyards, stone houses, and well, no restaurants. The GPS tried to help, but it often suggested we turn right into a vineyard, and we didn't think they would really like tire tracks in their neat rows of grape vines. Finally the GPS suggested we turn, and it was about the size of a bike path, leading right up the middle of a vineyard. We turned. Driving right up into the vineyard.
A short while later Sara said, "I don't think this is the right way" and we saw 3 guys with shot guns and one guy had a droopy bird in his hands. Hunters in a vineyard? We pointed to the name of the restaurant in our guide book and they laughed and just said "not here" in French. They laughed and laughed and laughed at the doofy tourists (us) driving in a vineyard for a restaurant. We laughted too, but not as much as they did.
Finally just when we thought the restaurant didn't really exist I saw a sign for it. Even that didn't lead us straight to it. It was kind of like finding a needle in a vineyard. Finally, down a dirt road just where it was supposed to be, we found it. It was a low, squat stony building surrounded by vineyards and looked upon by towering mountains. It blended right into the landscape, with greenery rising and falling on the restaurants sides, leading to some tables outside, more tables under and awning, and even more tables inside. We were the only ones there. The parking lot was empty. They opened at 12:15 (said the sign) and it was 12:10. We parked and relaxed. Then at 12:15 we got out and walked over. "Table for 4?" Dan asked, and she asked if we had a reservation. We didn't. I noticed how all the tables had stones with numbers painted on them. They were all reserved.
But, the kids are cute, and she offered us our choice of two tables. One in the sun and one in the shade. We took shade. No kidding, 10 minutes later there was a butt in every seat. They were even turning people away. The silence that we were greeted with was now replaced with the bubbling sound of conversation. Good thing we got there at opening, or our long search would have ended in hunger.
I got flambe (flaming cheese on fire) cheese, ham, and some vegetables. Dan and Sara had pizza. Julia ate some pizza, some ham, and some french bread. Perhaps the coolest part of the meal was the setting--- and watching all the French people dine--on a beautiful Sunday in an obviously popular restaurant. We just happen to be a part of it all, enjoying our perch in the middle of wine country in Provence.
Legos didn't work as well as at previous meals so I gave Julia some stickers to keep her busy. I tried to get her to put them in a sticker book. She preferred to put them on her belly. By the time we left she had 10 stickers surrounding her navel.
After the meal we let Sara and Julia explore the vineyard. They were drawn to it. I loved hearing their feet crunch on the stones in between the rows of grape vines. [It is all stones, this area used to be under the ocean, so it is stony/sandy, which is part of why the grapes grow so well, I guess the rocks trap and radiate heat or something like that.] Julia liked looking under leaves and finding grapes hanging down. Sara liked dancing. She makes up dances "this is the Sunday dance" or "this is my grape dance" [her dances all have names, then she dances how ever she feels suits the name]. We weren't in any rush, we let the kids enjoy the vineyard for probably 1/2 hour before we got into the car again.
We decided to stop at a wine cooperative, but Julia went bonkers so it was right back to the car. Thirty seconds later she was asleep. Really, the only time she goes bonkers is when she is overtired and needs to sleep. Sara said, "shhhhh, Julia is sleeping" in a whisper tone as soon as Julia was out like a light.
Our next stop was the playground here in our town. Sara practically rocketed out of her car seat to get to it. She raced around, climbing the slides, touring the ropes, digging some stones, and just being a kid. When Julia woke up I brought her in too. Then I napped on a bench while Dan watched them. When I woke up Sara and I collected leaves (we found many different sizes, shapes, and colors!) and then the focus was the slide.
The slide then occupied all four of us for at least 30 minutes, and at least 60 trips down the slide. It was about 4 feet tall, so Sara would climb up and then slide, and then race around to do it again.
Julia always joins in - she figures if Sara can do something she can do it too. So, wearing cute little jeans with embroidered flowers on them, Julia put one foot after the other and climbed up the slide. I stood behind her in case a catch was necessary, but she just trucked right up the slide. All by all herself. When Julia got to the top she paused. I bet the slide's four foot drop looked huge to her. [One of her favorite things to do is go to the bottom of the slide, climb up from the bottom, sit down, and then do the last 3 inches of a slide to get her feet on the ground. She'll do that over and over again. It is almost like she is practicing the slide dismount for when she really does a slide. But now she was at the top!]
I was right behind her as she stood at the top of the slide. She looked down; I looked down. She was probably thinking "do I want to do that?" I was thinking "oh my goodness, is my baby going to do that?" Julia paused; I paused. We both were thinking. Thankfully Dan and Sara watched, but were quiet. At about the same time Julia and I made the same decision: I'd hold her hand. I walked around the slide, held out my hand, she took it, and she went down the slide. From then on, that's how we did it - we held hands. She was comfortable, I was comfortable, and in the near future when she is ready to go it alone, we'll both be ready.
Julia and Sara took turns on the slide. After I while Julia stopped climbing up, and took all her turns at the base of the slide (just climbing up, turning around, and doing the last several inches by herself). Sara began doing the slide "superman style" on her belly - and Julia *laughed* *giggled* and *laughed* and smiled with her whole self. She thought seeing Sara go down that slide on her belly was so funny! Julia even squealed in delight! And naturally, Sara was on cloud 9. She *loves* making Julia laugh. Sara nearly flew up the slide's steps to go down again and keep making Julia laugh. It wasn't a few times - Sara/Julia did that at least 35 times I'd guess. I sat about 5 feet away enjoying the show. (Sara called it her "silly slide show" that she was putting on for julia.)
Back here we made dinner (grilled beef steak and broccoli) and I put Julia to bed at around 6:00. (Took 1 minute.) Then Sara and I played outside.
Not only does Sara make up dances, she makes up games. We played one tonight were I was "Mrs. Assistant" and she was "Miss Adventurer" (she came up with those!) and we looked for flowers. In our backyard we found lavender, a rose, a sunflower, and something she called "purple pretty purple fluffy" (if you don't know the name, why not make one up?). So I played the games that she thought up (I should really get a recorder and make a recording of her explaining the rules to me) and just had fun playing together outside. At one point I said something and she said, "good observation Mrs. Assistant!" -- so I guess I played well! I loved it.
Then I helped her rinse half of the playground off of her (shower) and then she said good night to Dan. At bedtime she wanted to hear what she was like as a toddler, so I asked her if she wanted Sara stories or book stories. She said "Sara stories" so I got my computer and pulled up a file from when she was Julia's age. I'm not super consistent, but I've written about Sara's life since the beginning. Tonight was the first night we sat down together to look at one. She liked it. I didn't really say that I wrote them, she didn't really inquire about the source. When I finished reading one, she wanted to hear it again. I think she got a kick out of seeing herself when she was Julia's age - and it was fun - so see Sara wearing the exact clothes that Julia is wearing!
Sara then took her lavender sachet from a market, her lego 'dot collection' that she made, and her "Peep" from "Peep and the big wide world" and went to sleep.
Dan went to take out the recycling (you have to walk to the bins in town) and I've been relaxing - though I'm going to get an early start on sleeping tonight. I don't think we had a boring moment today, so my eyes are starting to shut just liked they opened 14 hours ago.
Quote of the day:
Me: "Sara what was your favorite part of the day?"
Sara: "My favorite thing was going down the slide front-ways and l landed with a splat! Julia laughed!"
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