Big day

So today the girls and I went to visit a friend of mine from grad school, Erica. She's got a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old, and we haven't seen each other now in four years. This morning while I'm working on getting the girls and I all dressed, groomed, fed, and ready to leave the house, Rowan is playing with my makeup. She does this every morning while I put my makeup on, for months now. But today, when we actually have somewhere to be, she decides to first pull the cap off a tube of lipstick, stick her finger down the tube, and use it to smear lipstick all over herself. I look over her shoulder (because of course she turns her back to me to do it) and see what she's doing, and I have to take a break to clean her off with wipes, take the lipstick away from her, and commiserate with her that yes, it is frustrating when mommy won't let you put on lipstick (as she lies on the floor screaming). Then I start putting my makeup on again. A minute later I look at her and realize that she has learned how to unscrew the lids off little pots of things. Like, for instance, the long-wearing gel eyeliner that she now has smeared over her arms, legs, belly, face, mouth, and hands. Honestly, I only looked away long enough to powder my face. I carried her to the tile floor, and have to scrub her from head to toe to get that stuff off. It's long-wearing. Once it dries on your skin, it's designed NOT to come off. I scrubbed under her fingernails with a toothbrush, and she still looks like she's been spending a lot of time lately working on cars.

So we were late getting to Erica's house. And still, Rowan was not done with her big day. She decided, apparently, that today was the day to WALK. Yep, that's right. She took a few steps. Several times, while we were there. She was very sturdy, too. No falling. She walked in between things, where there were only a few steps to go. Just inched her way along. I imagine that when Saoirse decides to do it, it's going to be a lot more exuberant, just flinging herself into space and hoping for dear life that momentum carries her. But not Rowan. She was careful and calm, scoping out the situation and deciding that she could do, and then trying it out carefully, one foot out, then pulling the other even...then another foot out. Almost sliding the feet along the floor. Testing. I didn't even want to cheer, for fear that if I called attention to her doing it, she'd stop. Like in the old Road Runner cartoons, where the characters can just walk out into the air, as long as they don't look down and realize they're doing it. So far, 4 steps is her record. I'll try to catch it on video over the next couple of days, so I can post it.

Saoirse, meanwhile, continued her theme of sweetness by hugging and kissing Erica, her daughter Maya, and their cat, Karma, while we were visiting. And she's never met any of them before today.