She get down on her knees and hug me, oh she loves me like a rock.

I know this is kind of personal and journaly, but I had a good morning and wanted to record it before I forgot.

My Fridays are kind of like Phoebe's Mondays. On Friday mornings I clean. Sometimes I enjoy it and sometimes I endure it. Depending on what time we get going, I get a good dose of news radio, either from Steve Inskeep (not Stevinsky) or from Diane Rehm's Friday News Roundup. Theo is generally an amiable companion during this time, following me around, flushing the toilet, wielding his little mini-broom, opening the kitchen cupboards and scattering the contents everywhere . . . okay, so not so much helpful, but at least it's not a lonely time. It takes at least twice as long to do it when he is awake but oh well.

Usually I take short breaks in between chores, reading to him or playing with him or chasing him around or whatever he feels like doing. He sits in his crib playing (sometimes yelling) while I do floors, then comes out for the grand finale: vacuuming. I don't think he has decided how he feels about this. Half the time he looks nervous and the other half he looks excited. At any rate we are both relieved and happy when the vacuum turns off for good and we are done cleaning!

Point of the story, I have felt so crummy the past 2 Fridays that I haven't cleaned until later that night after Theo goes to bed, when Matt can help me. Yes, even in the throes of insanity and sickness I must have a clean house because I feel like it's the only thing I have control over (even if Matt is doing it). So today, having had a decent week, I had some energy and was glad to get it out of the way.

After I switched off the vacuum and sat down to rest on the living room floor, Theo (who during the vacuuming had been clutching his blanket and looking a little troubled) came running over to me and sat in my lap for literally 20 minutes while I held him close and sang to him. He is actually a very cuddly toddler, which I am so happy about, since weaning him stressed me out so much, which is a topic for another post, or book. . . . But these kind of prolonged snuggles are few and far between, not surprisingly. Most of the time he is extremely busy.

I had been planning to go to Target this morning, so after about 5 minutes of this I was considering getting up and getting in the shower, but I decided just to stay, and I'm glad I did. There were some toys and books around, and he reached for them and stayed in my lap playing while I kept singing, until finally he got up and ran off.

Anyway, I was just really grateful for that "shining moment" today. It has been a hard couple of months, and some particularly hard moments the past two weeks, bla bla bla complain complain, but that 20 minutes made my entire year. I know I will never forget it.

Here are some of Theo's favorites.

Now Theo is asleep and I am sitting with every window open, enjoying the 73-degree air. I hope you are having a good Friday too!