Plays Not-to-Bad With Others

A delightful new development: Nutmeg has recently started playing nicely one-on-one with other little girls. For months this year, she had a really hard time doing something like sharing a toy or even playing too close to other toddlers. But in the past week she played with three different 3-year-olds from our babysitting co-op, and they got along like a house on fire. They didn't really need me, which was quite liberating. It also makes me realize that by the time she starts preschool in the fall -- if I am able to get it together enough to get her into one while nursing a newborn and shopping for a new home -- she'll do fine socially.

It is also starting to sink in for her that life will change a lot when the new baby gets here. One day I was telling her about how there are now three people in our family -- Daddy, Mommy and Nutmeg -- but after Filbertine arrives there will be four of us. She said, "But, I like three." And then she insisted that it would be a long time before the baby was born, despite my assurances to the contrary.

So it was no surprise when the nurse at the midwife's asked her if she was ready to be a big sister, and Nutmeg answered, "Not yet."

Well, she better get ready. Baby's due a week from tomorrow. No sign of impending labor so far, though. I just got back from swimming a few pathetic laps at the local park pool, while a friend from the co-op sat here with the napping Nutmeg. We were supposed to go to a Jolie Holland concert tonight, but I just canceled with the sitter because Nutmeg has the cold that Epu had and I don't want to have to go to sleep at the sitter's only to be dragged home again in the middle of the night.

One more tidbit: My husband is officially the world's worst child manipulator. Or perhaps the best child manipulatee. Last night he asked Nutmeg, "Do you have a sore throat?" She said no. He said, "If you get a sore throat, make sure and tell Mommy, because she will give you a popsicle."

Guess who reported a suddenly developed sore throat, not five minutes later? It's like a frickin' miracle of medical science.