When I first got home yesterday, my plan was to wait until Penny'd gone to bed, and then watch the Netflix movie that I've had sitting around for the last week.

And then Penny went to bed and I was so bone-tired that I didn't want to stay up for another two whole hours, so I put the movie off.

Instead, I thought I'd just read through what I'd written on The Willow Bough so far, just to try to re-capture the main character's personality. I've been dragging my feet on the current chapter because the character doesn't want to talk to me. I hoped reading through the older stuff would bring him forward a little more.

I got sucked into the story. Which is a good thing, of course. It means that I like what I've written, which isn't as certain as you might think if you're not a writer.

But when I'd gotten to the end of what I'd written, I looked up and it was 10:00. A full hour later than I'd thought I might go to bed, given how tired I was.

And to make matters worse, I had indeed re-established my hold on the character's personality, and now I'm going to have to re-write significant portions of the chapter I'm working on. Because somewhere between the end of Chapter 7 and the beginning of Chapter 8, I let his fear of one particular person morph into a universally timid and cringing personality, which is altogether the opposite direction from where he was heading. And not very likeable, besides.

But at least I had an idea yesterday to get me over the bump I've been fighting, which was how to get from the current scene to the next. And given the unpleasant revelation I had about the character's personality development last night, my idea will give me a chance to push him a little harder in the correct direction.

So, overall, a plus, I guess.

Also, Penny slept through the night, with nary a whimper. So that was good.

Actually, Penny woke up this morning only a few minutes before six. So I got up to get her. She seemed happy enough as I changed her, and then as I carried her down the stairs, Matt's alarm went off.

When Penny heard the radio, she looked back up the stairs toward the sound. "Da-da! Da? Da-da-da?"

"Yes, Daddy's up there," I agreed.

"Da-da!" she chirped, pleased with herself, and looked back toward the bottom of the stairs.

I heard: thump. thump-thump-thump. thump! And then Matt was at the head of the stairs. "Penny! How's my littlest, cutest, sweetest pea?"

"Da!"

There's nothing like your baby calling your name, even if she's not in any distress, to get your attention.

We made it out of the house a good fifteen minutes earlier than usual today. No snooze for Matt!

Matt showered first, and then took Penny to get her dressed while I went to take my shower. As I headed into the bathroom, I heard this:

"First we take off your left sock! Zwoop!" (Because it's been so cold lately, and Penny almost always throws off her blankets, we've been having her sleep in socks lately.) "Then we take off your right sock! Zwoop!"

Penny, predictably, started fussing and whining. She doesn't mind going barefoot, sockfooted, or shoed, but she doesn't really like transitioning from one state to the other.

"What? Did you lose a toe? Well, let's count them. One.... two...." And Penny started giggling as Matt tickled her feet.

I like to start my day with a smile. Matt's such a great daddy.

--Liz