Sorry about the lack of updates. Two mornings' worth of doctor appointments really played havoc with my schedule.

So I took Penny in on Tuesday for the pre-op visit and to do bloodwork, since she's going to have full anaesthesia this time. She was so amazing. The damned nurse couldn't find her vein, but Penny just sat there in my lap and watched. (I couldn't watch; I snuck a peek every so often to see if there was progress being made, but I couldn't stand actually watching.) Penny whimpered a few times, but that was it. They finally found the vein, and it wasn't until they were on to their third vial of blood and took the tourniquet off that she finally started crying.

We had to wrestle with her to get her to unbend her arm again for the bandaid, but then the helper nurse promised her some stickers, and I promised her some M&Ms, and she cheered right up! By the time we walked out the door, she was laughing and pointing at things and telling me about her sticker.

And she was not remotely reluctant about the second pre-op visit yesterday, either, even though it's in the same building. She held my hand and pushed the button for the elevator and named the numbers on the panel as we went up.

Needless to say, I am immensely proud of her.

There was a special lunch at daycare on Tuesday, to which parents were invited. So I found myself among a half-dozen or so other parents attempting to sit on toddler-sized chairs next to our offspring, eating fried chicken and green beans.

And even though Matt is stuck in New York, he remembered to send me flowers for Valentine's Day. And chocolate. Which did not survive the day.

Yesterday evening, as I was strapping Penny into her carseat to go home, I noticed that my car was a horrendous mess. The weather was really quite nice -- in the 60s and sunny -- so I decided that I would let Penny run around the yard for a bit while I at least cleaned out some of the trash.

This was actually working out pretty well, and I had the back seat almost done, when our next door neighbors came home -- Melissa, and her son Ray. (I'm not certain what happened to Melissa's husband. I don't know if they're separated, or divorced, or if he's just out of town on business, like Matt. But I haven't seen him for a while, so I'm beginning to suspect one of the first two options.)

Penny's memory is quite good, when she wants it to be. "See cat?" she demanded. Melissa and Ray have a pet cat. A few weeks ago, she climbed up onto their porch to look at the cat through their screen door.

"Well, yes, I suppose you can go see if the cat wants to visit you."

Toddlers have no fear, and no sense of shame. Penny wandered into their yard. "See cat!" she told Melissa peremtorily.

Ray is nine months younger than Penny, so Melissa knows all about toddlers. "You want to see the cat, honey? Okay, hold on..." She opened their front door -- and Penny marched right up the stairs and into the house.

I hurried over -- bag of trash still in my hands. "Penny! We don't go into people's houses without asking!"

"No, it's okay," Melissa said. "Look, there's the kitty over there, Penny!" She looked back at me. "Come on in. Excuse the mess. Ray's toys are everywhere."

"Sounds like home," I said, and went in. Penny was in raptures over the cat, and I could not convince her to leave, even for her beloved Sesame Street. She did try to convince me that we should watch Sesame Street on Melissa's TV, but when I told her we had to go home to watch TV, she shrugged and went back to playing with Ray's toys and books and trying to entice the cat to lick a plastic bowl (she's not quite grasped that cats do not know how to play pretend).

So -- an impromptu play date. After fifteen minutes or so, I dashed out to close my car's doors and take all my crap inside. I brought my camera back with me, but of course as soon as I had it available, Penny and Ray refused to stay in the same space for more than two seconds. But Ray warmed up to us after just a little while, and the kids were obviously having a blast.

He and Penny said a cheerful "Hi!" to each other this morning, as we happened to be leaving at the same time. We'll have to have them over to our house next time; it'd be nice for Penny to have a friend who's actually close by.

--Liz