Penny woke up this morning at 5:30. I didn't even get out of bed -- At 5:30, it's light enough (especially in Penny's room, with its east-facing window) that I was not going to convince her to go back to sleep.

Luckily for me, she didn't get upset. She called for me a couple of times, but didn't seem to mind when I didn't appear. Of course, I couldn't go back to sleep with her talking to her toys, but I laid in bed for half an hour listening to her until my alarm went off.

I went in to get her and she was chirpy and cheerful and cute. We talked while I put the last of her laundry away, and by then she was ready to get out of her crib, so I picked her up and got her dressed. She told me what she wanted to wear, and was all excited that I'd changed the cover on the changing-table pad so it was a different color now.

It was only 6:10, so I agreed to let her watch an Elmo DVD while I got dressed. After I got dressed, I remembered that there was a charity pickup today, so I went downstairs and got the bag for it. I threw in a bunch of clothes that I'd been setting aside for the next charity pickup, and then went to get the box of toys.

I've had two empty boxes sitting in the hallway for a while that I've just been too lazy/forgetful to break down and put into the recycling bin, so instead I filled them with toys that Penny never really liked and that I don't think she's likely to suddenly adore. The second box was only half-full when I finished, so I went downstairs and went through her two shelves of books, and dumped in a couple of books that were duplicates, and some that Matt and I really dislike (and that Penny is neutral on -- I kept the books I know she loves, even though I don't care for some of them).

So my house is two boxes and a bag less cluttered today. Whee!

While I was going through the toys, I found a princess tiara and a fairy wand, and I thought Penny might have reached a point where she was ready to appreciate those toys, so I brought them down for her. Sure enough, she was happy to wear the "crown" and wave the wand around.

Naturally, they came with us in the car on the way to school. (Have I mentioned that she gets into the carseat by herself, these days? I still have to come and do up all the buckles, of course, but some days she even wants to do the chest buckle by herself. My little girl is growing up!)

She was happy and chatty in the car on the way to school. We got there, and she kissed her toys goodbye and flung them aside and held my hand as we crossed the parking lot and talked to the decorative Easter Bunny out front...

And then we went inside. She didn't want to go into her room. She wedged herself into the corner by the front door. She wanted me to pick her up, so I did -- and took her into the room, which wasn't what she wanted. There was no TJ there to distract her, alas. She wanted me to pick her up, and when I wouldn't pick her up, she turned around and backed up against me like she was trying to sit on my lap. "No school!" she begged. "Penny stay home!" I finally had to get a teacher to take her and pick her up so I could walk away, and when I got outside and turned to wave, she was sobbing and reaching for me.

Sigh. Mommy guilt.

And I fretted all the way to work... She's been leaking some gunk out of the corner of one eye for the last day or so, which makes me worried that she's got another damned ear infection. If it's not cleared up by tonight, I expect I'll have to take her to the doctor tomorrow.

(Was she feeling a little on the warm side, before I left? Was that just that she refused to take off her coat, or something more telling? Stupid mutant worrybrain.)

Sigh.

--Liz