Showering alone, life's simplest pleasure.

Myles has the day off today, for which I am incredibly grateful.  The man works hard and pours himself into the various happenings of his life.  It’s one of his most attractive characteristics, but from an outside perspective, it’s also a quite time consuming way of life.  So to have him here today has been so refreshing. 

Having him here means that I can enjoy some of life’s simple pleasures again.  These pleasures, mind you, are not ones that I have always considered anything of significance.  It’s almost pathetic, but there is no shame. 

I had the pleasure of taking a shower, alone, with no audience.  It was glorious.  I’m not kidding, I even locked the door and steamed up the whole bathroom.  This is a very rare occurrence in my life.  Typically, Molli begs to join me and it’s a real treat for her when I oblige.  When she’s not IN the shower with me she sets up shop right outside the shower.  She gathers all her favorite toys and hauls them in. One by one, she brings the basket of guys and all their stuff, the dollhouse, the airplane, the fire truck and the bus. Once the bathroom is full and everything is in place, she promptly ignores everything she dragged in, sets her stool on the bathmat and sits, watching me. 

This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for my other offspring.  I strap him into a bouncy chair and place it right next to the mirrored closet doors.  He can entertain himself this way.  I’ve stopped cleaning the mirror because his spot is continually contaminated by splashes of flung slobber, well aimed raspberries and fingerprints.  He can pretty well mind his own business, and keep happy for the short time I spend in the shower.  However, Molli, the little darling, can’t seem to leave her brother alone.  She means well, offering him toys of cotton balls, q-tips and other bathroom paraphernalia she deems appropriate for a 6 month old. She has a definite tendency to be a little in his face. So much so, that she has been caught, on more than one occasion, trying to sit in the already straining bouncy seat with Gavin. 

Personal hygiene is important, but certainly made into a challenge with an audience that simultaneously needs entertained and protected. Add the basic complications of trying to maintain peace in this situation and add to it my nearsightedness.  My 20/400 something vision leaves substantial gaps for my imagination to fill when I’m squinting at the boy I have to protect and the girl from whom he needs protected.  Is she kissing his head, or licking his hair to see the fun pattern it makes? Is she laying on him, or looking for a toy that has fallen beside him? Is she checking out his new teeth, or trying to fish something out of his mouth that he wasn’t supposed to have?

A carefree shower is worth a celebration.  They are few and far between, but major thanks to my dear husband for allowing me this simple, much appreciated, pleasure this morning.