I don’t go to the mall often. Don’t really like to do so. But it rained all morning and then the sun came out and it got hot and muggy. We needed an outing and the mall is close and we could visit the chapel and I could pick up a new holy water bottle.
We started off with a snack at the food court. I got a lemonade and a ham and cheese croissant for myself and a cup of fruit for Bella. Then we headed for the chapel. Bella screamed when the elevator doors shut. Fortunately, it’s a quick ride to the lower level.
We stopped by the gift store first so she could calm down. As i was browsing she spied a San Damiano crucifix just like the one over her bed, which I sometimes let her hold during diaper changes. She had to grab it and carry it around with her and for a while I was afraid I’d have to buy it. I did get her a nice Hail Mary board book, though.
After we’d made our purchases and the store lady had fawned over Bella, we went next door to the chapel where confession and Eucharistic adoration were going on. I’d have liked to go to confession, but after the elevator experience decided not to risk taking Bella into the confessional with me. instead I helped her make the sign of the cross and wave hi to Jesus on the altar. She was pretty good as I knelt to pray a while. She did bang her book on the pew a couple of times, causing a few people to turn around disapprovingly, so I pulled her on my lap and read her new book to her a few times in a hushed whisper. I figured no one could object to my whispering the Hail Mary to her.
Finally, I filled the holy water bottle. As I did so Bella stuck her fist into the small catch bowl underneath the spigot and then folded her hands as if in prayer. She stuck her fist in a second time and I helped her make the sign of the cross and whisper a prayer. Then she did it again and again, each time folding her hands together and whispering a little “prayer.” It was so cute.
As we were leaving the chapel I was hailed by a woman in the bookstore. She was a grandmother on an outing with her granddaughter and didn’t know how to sit the car seat on the stroller. It was a Graco stroller like mine so she figured I’d know what to do. Sure enough, the model was similar enough that it worked like mine. I helped her turn the car seat around and snap it in place without waking her sleeping granddaughter.
On the whole, not a bad way to while away a few hours on a muggy afternoon.
I sympathise! I have an early bird too, usually waking between 5 and 6am – fortunately she will usually go back to sleep, but only in our bed with a lot of nursing. In her case I think it is just the light, so I’m hoping that once the nights get longer she will sleep better.
Do you use a white noise machine? Would that help muffle out the noise? It might not make a difference. Our DD gets up between 6 and 6:30 like clockwork weekday or not and we use a white noise machine although I am convinced it would be worse as we can usually hear even people walking in the place above us.
Isabella used to nurse back to sleep in our bed and I could grab another hour or so. Not anymore. Now she absolutely hates being in bed with us. Though she still insists on nursing first thing in the morning, we do it in the recliner. Sometimes I’m able to nod off a bit there.
We used a white noise machine when she was younger and she still has a fan going in her room at night, which provides a sort of white noise too (and on hot nights we turn on the air conditioner in her window too). However, I figured if the fan and ac don’t block the noise, adding more white noise probably won’t help either.
I am hopeful that as the sun starts to rise later she might sleep in a little more.