Never a dull day

I couldn’t wait to take Ladybug to the Mardi Gras parade Saturday. I had been looking forward to it all week. The floats, the noise, the crowds of everyday people doing stupid things for plastic beads. What’s more amusing than watching a weekday stuffed suit letting loose for throws?

But I was also a little nervous. It was just going to be Ladybug and me, and with her fickle temperament recently and no nap that day, I wasn’t sure how she would behave. So I timed our departure to give us just enough time to find a parking spot and barely get settled in before the parade’s start. These days I’m all about convenience – get me in and out as quick as possible.

I loaded up the car and we were on track to leave when Ladybug, excited at the prospect of an outing, dashed past me and wiped out, face first in a mud puddle. She didn’t just fall; she slid like a baseball player diving for home plate. When she stood up she looked like she had just wrestled with a tub of brownie batter.

Back inside we went to change clothes, all the while the clock ticking. That was probably the quickest I’ve ever whipped off shoes, socks, pants and shirt. We were out the door within five minutes.

We parked in one of the garages downtown and speedwalked to the science center, getting there just as the parade was starting. Ladybug picked up on the spirit, clapping, waving and yelling “beep-beep” at the trucks pulling the floats. The crowd around us thought she was calling for beads, which they were only too willing to heap on her.

When the last float passed by, it was another speedwalk back to the garage before it got dark and a return home to pick up my husband for an uneventful dinner at a favorite restaurant. That is, until Ladybug gagged on a piece of chicken and got sick all over the table, booth and – of course – her and me.

And of course I didn’t have a spare change of clothes because I usually keep them in the diaper bag and I don’t take the diaper bag with me anymore. I just stuff spare diapers, wipes and changing pads in my pocketbook. It’s that convenience thing again.

We went home, and Ladybug went straight into the tub. I peeled off my clothes and rubbed Ladybug’s bath water over my arms to clean off the vomit smell, too exhausted at that point to bother with a full shower.

First thing I did this morning, though, was to take that much-needed shower.

Then I put a change of clothes in the trunk.