This morning I sat in the kitchen and ate my bowl of cereal. Jane’s baby monitor buzzed softly, birds chirped outside the window, and the neighborhood sprinklers made their “tick tick tick” sound up and down the street. Instead of sitting at the dining room table I sat in the rickety turquoise chair in our kitchen, the chair we keep around for standing on to reach light bulbs.

Mabel ate her food contentedly by my feet. She likes company at meal time. I finished my cereal (exactly 110 calories portioned out with a measuring cup) and decided I was going to eat a blueberry muffin too. A dog barked next door and Mabel paused mid chew, made a throaty “grrfff” sound and went back to eating.

 Just then the baby monitor lights flashed and I heard Jane say “hi” in her highest pitched girl voice. She’s starting to sound so much more like a tiny kid than a baby these days. I love that. I love that she wakes up and her first reaction is a cheerful “hi” rather than crying. If she cries it means something is really wrong. It looks like my girl might be a morning person too. That’s good. I need someone to share muffins with.