Gawd, We're Stupid

So, since Peeper's done well staying home alone with Shrike a few times, and since she did so well staying with Shrike's parents last weekend, and she she is now thirteen and a half and a bit months old, it seemed like it was time for Mama and Mommy to have a date night.

We didn't have anything big planned, just dinner at a restaurant that's a bit less child-friendly that we're really comfortable with for dining with the kid.

(We have taken her there a couple of times - Valentine's Day and our birthdays, I believe - but felt like we were getting looks when she made noise and such. Probably our imaginations.)

Nothing too fancy, but a nice meal and some time to ourselves. I was even contemplating having a few sips of wine.

So, the agenda for the day was hircuts in the afternoon, home for nap time, then drop Peeper at Eena and Papa's house for a couple of hours while we go to dinner. They were expecting us around 6:30.

The best laid plans of mice and moms. . . .

Yesterday, we got Peeper up earlier than she would have liked, so that she could nap early and be back up in time for our Christmas party. That was fine, but it meant that she was then exhausted by around 7 pm and napped again for an hour or so (she's generally down to one nap a day now), which meant she was up until around midnight.

So, this morning we all slept in til around eleven, and our haircuts were at 2:30. By the time our appointment rolled around, she was getting sleepy and I was surprised she was still awake when we got there (it's about a fifteen minute drive).

She did well during the appointment, was very good for her bangs-trimming and waited patiently for Mama and Mommy's haircuts, too.

Then she took a little catnap in the car on the way home. She couldn't have been out more than five or ten minutes, and I figured I'd just stick her in bed, maybe settle her with a little goody and we'd be set.

Not so.

In the car, Shrike and I started having a sort of serious conversation (Not bad-stuff-serious, just real-stuff-serious.) and wanted to continue it when we got home.

That might have been our first mistake.

I should've just taken Peeper in the bedroom alone and gotten her settled, but instead Shrike came with us and she and I talked while I tried to nurse her back down.

Nope, she was up and ready to play. It was probably about four o'clock by then.

So, we played for a while, and I tried again thirty minutes later. And an hour later. And an hour and a half later.

Around five, Shrike called her parents to give them a heads-up that Peeper hadn't napped yet, and we didn't know when she would. She tried to find out how late would be too late to take her over, but couldn't really get an answer from them.

She finally went to sleep around six.

While we waited out her nap, I caught up on email, Twitter and Facebook, and Shrike played her shoot-em-up video game.

For an hour and a half.

Did I mention that we were having a serious conversation a little while earlier?

That we wanted to finish over dinner?

When we'd have a chance to spend some time together, alone, without the kid?

Right, just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page there.

And what did we do while she slept for an hour and a half?

We sat in the same room, each on our own computer, doing stupid shit.

Around 7:30, Shrike called her parents to let them know that Peeper was still asleep. Just as she said that, we heard her crying, and I heard Shrike tell her dad, "No, she's up now!"

I thought that meant we were back on for dinner, but it turns out that it was too late for them - it would've been another thirty minutes to an hour before we got there, then a couple of hours for dinner, and they would've been up til eleven, and they don't do that on a school night.

So, yeah, we blew it.

Big time.

So we ordered a pizza instead, and played with the kid.

We will try again next week.