6:40 Rose woke us up and asked if she should go take a shower. Not a normal occurrence on either account, but we were off to the Breakfast of Champions. For once we did not have to tell her to put down her book and go brush her hair.

7:25 We left David with Julia, wearing his fancy shoes because Rose was all dressed up; picked up Miriam; and went downtown to our celebration of reading. A friend asked me if Rose is extrinsically rewarded. No and yes. Rose loves to read and certainly does not need a sticker chart or party to convince her to pick up a book. But she also loves presents and accolades. I'm hoping than unlike the research Alfie Kohn cites, the latter does not start to out way the former.

8:00 We ended up sharing a table with another family from Rose's elementary school who had won from a different library branch (Ruth B. for those who know her), so that was delightful.

10:00 We got home, changed, picked up the swim gear and headed over to Julia's.

10:45 We finished planning the Rainer trip even as David kept demanding I read a book to him.

10:25 We arrived at Mom's house and hustled the kids down to the beach club for their last swim lesson of the summer. David actually put his face in the water and swam a few strokes. His progress has been amazing.

12:00 Mom and I were taking care of Ariana and Miriam while Julia was at a meeting, so I got five lunches made—cheesy bread with honey, caper cheese sandwich, peanut butter and jelly, tofu spread with pickles, and tofu spread with capers. I'll leave it up to the gentle reader to figure who ate what.

12:15 Rose started falling apart. I'm assuming it was the overexcitement from the breakfast and her birthday, but when she complained in a tiny little angry baby voice that it shouldn't be cloudy on her birthday, I knew we were over the top.

1:00 Mom was an appreciative audience for the kids as they put on puppet shows while I had a nap.

1:30 I packed everyone up and was not moved by Rose's tears, pleading, or pouting. The kids were all going to a playdate; she was going to a rest time.

2:00 I delivered the kids to Nolan and Addie's house, drove Rose home where John had finished making a chocolate cake and was about to take a nap, and drove back to the play date because David has asked me to stick around. It turned out to be completely unnecessary. David et. al. built a fort downstairs, and Julia, Becca, and I chatted upstairs while Becca sewed Rose a birthday banner. Childcare has gotten way easier. I mean it's hard to complain about hanging out with friends and talking except that's not what I wanted or needed to do right them. So, it was an easy gig, but it was still a gig.

3:30 I drove home and got the semi-recovered Rose and brought her back for some more playtime.

4:30 With some clean-up and a minimum of fuss, I brought my two home and slowly started tidying the house, clearing the table, and ordering pizza.

5:30 Mom and Julia et. al. came over (because it had been so long since we'd seen the cousins). Rose opened presents. David got a way cool lego headlamp from Aunt Julia, so he handled the presents ok, and everyone got to bed on time.

9:10 Rose has recently started this annoying pattern of reemerging post bedtime. Tonight she wandered downstairs for a band-aid, so she wouldn't scratch a bug bite. We may have to ban the downstairs. John and I were in the middle of watching Tinker Tailor and did not want to be interrupted.

10:00 Tinker Tailor was great. Our incredibly busy day tomorrow is mostly planned. We have the supplies for camping piling up in John's office. As Dan so helpfully announced over dinner, she's half-way to driving!