It’s been a morning.

Annabelle was sad (more “Monday Blues,” she promised, than the stomachache she’s been complaining about the last few days) and Sophie was sassy (though it’s my fault, not hers, that she wound up going “commando” to school today — the shoes were already on, I made an executive decision).

I realized, as I chased several moms down to try to get information, that missing those Girl Scout cookie meetings last week was a really bone-headed move on my part. I’ll spend all week tracking down the right forms, since Annabelle insists she wants to sell them and I can’t let Sophie not. (Sophie has enough challenges; she can’t be the girl who didn’t sell cookies, on top of it.)

One little girl waved her half-filled sales sheet in my face, reminding me I better get the girls over to the office quickly or risk that everyone will have already bought from someone else.

Damn it.

I remembered to bring snacks for the kindergarteners, commiserated with the second graders on the whole Monday thing, and successfully avoided the mom who wants Annabelle to take a pottery class with her kid. (Great idea, but we’re clearly already overwhelmed. I just didn’t have the heart to tell her face to face. I’ll email her.)

And before any of that, this crazy morning, I gave both Sophie and Piglet baths.

Sophie drew all over her foot yesterday with marker. I’d blame Ray since it happened on his watch, but it’s happened to me just as often. So a rare morning bath happened, and when Sophie announced she wanted Piglet to have one, too, I decided thatwould happen, as well. Not quite how Sophie envisioned it; Piglet’s bath was in the sink, not the tub. And long overdue.

Sophie has three Piglets. They are musical (you may have already read about Piglet or seen pictures) and each time the music element broke, I bought another (hard to find, you have to go to eBay) until I realized she doesn’t care about the music.

Sophie’s in it for the ears.

When I was a kid, they just would have called Piglet a “cuddly” or a “lovie”. (Or “gross” — at least, that’s what they called my security blanket, Rosie, which for the record I still have.) Now Piglet is a sensory tool. Sophie rubs the ears (we call that “softing” in our house) between her fingers and also rubs an ear on her cheek, on occasion.

It’s a sensory thing. I know way too little about this stuff. I know the occupational therapist deals with both fine motor skills and sensory issues — that’s about it. I don’t know why Piglet’s ear soothes Sophie; just that it does. Ms. X appreciates it, and lets her have Piglet time during the day.

Lately, Piglet hasn’t been enough. For months, Sophie has also “softed” her bangs (easy access, why not?) and more recently, she’s been very into paint brushes — rubbing the bristles across her finger tips and lips.

I intend to get to the bottom of what this all means and what more I can do — really, I do, I was just discussing it yesterday with Ms. X — but for now, I’m all for it.

I just wish I had a brush of my own to soft. Maybe no one would notice if I brought Rosie to work.