knitting at the coffee shop

So, on Tuesdays Anika and I meet Mary and Ella at Northern Grounds for coffee and knitting.  Some days Anika wants to go and she is a complete angel and other days she would rather play with the cats at home.  Or rather, have the cats run and hide when she starts screaming - our version of hide and seek.  Today was one of those days when she wanted to get outside for a while.  Lucky me!  I need the adult time more than she does. 

She first had a successful nap in her crib while I read her the Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama then came the poopy diaper and outfit change while I multitasked like a crazy woman and heated a bottle, packed up my needlepoint and put my boots on.  The multitasking paid off - we made it to the coffee shop almost on time. 

Why is EVERYTHING trial and error?  You would think that after going to the coffee shop every Tuesday for a month I would know what position the sun is in and how I need to position Anika's car seat cover to block her eyeballs.  If you think a poopy diaper can piss her off, ride in the car with us when the sun shines bright.  I bought the shades that roll down and blockout sunlight - you know the ones - for $15 a pair?  They are crap.  I drive a Subaru and the sunlight does not shine in the side windows.  Oh no.  The sun comes from the back windows.  So last week, I made the trek to Target and bought the shades that just stick onto the window.  Adam and I cut them to shape, washed the windows and pressed them on.  All was fine and dandy when the car was in a heated garage, but you can guess what happened when the temps dropped.  It is winter in Northern Minnesota after all... only one shade (out of 4) is down, but that happened to be where the sun was positioned on our way to the coffee shop this morning.  Poor kid.  She is probably thinking, "We have done this many times mom.  When are you going to stop drinking Jamison in the morning and get your act together?" 

Anyway, we made it to the coffee shop and I got to drink an entire cup of coffee before it got cold AND eat a scone. Anika drank her bottle like a little angel and let out a demure burp and then smiled and cooed.  Seriously.  This behavior makes my stories about her seem unbelievable.  But perhaps that is her master plan.