Thankful

I'm thankful for a lot of things, though it seems far to rare that I take the time just to be so. Not even so much the act of saying thank you, but reflecting on the good things we have, and those people and things that make the tough parts not so bad.
Today I'm particularly thankful that our baby girl is not inclined to be a screamer. She seems to have a bug of sorts the last few days, likely something she picked up in our weekends travels, and so she's let us know in no uncertain terms that's she's uncomfortable. Far more persistent and screeching than her typical boredom babble or feed me call. But still, not unbearable. What's far worse is not being able to do anything about it, to know she's unhappy and uncomfortable, possibly in pain, and I can't fix it or even help her understand what's happening.
But in all humble honesty, I'm mostly thankful that in fighting this bug, she's choosing to sleep a lot rather than cry it out. At least I can then distract myself with the list of accumulated tasks on the to do list. I took her out to the park with the dogs around noon, and then dropped the dogs off and walked with her to the bank while the skies were patchy blue and dry. She was awake and talking a bit as we came back up the block, and I was sure I'd be warming a bottle within minutes of coming through the door, the request coming through in force the moment the stroller stopped moving. But I brought her carrier in and put her down on the floor, and then grabbed a muffin while I could, and made a pitstop at the bathroom, still anticipating the urgent onslaught. But she's still sleeping. In fact, she's still in her carrier, and I've finished cleaning out the guest room for the Bear's stepdad, finally run a mop over the living room, and now made a post to the blog.
If I didn't know the rest was good for her, I'd probably feel guilty. As it is, I'm looking down at her as I type, offering up little motherly prayers, and wondering if I should grab a bottle and unbuckle her soon.
Sweet dreams.