Sleep Sacks

A few months ago a fellow missionary family was having some visa issues in their assigned country here in Africa. Due to the nature of the problem, they needed to leave the country, so they came here to Johannesburg and lived in the guest flats that are owned by the church. It was great having them around (another family had been evacuated at the time as well, so it was just a bunch of kids and families here, which was wonderful). The family with the visa issues had been with us in Kansas City during the assessment process a few years back, and now that we were neighbors we would find ourselves catching up while playing games and having dinner together. So, when it became apparent that the husband/father would have to travel to the US Embassy in order to sort some things out with their visas, he offered to bring back some items for us. I, of course, jumped at the chance and immediately asked a friend in the same area as the embassy if she wouldn't mind helping me out. It was wonderful to receive frivolous things (nothing was life-or-death obviously, but it's amazing what a pregnant lady will crave!) like chocolate graham crackers and scented tea lights. She also put in a number of things for Em, among them were two sleep sacks.

Now, I'd seen these things before. They looked like tiny sleeping bags with a zipper up the middle and two little arm holes. When Em was an infant, it didn't make any sense to me as she loved to be swaddled. We always wrapped her up as tightly as we could, and when it got colder, we just added outer layers to her cocoon. When we got here, and she had her first real crib, it was summer and her favorite thing was to nap in her diaper, which was fine with me. It never occurred to me that once it started getting cold again, we'd run into issues... and run into them we did (it was more like a full-speed-ahead collision with a brick wall!). Once it became colder than just her fleece sleepers could handle, I started putting a blanket over her. No big deal, right? Um, well, she had different plans! She'd gotten so used to moving and squirming all over the crib that when she tried to roll, the blanket would inevitably come off or impede her mobility. This went on for a few weeks, until I remembered the sleep sacks, which I had immediately set aside upon arrival. Those seemed to be the answer to the problem, and I was so thankful for someone else being willing to bring them back and the wisdom of another mom to send them!!! (she also sent snow pants.... to Africa! Who would have thought that these would end up being the second most used item in the care package)

So I tell you that story so you can understand what happened this morning. We, like most Tuesdays and Thursdays, went to the gym for an aerobics class. Em had a great time playing with a few other kids in the day care and I had a wonderful time trying to keep my balance and exercise, all at the same time. We came home, cleaned up a bit, and then it was time for Em's nap. She was rubbing her eyes with both fists (always a good sign of a long nap to come) and I immediately took her to her room. The sleep sack was laying on the changing table and as soon as she saw it, she started trying to put it on! Such a well-trained little girl; she does all the work for her Mommy!!! Now, all I need is a written guarantee that all of them will turn out just this good!