"Smoke" Detectors

Being the safety-conscious new parent that I am, I happened to wonder yesterday whether or not our smoke detectors were fully functional. Being the new parent that I am, I didn't have time to check.

Today was not unlike any other weekday. My husband was at work so I got things done as the baby slept and played with her while she was awake. Finally, she fell blissfully asleep and I decided to take a shower. Know where this story is going yet?

First off, as soon as I turned on the shower, she woke up. Not a problem. Ginny has gotten to the point where staring at the shower curtain while I shower is pretty entertaining. And if that fails, there's always a couple of feet around to grab. The showering continued. No peeps from Ginny. Ah, a hot shower on a cold day, is there anything better? Any guesses yet? So Ginny stayed happy right through to the end of my prolonged shower. What a gift! I threw back the shower curtain feeling pretty cocky that I managed to get through a shower. Then my puzzling from yesterday was answered... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!!! The smoke detector decided that steam is a harmful substance. I was so afraid that this would upset Ginny, I snatched up my towel and hopped out of the shower, heading towards the smoke detector. Frantically I looked for something to disperse the steam from the detector. The nearest thing was a pair of flannel pajama pants. So I was flailing the pants in the air while dripping and holding my towel on with the other hand. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!! I dashed over to the window and tore back the curtain in order to open the window, not bothering about innocent passers-by on the street. The cool air rushed in and the beeping was silenced. Now I had to face the music and assess the damage done to my peaceful baby. I nervously looked in her direction and...she laughed.

I laughed.

As I stood in my now cold room, dripping wet, I couldn't help but think how spectacular being a parent is.

Plus now I know my smoke detectors work.