what now

Rachel woke up once during the night last night. I had begun to think her new night waking habit might be potty related. So the last couple nights it's happened, I've put her on the potty after I nurse her (because that calms her down), and, sure enough, she goes. But last night, she refused to sit on the potty (which made me feel rotten for even trying), and her diaper was still dry at 7:20am. So, I don't know what's going on. She definitely shouldn't be waking up hungry, so I'm afraid she's formed a bad habit. Will it happen tonight? Will I let her "cry it out?" Only time will tell...

Rachel is really enjoying this new walking thing. She can't stand herself up from sitting on the floor yet, and she can't turn from holding onto furniture, so we can only get steps out of her if we set her standing and let go. She always grins the hugest grin and lets out a sort of war cry before attempting movement. She really seems proud of herself.

Now, on to business: I'm calling for help from other mommies out there. Now that I've decided what I shouldn't do with Rachel (be on top of her all day), I'm trying to figure out the logistics of what I should do with her. What I had been doing most of the day is hang out with her in her bedroom, sometimes playing with her, sometimes just watching her play independently (does that count as independently?), and sometimes doing other things (like folding laundry, but still in her room). Regardless, she is certainly used to my presence, and I think I need to help her learn to be comfortable and confident alone. So how do I do that? In pre-mobility days, I left Rachel to play by herself a lot. She'd play on her quilt in the living room and I'd work in the kitchen or doing laundry, or whatever. But as soon as she became super-mobile (at about 7 months old), I resigned myself to chasing her all day. And that's where I've remained the past two months.

So what do I do? What do other mommies out there do? It seems the playpen is the safest option. I do use it some already, like last week when I had to prepare a meal in the afternoon to take to a family, I put Rachel in the playpen and said, "You might not like it, and you might cry and be mad, but I have to do this because I said I would." She does fuss and cry when I put her in there, although she seems to enjoy it more in the mornings. She'll eventually sit down and play, but only for a couple minutes before she's standing back up, arms straight up in the air, crying. Yesterday and today, I made a point to put her in there and set myself to doing some chore, vowing not to pick her back up until I finished. It was hard, but I suppose she'll get used to it eventually? I felt guilty; I felt like I was ignoring her.

Here's the picture of Rachel in her Easter outfit, as promised! Blue is so so pretty with her blue eyes; I can't wait until she has enough hair for a bow so I can dress her in more blue (without people asking, "what's his name?").

Progress Report

Rachel's diaper was dry first thing this morning, and she used 3 diapers today.

cute moment

Here is Rachel playing with a toy bunny from Aunt KiKi's Easter basket.

non-toy toy of the day

Today, Rachel played with her shoes (the ones that are still a little too big, so she hasn't worn them much). She kept trying to put a shoe on her foot. She'd get frustrated and throw the shoe and holler. Then she'd hand it to me, as if to ask for help. I put the shoe on her foot (loosely) and she'd grin and shake it off and start all over again.