cute factor

It has been a while since I posted anything at all, so instead of catching you up on our goings-on, I just need to catch you up on all the cute moments you've missed...(don't you just love this cute giraffe chair? Jarrad's friend William gave it to us, since his youngest is now 5!!)

cute moment

Rachel has started using the word "no" appropriately, that is, to answer yes/no questions. "Rachel, can I have a kiss?" "no." "Rachel, it's time to go night night." "no." She even baits us to ask this next one. She's say "GOOgoo, GOOgoo, GOOgoo," (which means potty, in case you didn't know by now), even if she's just gone, and I'll finally say "Rachel, do you need to go potty?" "no." She says "no" before I've hardly even finished asking. So silly.

I've been letting Rachel self-feed a lot lately, and she has some interesting ideas, like putting Cheerios in applesauce and then eating it all with her fingers, while she holds her spoon in the other hand. In the picture, she has her milk cup in her bowl, and is picking it all up for a drink.

On Sunday, Rachel got into Jarrad's computer bag, and when he saw her, he said, sternly, "Rachel..." She responded by looking up, grinning, and said, "Daaaddy," and then made kissy faces at him and waved sweetly. It was hard not to laugh at that one.

She also likes getting into our bathroom cabinet and taking out bottles and lining them up. The other day, she took several out and set them up on the floor. Then she transferred them all to the bedroom, setting them up carefully. When Jarrad and I ended up chatting in the living room, she carried each bottle out, one by one, and set them up in the walkway. She then sat among them, moving them from her right to her left, very focused on setting them up each time. She also found some of my old hair ties, and she likes to put them around her upper arm. I think she looks like a little tribal baby when she's wearing just her diaper and armband.

Sometimes I let Rachel take toys with her when she goes potty. If we have a stuffed animal or doll, she makes it clap its hands when she goes.

There are some things around the house that I've told her are "no-touch" because they are Mommy's. She now will point to those things and say, "Mama." For example, I might be drinking soda out of a glass at mealtime, and she used to ask to have some, but now, she just points and says, "Mama."

Rachel has always loved bags--putting them around her arm, saying "byebye," and carrying them around the room. She got my brown bag that has a really long strap and dragged it around the whole downstairs, grinning sheepishly the whole way.

Rachel is really into throwing things away. She loves pulling the trash can cabinet in the kitchen open, putting in her "trash," and closing it again. She also likes the little trash can in our master bathroom, so, when we're playing in the master bedroom, she often wants to take little bits of whatever into the bathroom (which is usually kept closed) just to throw them away. If she sees me pick up anything out of the carpet, she immediately points right to the bathroom door, and then goes over to it and points in, saying "kuh, kuh, kuh" with every point. She doesn't stop until I take the trash in and throw it away. She's so bossy!

And speaking of bossy, she now readily demands that Jarrad or I vacate whatever seat we have so that she can freely sit there. It is amazing how directive she can be without much vocabulary!