terrible seventeen-months

Rachel has been extremely cranky today, and I think there's nothing really to blame it on, except her age. I got pretty cranky, myself by lunchtime. Rachel had been playing contentedly, and I was taking pictures. After a few minutes, I decided I should tidy up the kitchen a bit and wash the couple of dishes left over from breakfast. Oh, the wails that followed. Rachel bosses me all day, and sometimes I just say, "No, Rachel, I will not sit next to you while you eat and feed your teddy bear his imaginary food and milk, because I don't have to do what you say." So there. Boy, does she get mad. So I'm standing at the sink, washing dishes, and she is literally pushing my legs in the direction she wants me to go. When I tell her "no," she just flings herself around, often smacking her head against a cabinet or the floor, which she really plays up like she's injured beyond repair. It makes me crazy. But I really almost lost it when she was standing there in my feet, having a fit, and she wet her pants. This child has not had an accident in several days (with the exception of her tummy issues, but I mean a peepee accident), so it was all because she was in the middle of her temper tantrum that she wet herself. Thankfully, she haulted, and I got her to the potty for most of the peepee, which was some consolation to me.

I love this outfit Rachel's wearing, but she added the jeans herself. She has figured out how to put pants on, and she drags jeans around and struggles to put them on and then take them off. They often end up backward, and she has trouble walking around and bending over in them, but she's just so proud of herself that she doesn't mind. She finally got these on the right direction, and I helped her get them buttoned, and, ya know what--this outfit is actually cuter with the jeans! Oh, oh, what will she be like as a teenager...

cute moment

When it was time to put cranky Rachel down for her nap, Little Miss Busy didn't want to go to bed. Part of our routine now is that I hold her by her crib and sway her for a couple minutes. She gets really still and sweet, and pats my shoulder a lot, so it's hard to put her down (I think she knows that). Today, she collapsed on my shoulder for a few seconds and then sat up and told me she needed to go potty. "No, we're all finished with the potty--you just went potty." Without protest, she collapsed again for a few seconds more, and then popped her head up and asked for some water. "No, Rachel, you had some water." She lay back down. Then she looked at me and snorted out her nose and pointed to the box of tissues. "You don't need to blow your nose, Rachel." After lying still and thinking of one last delay tactic, she looked back up and asked for a bath. It was hard not to laugh as I refused her last ditch effort.

non-toy toy of the day

CD's...(notice all her teeth!)