moody rachel

Rachel has been learning about feelings and emotions a lot lately. Last week, she learned to play "sad." In this picture, she has just lifted her sad, "crying" face from her hands and is asking for a comforting hug. Notice the grin. I guess it's good that she's a bad actress so far. Yesterday, she figured out a new feeling: scared. She has a book called, "Night Night, Bunny," in which a little bunny goes to bed, but is afraid. She wanted to read the book yesterday afternoon, as she was playing in the laundry basket, so I opened it, held it up, and began to read. "It's dark in here. I'm scared." Rachel looked at me with big eyes and held out her arms. Confused, I gave her a little hug and turned the page. "What's that noise? I'm scared." Rachel held her arms out again, so I took her our of the basket and set her on my lap. "Oh, no--a spider! I'm scared." She buried her face in my lap, and I realized that she was understanding the word "scared." We read the book several times, and she buried her face every time I said, "I'm scared." Her scared face looks quite genuine...and cute.

non-toy toy of the day

After I put all her clean clothes away, Rachel played a long time in the laundry basket, hanging washcloths over the edge and cheering when she got them all just right. She has also enjoyed playing with one of her little shoe boxes lately. She hides little toys and trinkets and then cheers when she "finds" them.

altogether, now

Photo by Sarah Arpin

A friend and her friend came over yesterday and took lots of pictures of Rachel because photography is their hobby. This is the only image I've seen so far. I can't wait to see more! And I have vowed to never take Rachel to the mall for pictures ever again.

cute moment

Rachel's imagination is getting more and more colorful. She started saying "hello" last week, and she carried her toy phone around and held it up to everything (yes, everything) and said, "hello?" The chair talked on the phone, her sippy cup, the blocks, her foot--everything.

Rachel also started fake crying yesterday. She puts her face in her hands and lets out this oh-so-dramatic wail. I say, equally as dramatically, "Oh, Rachel, are you sad?" She looks up, grins, and nods, then holds her arms out for a hug. She has given me some really sweet hugs the last day or two when she was "sad." She also asks me to pretend to be sad, and, this afternoon, everything in her room was sad and needed a hug. Her book was sad, her little chair, her piano, her bear, her doodle pad--you get the picture.

now we're talkin'

Rachel: Outside.

Mommy: Outside?

Rachel: Coooold.

Mommy: Yes, it's coooold outside.

Rachel: Jacket. Hat.

Mommy: Yes, you would need a jacket and a hat to go outside.

zoe girl

My little girl has been sweet so far this week. We've had some quality mommy-daughter time after a hectic weekend of having to share her with lots of friends and family. She's talking a lot more these days, too, and it's fun to hear what she has to say. She constantly asks to "eat," but doesn't really seem interested in food if I offer it. I think she just likes saying "eat." She's been having potty woes, but I'd like to blame it on this never-ending cold she has, although I can't really be sure that's what it is. She did quite well today, though, so I'm encouraged.

cute moment

Yesterday, Rachel was attempting to play with her LeapFrog radio, but the batteries were dead. I told her it needed batteries, it's broken, it needs to be fixed (to which she now always replies, "Daddy"). She ran over to her daddy and gave him the toy and then disappeared for a minute. When she returned, she had the rechargeable batteries that had been plugged into the power strip under our bed. Smart girl! She pointed to the batteries and then to the radio and looked at Jarrad, expectantly. I laughed for a while from that one.

This afternoon, Rachel decided she needed to barricade our door, so she began transferring a number of her toys and books, arranging them snugly against the door to our garage. Jarrad had trouble coming in when he got home! I'm not sure what got her started, but it was all her idea.

Tonight, as we were going through our nightly bedtime routine, I turned off the lights in Rachel's room and sat down with her in the rocking chair. She put her head on my shoulder, and then popped up and said, "Jeeeesus." She's never said that before! She wanted me to sing "Jesus Loves Me," per routine. I sang extra long for that.

bunny rabbit

Rachel had FOUR girlfriends over to play this morning, and I had fun visiting with the other mommies, too. It is wonderful to have other mommy friends who are having the same experiences at the same time. It's nice to know I'm not alone with temper tantrums and teething, too-short naps, too-early mornings, and unintelligible toddler-speak. I just love you guys!

cute moment

Rachel got a scare today. She was playing with a small ball in the living room, and it rolled under a piece of furniture on the hardwood floor. As usual, there were a couple of dust bunnies under there, and, as Rachel reached under to get the ball, she pulled out a dust bunny. She dropped the little gob of fuzz and dust and ran over to me, wide-eyed, and said "up." It frightened her!

And here's what Rachel does when we say, "smile, Rachel," for a picture.

non-toy toy of the day

This isn't really a non-toy, but it's pretty creative, I think. Rachel's imagination gets more and more colorful. Yesterday, when building with her blocks, stacking them carelessly, and she added one last block to the top. I double-glanced at it, and noticed it kind of looked like a giraffe. Rachel was looking at it, too, and I guess she reached a similar conclusion, because she leaned over and kissed it right on the nose! I laughed and she laughed, and then she kissed it again so I could take a picture. Silly girl.

Christmas past

This Christmas was very different for us. Of course, Rachel has changed everything about our lives in the most wonderful way. She had so much fun this year. She knows her grandparents and aunts and uncles, and she enjoys them so much. It's fun to watch them enjoy her and spoil her, and Rachel got royal treatment on all our visits. She is such a blessed little girl to be loved so much by so many people.

cute moment

Jarrad's Uncle Steve is a pretty tough guy. He builds custom Harley Davidson motorcycles for drag racing, and he has a dog who only likes him and will snap at anyone else. But Rachel found Uncle Steve's soft spot. He adores her, and she's pretty fond of him too. Rachel was exhausted on Christmas morning, and Uncle Steve carried her to the rocking chair and sat down. Rachel quickly fell asleep and slept peacefully in Uncle Steve's arms. Awwwwww...

non-toy toy of the day

Of course Rachel thoroughly enjoyed the giftbags and wrapping paper, but I must admit that all her toys were a huge hit this Christmas.