tight wad

Rachel woke up in the middle of the night, as predicted. I decided to leave her be, and she never even full-on cried. She wimpered on and off (mostly off) for about 40 minutes, and then was back to sleep until 7:15am! I guess we'll try that again tonight.

I loosened up with Rachel some today, and I got quite a bit done! She played on the floor in our bedroom, which she thought was really great, and played in the exersaucer for a few minutes, while I washed and folded laundry, finished cleaning our bathroom, vacuumed, all kinds of things I usually cram to do during her naps and after bedtime. It felt good to be so productive, it made the day go by faster, and I was pleasantly surprised at how not-dangerous it was for her. In my mind, I imagined her going straight for all the non-baby-proofed areas, but she just explored and had a great time.

Rachel got a bath today, and I attempted to spike up her hair. She just barely has enough to make it work! She's playing with the pink rubber ducky from Aunt KiKi's Easter basket.

Aunt Julie came over and played for a few minutes this evening, and then stayed after bedtime while Jarrad and I had a date! Aunt Mamber gave us a gift certificate to a really fancy resaurant, and we needed to use it. It really worked out great, and I needed the time out. Thanks to the best Aunts in the world! We are so blessed.

By the way, Rachel took 6 steps in a row today! She's so proud of herself.

Progress Report

Rachel used 3 diapers today! She was wet first thing this morning, so that accounted for one diaper.

cute moment

Rachel is so funny now; when she is crawling toward anything she thinks is off-limits, she'll turn around to see if we're watching. She gets this cute little smirk on her face, and, as soon as we make a move to get her, she turns back around and sprint-crawls, giggling.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel has a new habit of picking up her left leg with her left hand and trying to do stuff with it, like using it to hit one of her stuffed animals, or putting it over her eyes when she's tired. She acts like it's not even attached to her...so silly!

to bathe is divine

Bath day! Rachel loves taking a bath. She has two CareBears bathtime bubble books, which I alternate in the tub. She likes to hold onto the book with one hand and a washcloth with the other, and her favorite part of bathtime is dripdry. Ever since she started taking tub baths, I made a habit of picking her up when we were finished, holding her high over the tub, shaking her gently from side to side, and saying "dripdry dripdry dripdry." She always grins so big--I think the cool air feels funny on her skin, and the sound of "dripdry" over and over is kind of amusing too. Then I wrap her in a cozy hooded towel and we have some cuddle time. The doctor recommended that we use Cetaphil brand cleanser and cream (not lotion) for her dry skin, and it has done an amazing job getting her skin back to baby soft!

Rachel woke up this morning at 4:25am. Rub your eyes and read it again: 4:25am. I was terrified that she was up for the day. She was sitting up in her crib, crying because she couldn't fold herself in half to go back to sleep (I figured out her zip-up blanket won't allow that maneuver). I tried to put her back down a time or two, but she screamed. I rocked her a few minutes and calmed her down, then put her back in the crib, vowing to leave her alone and let her figure out what to do next. By 5:15am, she was back to sleep, and she slept until 7:20am. And so did I. Finally, she is well-rested, and, as a result, took a good 1.5-hour nap this morning, and a 1-hr nap this afternoon. We enjoyed some fresh air before dinner, and Rachel was in a great mood when Daddy got home tonight!!

Progress Report

	potty	diaper	floor	highchair
peepee	7	4	1	1
poop	1	0

Today's pottying was...haphazard. Feeling really [over]confident, I let Rachel go diaperless, sure that she would let me know if she needed to go. And maybe she tried. How in the world would I know??--she doesn't have a set sign for potty yet. What was I thinking? I guess, as most parents, that my child is more advanced than she actually is. At lunchtime, I decided to take her down to the kitchen, no diaper, and bring the potty with us. I set it within her line of sight, so she could show me if she needed to go. I put a doubled diaper on the seat of her highchair, just in case. Rachel was thoroughly amused by the potty being in the dining room. She laughed at it and waved and squealed. So, when she might have been telling me she had to go, I disregarded it, and she wet her chair. Then, don't you know she was whining and showing me the potty! It'll be awhile before we try that stunt again. So, my wet, carrot-stained baby got her bath, after which she was crawling around her room as naked as the day she was born. She crawled over to me, but I was trying to pick out her outfit and I didn't pay her any mind. So she peepeed on the floor! Man, we were off today!

cute moment

Rachel LOVES her daddy. Tonight, she was in an especially good mood, and she and Daddy played and played. When we were getting her ready for bed, Rachel lay patiently on her back for us to dress her. Jarrad, standing above her, started dangling one of her garments and then lowered it to tickle her face. She burst into squeals and laughter. He kept pulling it back high and she would look at it, then at Daddy, and grin and tense up in anticipation. Then Daddy dropped it down, and she kicked her feet and flailed her arms all around, laughing hysterically. Sometimes she grabbed it, and Daddy shook gently and said "Gimme that, gimme that." She found that even more laughable. Rachel has the best Daddy in the world!

non-toy toy of the day

Yes, it's the same award-winning "toy" as yesterday, but isn't this a cute picture??