love this girl

Rachel has been doing so well in her new room and her new bed, and she still is so excited about the whole deal. When people come over, she jumps up and down and begs them to come upstairs to see her biiiig room and her biiiig bed. We've started calling her old room "the baby's room," so I think we should be good and ready for this new little girl to take over in there. And the icing on the cake is that she's been sleeping a little longer, a little happier and waking up in a better mood than she was in her crib. What a blessing!

The funniest thing to me is how she's dealt with sleeptimes. At first, she didn't want to sleep under the covers, so I didn't try to "tuck her in" when it was time to sleep. I knew she'd get up and roam around probably anyway, and she seemed so swallowed up in that big bed, so what's the point? But after only a few nights, Rachel started tucking herself in. Now when I leave the room, she usually follows me to the door with an obligatory/courtesy whine/fuss, but quickly retreats into her room to play, read, and chit chat with her little friends. Fairly quickly, she climbs on her bed (if she's not there already), pulls back her covers, tucks herself in, and rests her little head on her pillow, falling asleep quickly. She also usually stays in her bed when she wakes up, and she just plays happily with whatever toys are left there from the night before. She'll eventually call "Mooooommy, MOOOOOmmy!" and I'll go upstairs to be greeted with a big silly smile, sweet hugs, and even sweeter kisses.

cute moment

Rachel gets more and more fun to watch as she plays. Lately, she's been doing a lot of "shopping," pushing her cart around and around and around, collecting various items to "take it to the store." She usually has her little green beany baby bear in the child seat, and he usually takes a potty break or two along the way, and he also occasionally gets a spank spank. She also loves to bathe her little animals, and pretend to lotion them after.

But her favorite thing right now is that I've begun letting her help me wash dishes. She sits on the counter by the sink, and I direct her to turn the water on and off for rinsing. I let the dishes drain and air dry, so we always come back later and she sits there again, pulling each dish out of the drain rack for me to put away. She loves these little chores!

Here's a picture of Rachel having a snack at the huge kiddie pool we went to last week. She had such a great time!

big move--that's a wrap

As of this morning, I am fairly confident in saying that Rachel has successfully moved to sleeping full-time in her big bed! Last night and tonight, I made a point to go straight downstairs after our bedtime routine, so that she had to put herself to bed, which she did! It occurred to us that the previous night or two, she seemed most upset to find I had left after she'd fallen asleep. So, when she woke up in the middle of the night, the first thing she did was go check where I had "fallen" asleep, only to find a vacant spot, which was difficult to see I guess. Last night, though, she woke up and cried some, called for us, but then went back to sleep fairly easily. She stirred another time, but I don't think she even bothered to get out of bed that time. She's doing great at naptime as well, and her nap has become exactly what it was in the crib (just over 1 hour, waking up fairly content, but a little whiny).

And now, looking back, this really was not a difficult transition for Rachel after all. It was a little difficult for me, and my back is paying for all the naps and nights spent lying on the floor waiting for her to fall asleep, but, overall, it was about as easy as I guess we could expect it to be.

I am super proud of my baby girl, and she seems super proud of herself. I hope our next little girl is as agreeable! I really can't wait to see what her personality will be.

So here's the rundown of the strategy I used to get Rachel in the big bed/new room (mostly for my own future reference):

• Talked it up for several days before the move.
• Helped her move her toys to her new room after her last nap in the crib.
• Let her play on her new bed before the move.
• Stayed with her and lay my head on the bed until she fell asleep for two sleeptimes. Put her in her crib to go back to sleep upon waking in the night.
• "Slept" on her big bear on the floor just beneath her bed until she fell asleep for two sleeptimes. Put her in her crib to go back to sleep upon waking in the night.
• "Slept" on her big bear, moving farther from her bed and closer to the door each time for ~five sleeptimes. Put her in her crib to go back to sleep upon waking in the night.
• "Slept" on her big bear outside her door (there's a gate on her door) until she fell asleep for two sleeptimes. Put her in her crib to go back to sleep upon waking in the night.
• Left the bear in her room, and read a book in the hallway outside her room with my back to her until she fell asleep for 2 sleeptimes. Put her in her crib to go back to sleep upon waking in the night.
• Went away immediately after bedtime routine, and did not return until morning, even upon waking in the night.
• Rewarded with a popsicle when she slept all night in her bed for 3 nights.
• Promised to reward with a sticker chart now that she seems confident.

All of this, of course, came with lots of conversation. I let her know exactly what my plan was, step-by-step, to try to avoid any surprises on her end. I try not to "trick" Rachel when I can avoid it, so I told her each night that I stayed, that I would only be staying until she fell asleep. She still seemed sad to find me gone, but at least she wasn't betrayed, I guess. We also talked a lot about the big bear, and the popsicles. Another thought I had was that I wanted her to get used to being in charge of her own bedtime, so, even when I stayed with her, I truly pretended to be sound asleep, allowing her to get up and play and do whatever until she was ready to go to sleep. Otherwise, I could see the future of me running up and down the stairs and policing her every move, which is not what I want to be doing. I don't mind sneaking in and clearing toys from her bed after she's asleep--that seems much less stressful to me--and I just write it off as her winding down process.

Anyway, these last few posts have been pretty boring, probably, but this was a fun problem-solving exercise for me, and I wanted to document it for future reference (how many kids will I be transitioning??...who knows?).

Since you've made it this far, here are three recent pics of Rachel. Serious Rachel Rachel with her birthday present from Aunt Mamber...it blows bubbles!

Rachel's piggy tails! I love it!!

big move part 2

Rachel begged to sleep in her new bed at naptime yesterday, so I decided we'd give it another try, resigning myself to stay in the room with her until she fell asleep. She finally did, and she took a longer-than-usual 1.5-hour nap! I was very excited, and she seemed proud of the move. Last night, it took her a long time to fall asleep, but she did great until she woke up scared around 2:00am. In an effort to get some sleep, I stuck her back in the crib to fall asleep on her own while I stumbled back to my own slumber. She seemed happy enough with the arrangement, and didn't complain this morning either.

I wasn't sure what today would bring, though, since we were planning a three-day visit with my parents. I talked up the pack and play like it should be fun to sleep there at MiMi and Poppy's, and she was satisfied with that. However, it has been quite some time since she's slept in a pack and play, and, to my dismay, she climbed in and out with no hesitation. So, at naptime, out she came, and back I put her, and out she came, and back I put her, until finally MiMi lay down with her. She slept, but for only less than an hour. Poppy set up the toddler bed they have, and that's where Rachel is sleeping now (after I stayed in the room with her and tucked her in when she finally fell asleep).

I knew I'm in for several days of having to stay with her until she's confident and used to the new bed (it is really big, and it's in a new room, besides), and I know the trasition to follow will probably be difficult. This is definitely the hardest transitions we've made to date; Rachel has handled the others like a champ (which probably lead to my over-confidence leading to this one). One fun thing coming from it, though, is being able to experience her winding down process in person. I love listening on the baby monitor as she plays and sings and talks to herself until she falls asleep, and I've often wished for a video monitor so I could really witness what's going on in there. It's really a funny few minutes, so I guess it's not so bad after all.

But I do hope she adjusts easily and quickly, and I hope I haven't thrown her into this too soon (although the pack and play incident today would suggest that the transition was quite inevitable). It definitely seems there's no turning back now...

big move

I tried to move Rachel to a big bed tonight. We've been prepping her new room for a week and a half, and after her nap today, she and I moved her toys and clothes, and played there for most of the afternoon. I've been talking it up, and she seemed excited.

But she's happily asleep in her crib now, after a brief attempt at the big bed. She changed her mind quickly when I got up to leave her there, and she didn't even stay long enough for me to make it out of the room. Poor, abandoned Rachel. I felt horrible for even trying, because she seemed pretty shaken up by the whole experiece.

Oh well...I guess we'll revisit this idea in a few more weeks.

rachel 2.0

Today is our big girl's birthday! It's hard to believe how fast these last 2 years have gone by, and it's even harder to remember what our lives were like before our first pride and joy showed up. She has changed our lives in so many wonderful ways that we couldn't have predicted...we've even said we wish we would have started having kids sooner. I would not trade my current job for any job in the world!

For milestone-marking purposes, here's a list of a few of Rachel's best tricks and catch phrases:

• thinks she can reach anything if she stands on her step stool
• ends most phrases with "oooKAY?"
• finds "buggies" everywhere, and walks us through the process of disposing of each bug (even those that end up being a little piece of fuzz)
• enjoys being copied ("do dis, Mommy, do dis.")
• has a great imagination (yesterday, she made a train with her blocks, and it went through a tunnel I had made, which I intended to be a house)
• with a damp cloth, she will clean everything
• loves to "wash" dishes
• helps with laundry, including folding
• has finally grown hair long enough for a tiny sprig-like pony-tail, which she has suddenly deemed a necessity, driving her to tears when it comes out
• suddenly enjoys testing limits, including, but not limited to, grabbing at faces and hitting
• is quite good at jumping, a skill she has been perfecting for several months
• pulls out all the stops to show off for familiar friends and family, leaving her hyper for the rest of the day
• definitely favors her left hand. the world will seem so backward to her.
• appreciates chit chat--i often get this request (especially in the car), "Mommy, talk."

I may add more later, as things come to me. Rachel's big birthday bash is Saturday afternoon, with just the family. I am excited for her!!

ponytails, sprinklers, foam houses, and school

Rachel's hair is really getting long[ish] now! At least, it's long enough for her to complain when it drapes into her eyes. She has even requested a bow once or twice! A couple times this week, I was able to convince her to let me put her hair in a little ponytail, right on top of her head (it's the only option so far). We never made it out anywhere with the ponytail, but she wore it around the house for as much as an hour at a time before yanking it out. Progress, still!

It's been so so so hot this week that we haven't wanted to venture outside much (well, I haven't wanted to, but Rachel probably wouldn't have minded). Our [new] grass is even beginning to turn brown, so Jarrad hooked up the sprinkler yesterday. for some excitement, we slipped on Rachel's swimsuit and sunhat, slathered her with sunblock, and headed outside to enjoy the fun. Rachel couldn't decide how she felt. She mostly wanted to be held, so I ran with her through the sprinkler several times, and then Daddy did the same. She did walk around by herself some, but it was usually short-lived. She went back and forth from squealing with delight to saying, "no no no water, no water." Such fun!

non-toy toy of the day

Jarrad bought some new doors for our laundry room area, and Rachel loved playing with the big pieces of foam packaging. Her favorite was when we propped it up like a little tent, with the tissue paper from the box draped on top to add to her privacy. What fun!

first homeschool project

I am really looking forward to teaching my children, whether we ended up choosing to homeschool or not. I think I would LOVE to homeschool, though. Here Rachel's first 'official' project. We worked on this collage together. We flipped through magazines, and Rachel told me which pictures to cut. We then gathered all the little pictures, and she told me where to glue them on the paper (with a little guidance from me). When we were all finished, she was SO proud! She kept saying, "Daddy love it." I told her we were making it so Daddy could hang it up at work, but she wouldn't give it to him. She was excited to show him, but she would not let it out of her sight. She likes it to hang on our dishwasher (our fridge doesn't take magnets). I'll have to admit, I was pretty proud too.

silly little one

Rachel (pointing to Mommy's shirt and pants): Change clothes.

Mommy: No, Rachel. Mommy isn't going to change clothes.

Rachel: Mm hmm. Change clothes. Mommy change clothes.

Mommy: No, Rachel. I'm not going to change clothes right now.

Rachel licks Mommy's shirt.

Rachel (pointing to wet spot on shirt): Mommy change clothes.