The day after

Good thing we had the party yesterday, since it is cold and rainy out -- very uncharacteristic weather for July! Drew and I stayed up quite late talking after the last of our guests left at 10:30 last night. He woke us both up with a coughing fit at 1 a.m., so neither of us got great sleep. (The Little Girl, by contrast, slept in).

Drew fixed breakfast for Richard, his wife Lil, Amanda and Jenn -- bacon, eggs, fresh berries and my lemon blueberry bread. We tried to give Rachel some scrambled eggs but she showed absolutely no interest. So much for mixing spinach into the eggs, like my friend Amy suggested...

Amanda & Jenn left after breakfast; Richard and Lil went shopping for souvenirs, and Drew and I finished cleaning up, opened some of Rachel's presents (she also showed no interest in ripping open the wrapping paper. Oh, how that will change!) and then collapsed. I took a late morning nap; he took an early afternoon nap. Rachel took a tiny morning nap and is sleeping now, which is great because she was getting really fussy around lunchtime. Didn't want anything except soy crackers and American cheese. She did gnaw on some raw carrots. Drew is getting increasingly worried and frustrated about her fondness for cheese, crackers and little else. "You've gotta eat something other than crackers and cheese, kid," he grumbled, to no avail. We've tried string beans, little pieces of bread, lunch meat...nothing. She's transitioning from jarred food which she increasingly won't eat and we are both concerned that she's not getting enough to eat (or enough nutrition) from grown-up food.

We can always tell when Rachel doesn't like something: she screws up her eyes and puts her little fists in front of her nose and mouth and tries to squirm out of her chair.

We had one moment of levity today. We were both in the kitchen, playing on the floor with Rachel, when she discovered the tall, skinny pantry -- the only door we haven't put baby locks on because it's too high. She kept opening and slamming the door, trying to get our attention. Then she grabbed the cooking oil --tightly sealed, of course -- and tipped it over, following by crawling over to me and smacking my arm with her hand. Drew's translation: "Mommy! I just knocked over the cooking oil! Pay attention! What is the MATTER with you! There is NO accountability here!"