Two more things Rachel likes

--nectarines. I gave her a bite of a juicy fresh nectarine in the park today and as soon as she tasted it, she wanted more! I had brought it as an afternoon snack for myself, but ended up giving half of it to Rachel! A sign of things to come...

--the baby backpack we bought today. It's called a Sherpani and looks way modern and high-tech, with about a million straps to keep her positioned and a seat we can lower as she gets bigger. Drew tried it on at REI, which was very crowded, and adjusted it to his specifics because he's the one who will be wearing it. While he did so, he had Rachel in it. We thought that was a sensible idea, to buy one after she had tried it out, but it was hard going. Oh, how she screamed and cried! You'd think we were trying to torture her. When I got nervous at her shrieking, Drew said evenly, "Imagine how that screaming sounds right in my ear." He was right. As soon as we had her positioned correctly and she could see clear over Drew's head, she started getting interested in things around her. When we were in line to check out, she actually started flirting with the guy ahead of us in line, who told us he loved the Sherpani and used it until his kids were about 18 months or so. After he said that, she gave him a cute little smile then reached out to touch his arm. It was so sweet!

This morning we were cleaning up breakfast and Rachel was in the living room, chattering away to herself as she played with her toys. (No discernible words yet, but she was quite the little chatterbox today!) It felt odd to be in the kitchen alone with Drew, without Rachel underfoot or trying to crawl toward us.

"I don't know if you've noticed how independent she's become," Drew said. "First, we walked away and she shrieked. Then we walked away and she crawled after us. Now, SHE crawls away from US to go play on her own!"

What great insight.