A bottle & book, please, mommy....

Rachel now likes to drink her last bottle of the night while one of us is reading her a book. She is no doubt preparing for the day when we all sit around the breakfast table on Sunday, reading newspapers and commenting. Assuming there are any newspapers to ready by then...

Her new game is grabbing mommy's nose. Then I grab her nose. Then she giggles. Then she points at my left ear and I point at HER left ear and say, "that's RACHEL'S left ear!" Then she points at my right ear and I point at HER right ear and say, "that's RACHEL'S right ear!" This continues with my chin, nose, neck, throat and chest. It happens several times a day.

She is "talking" constantly these days, pretty much from the moment she gets up. Shannon, one of the daycare ladies, told Drew on Thursday that Rachel had been talking to herself when she suddenly started laughing. It was as if she was telling herself a little baby joke! She cracks herself up!

And last night when I came home from work she was on the kitchen floor while Drew was making dinner. I gave her the car keys to play with, which she did for a minute and then handed them back to me and said a garbled (but still understandable): "want your keys?" I was so startled that I said, "um, sure, honey! Thanks!" and stared at her in astonishment. Apparently she is skipping individual words and going straight to sentences and paragraphs.

Rachel develops a sense of humor

Last night while she was on the changing table, Rachel took Drew's glasses and tossed them to the floor. She did the same with his cell phone.

Then she looked him straight in the eye and laughed! "I definitely got the feeling she was laughing at me," he said.

The other night I was on the phone with my friend Dave from college and I told him that Rachel had said, "how you say dat?" in Rachel-ese. Then Rachel looked at me and said it AGAIN! Dave was very impressed. He gave me the best description of seeing a child develop:

"It's like watching evolution," he said.

Rachel's new game

invented on the spot as I was getting her ready for her bath tonight: She was on the changing table and I was standing next to her when she suddenly threw herself against my chest and giggled. I grabbed her and half-tickled, half-hugged her. Then she looked up, grinned mischievously, and threw herself against me again. It helped that I was wearing a blue Patagonia fleece that I believe is her favorite of all my soft winter clothes. She did this three times before I regretfully had to make her stop because I wanted to get her to sleep a bit earlier than usual.

Rachel woke up at 8:50 a.m. this morning, really late for getting to daycare and getting myself to work. So we are trying an experiment: Getting her down to bed 15 minutes early. In her case, that means starting to clean up the toys and drink her bottle at 8:20 p.m. instead of 8:40. The bedtime ritual -- bottle, stories, bath, lotion, sleepsuit, songs, sleep -- takes about 45 minutes. So the upshot of it was that I got her to sleep at 9:05 instead of 9:20.

I hope this doesn't permanently screw up her sleep schedule and make her wake up at 7 or 7:30. But it's getting darker and colder and by the time I changed her into her sleepsuit she was already rubbing her eyes. So if this works, I'll have a bit more time to myself at night, which would be nice. I could really use the time to catch up on all the boring grownup stuff that Rachel never sees, like paying bills, balancing my checkbook, going through all the issues of New York that pile up because I never asked for a subscription but the folks there have kindly decided to send me the magazine in the hopes that I will finally break down and subscribe...

It's also a good time to post to this blog. So, goodnight folks. Catch you soon.

A lovely fall evening

We spent it at our friends Klaus and Carrie's house with their two kids, Ani (4) and Elsa (2). Rachel loved being around them. She laughed and crawled and cruised and tried to climb up onto the coffee table. When we directed her to the ottoman, she fell and did a nasty bonk on her head. She cried for about two minutes, cuddled in Drew's arms, cruised along the table to get picked up by mommy, cuddled in her arms for a minute....and then she wanted down to go to Dada again.

We brought over Moroccan stew and chocolate covered toffee bars. We stashed Rached in a booster seat and she did quite well. It was the second time in two days -- last night we shared a pizza with friends of ours three blocks away -- that Rachel has been in a booster seat. So, Drew says he'll try to find one on a shopping expedition with Rachel later this week. A booster seat! I had sort of assumed that she'd go straight from a high chair to sitting at the table like a little lady in, oh, two years or so. Guess not.

It will be great to have her sitting in a grownup chair. We love her high chair and plan to keep it a while, but it's nice to have another dining option, as well. And it means our small eating nook will be (slightly) less crowded, which will make mealtimes a bit easier. Now if we can only get her to eat an all-grownup meal AND drink milk from a sippy cup....

Words! Well, kind of...

I'm working my usual 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift today and Drew called at 9 a.m. with this report:

--He was reading a picture book to her called "Clip Clop" about Mr. Horse giving a ride to cat and dog and pig and duck. They go faster and faster, the animals fall into a haystack, Mr. Horse gets worried but the animals are OK and then they do it ALL OVER AGAIN. (Can you tell that I am really, really looking forward to the day when our reading will involve Greek myths?). Anyway, Rachel pointed to some random words and then said a very garbled, "a, b, c, d."

--Later in the same book, she pointed to a picture of duck and said, again in garbled Rachel-ese: "How you say dat?"

WOW!

I insisted Drew put her on the phone, and I said, "hello, Rachel! Mommy loves you! YAY! and blew kisses. She giggled and, Drew said, had a big smile on her face the whole time. Apparently she now realizes that Mommy lives in the phone, too!

California dreamin'

Highlights from our trip to northern California to visit Mom & Dad:

--Mom & Dad's condo overlooked Mt. Tamalpais and was right over the water, so we had a stunning view. Rachel loved pounding on the sliding glass door (she doesn't have a lot of hand strength yet so it wasn't dangerous) and looking at herself in all the full-length mirrors in the living room.

--We found a fabulous playground in Tiburon. It had a spongy surface, a small climbing wall, a steam shovel built into the sandbox and a cooking play structure built into the concrete. Plus there were lots of toy cars to push around. It made me immediately want to relocate. Rachel gingerly sat on Mom's & Dad's laps at the park, then scared them by pitching head-first down the slide and crawling through a tunnel, which she did over and over and over again. It was like she wanted to master it before going on to the next thing.

--We spent time at the Discovery Center, a fantastic kid's museum complex that started life as an old Army barracks. Rachel had a great time splashing her hand in a raised stream bed, crawling up some cushions that had been fashioned in the shape of an ant hill, and pouring gravel into a hard hat that Mom held out to her.

--Rachel and Drew were sick with colds, but Rachel slept like a champ in an unfamiliar crib right next to us. We were very impressed! It appears that we may, indeed, be able to take family vacations together. Camping during the summer of 2010, anyone?

Day trip

Rachel and I zipped down to Eugene, two hours south, today to visit our friend Molly and her kids Calvin, Camilla and Marigold. Camilla absolutely loves Rachel: She says she's the cutest baby in the whole world. And today, for the first time, Rachel didn't seem uncomfortable when Camilla hugged and kissed her. She just smiled and laughed every time she got near her. I made sure to point that out to Camilla, who is almost 6. We decided that she will be Rachel's big sister, since Rachel doesn't have one. So, Camilla is now Rachel's "big sissy" in Eugene.

Calvin apparently is so smitten by his baby sister, 14-month-old Marigold, that he didn't show much interest in Rachel. That's OK, maybe next time.

We spent most of the afternoon playing on an air mattress in Molly's hearth room while a cozy fire roared in her fireplace. It was so comfy! And Rachel loved being held by Molly and sitting in Molly's lap. That's quite rare these days; except for the daycare ladies, Rachel is most comfortable with mommy and daddy. I tried to take naps twice today but she kept crawling all over me. I think she sees me as a big jungle gym!

I fed her an early dinner, put her in her jammies and then strapped her in the car seat for the long ride home, when I practiced Christmas music for my chorus's upcoming Christmas concerts. I got a lot of work done, plus I hope that Rachel gets an appreciation for music when she hears mommy practicing in the car. It was lovely on the way down to Eugene belting "Angels we have heard on high" as I passed the brilliant fall foliage heading down the southern Willamette Valley. It is so beautiful this time of year, and a reminder that I am lucky to be blessed with so much.

Fastidious baby

Rachel seems to have an obsession with cleanliness. She'll put up with a certain amount of messiness on the tray of her high chair, but when she doesn't want to eat any more challah or Gardenburger, she'll push it away toward the edge of the tray as if she wants it out of her sight, NOW.

That is usually followed by her picking up miniscule pieces of soy or microscopic crumbs from the bread and handing them to me. This extends into her recreation; a couple of weeks ago at the park, she brushed a bunch of wood chips off the play structure before walking on it in her sneakers.

At the end of playtime at night, I've taken to holding out the bag of Duplos (big Legos) and handing her each one for her to drop in the bag. This usually occurs about 10 minutes after she has dumped the entire bag on the floor and laughed and laughed at the mess. I'm trying to gently introduce her to the idea that when it's time for bed, we pick up our toys and put them away.

I think Drew got a little jealous last night because Rachel wanted to feed me. She has done this for a couple of weeks now. When she's finished with her challah, she'll often take the second-to-last or last piece and hand it to me. When I cup my palm, she'll either ignore it or push it away and point the bread toward my mouth. When I reach down and eat it, a look of pleasure and relief crosses her face. It's so sweet! And generous!

Apparently she never does that with Drew. I think she sense that mommy may need more strength than daddy. Or else that mommies feed everyone and so they need to be fed occasionally, too!

Feetie jammies!

Never thought my daughter would be big enough to wear footie pajamas. Yet last night, Drew zipped her into her warm pajamas, which are pink and are covered with drawings of kittens. She doesn't even need a sleepsack!

Her favorite going-down-for-the-night position is now sprawled over our chests. The other night she pressed her chest and stomach against my chest and stomach and tucked her head under my chin. One hand held her rubber ducky and the other clutched my fleece.

It was tough to stop singing and put her in the crib.

Storytelling baby

Today when I picked Rachel up from daycare, Shannon told me that Rachel had spent a cheerful afternoon playing by herself and chattering away. "It sounded like she was telling herself a story about what she was doing," Shannon said.

Too bad Rachel doesn't yet realize that mommy intends to steer her toward a career that involves anything except writing for a living. I can't afford to support her AND me in retirement!

She continues to be quite sociable. This morning as I fed her her yogurt at daycare, she kept pointing toward another little baby, Vicente, who was eating graham crackers. I thought Rachel was angling for the crackers, but no -- she just wanted to touch Vicente. And they did! They touched fingers! It was so cute!

Also, I think there may be dogs she likes. She was terrified last week when we visited our friends Anna and Judy, since they have big, loud, slobbery dogs that even Drew finds a bit intimidating. Rachel cried and cried and cried, she couldn't be soothed against my chest.

Last night we visited our friend Vince, whose house I rented years ago when I returned from the fellowship and he left for it. (We basically traded residences for a year). His house was a big reason we decided to buy ours in the same neighborhood.

Anyway, we had a nice chat on his steps, with Rachel on my lap and his small dog, Daisy, in his lap. Daisy is pretty friendly but she didn't seem to notice Rachel. Rachel was so emboldened that she reached out and touched Daisy's nose! She couldn't quite bring herself to touch the back of the dog's ears, though. They are super silky and I bet Rachel would have loved the sensation. Maybe when she's a little older.

15 months! (and one day..)

It's hard to believe Rachel was ever an infant. Lucky I have the pictures to prove it! She's barrelling toward toddlerhood and I can tell we will soon have less and less control of her. She is:

--Approximating words. Her favorite is, "whash shat?" which Drew and I have translated to, "What's that?" since it is always accompanied by pointing. Now that we get to explain stuff to her, it makes talking at her much more interesting.

--Standing perfectly. And taking one tentative step before sitting down. It's almost as if she's nervous about walking because she knows that means she's not a baby anymore and thus has more responsibility along with the freedom.

--Building stuff. Which, in Rachel-world, means stacking one or two blocks atop each other until she loses interest.

--Matching some shapes and colors.

--In love with puzzles, simple ones. I can already imagine the day when she and Drew put together a 1,000-piece jigsaw while I read a magazine next to them, all of us in front of a roaring fire.

--Eating tortellini, whole-grain noodles (yuck, I say, but she doesn't mind the taste), hard-boiled eggs, almost any kind of fruit, cheese sticks and challah, her favorite bread. Yes, folks, she's Jewish.

--Developing a mischievous side. Sometimes when she's delighted, she'll squint her eyes and give me a huge grin and twsit her torso from side to side. Or when I feed her, she'll squint her eyes, tip her head and open her mouth, expecting mommy to feed her like a mommy bird would feed a baby bird!

--Very cuddly. She has started to put her head on Drew's shoulder and chest but reserves her cuddly moods for mommy. Today at daycare, I couldn't find an attendant to hand her to, so I took her over to a rocking chair, sat down and held her in my lap. She immediately lay her body against mine and tucked her head under my chin. I could have sat there for hours.

--Still looking like Drew. We are positive her eyes will stay blue.

--Growing, growing, growing. She is LONG and she has large hands and feet. She also has wavy brown hair with little curls in the back and a nicely developed baby tummy.

--Climbing everywhere she can and is tremendously frustrated she can't hoist herself onto our leather loveseat in the living room. Hey, I thought they were supposed to walk before they could climb!

--Bouncing to music. Her voice, to me, sounds musical too -- it's fun to listen to babies figure out how to use the timbre of their voices to speak. Never thought watching language development could be so interesting.

--A daddy's girl. Drew has spent more time with her than I have this past month, and they definitely get along wonderfully. I have to admit, though, that she gets excited when she's in his arms and sees mommy coming. Then it's back to "Dada."

--Pointing to letters of the alphabet and waiting for me to say what they are! Thanks to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for being the most awesome book ever...

--Completely absorbing to watch. Now we know why couples don't have date nights. It's far more entertaining to stay home and watch what the baby does.

More baby friends...

Drew has had Rachel mostly to himself the last two days as I wrap up a long story. Yesterday, he said a little girl, about 2, came up to Rachel and gave her a hug! Then she planted a kiss on her cheek! Rachel was a bit startled but didn't cry. She ended up touching the other little girl's face. It sounded so sweet, I wish I'd been there.

Today they met another little girl, Betty. Her mother said she walked at 10 months of age. Apparently she and Rachel hit it off. Rachel was climbing all over the play structure at the park, sliding down the slide, and discovering the game of tennis. She whined for a tennis ball and a guy teaching his daughter to play rolled one to her. So, she proceeded to talk a couple of steps holding Drew's hand, with the tennis ball in her hand. Then she threw it ahead, and toddled after it, holding Drew's hand. She did this for a long time.

I guess this means I'll have to teach her how to play tennis. She will probably beat me in straight sets by the time she is, oh, 8 or so.

Can it be?

Rachel took two steps by herself last night...before falling on her bottom. Walking feels like hours or days away instead of weeks!

She stands up and sits down perfectly -- even gracefully. It seems she wanted to master that before walking, since she is rather stiff-legged when she tries.

In other news...Grandpa Oliver and Grandma Sylvie will have to wait a week before seeing us. Turns out a typhoon is about to hit northern California so we will be delaying our trip by a week.

whine, whine, whine....

Rachel has been whiny, off and on, the last two days. Drew describes it as listening to a dentist's drill, and he is absolutely right. It's as if she's unsatisfied with something and she can't figure out what it is. I hope this recedes next week when we're in California visiting Grandpa Oliver and Grandma Sylvie.

Last night we got a sheet from St. James explaining the Toddler 1 section. She'll have one naptime and defined periods of music and art. Hey, at least she'll be exposed to it before entering Portland Public Schools, where art and music are dismissed as frills and have been slashed to ribbons. Sigh.

I bought her a puzzle, two toy cars and some clothes at a consignment store I found yesterday while reporting a story in a town about an hour away from Portland. Turns out some of the clothes that were labeled 18 months are really for 2-year-olds, which means that I bought corduroy pants for her to wear in...July. Silly mommy! Oh, well, each piece was $1 so it's not like I wasted an undue amount of money. I'm sure I can swap them for some properly fitting clothes at one of the giant swaps around town.

Big baby, part 2

Did I mention Rachel likes climbing? She pretends to be all cuddly and lovey, and then she'll reach past me to grab the pillows on the loveseat to help climb her way to the top. I feel so used!

She also has demonstrated an unusual amount of interest in the baby gate that we've put at the top of the attic stairs. I had fastened it and was playing with her up there last Sunday while Drew slept in, when she crawled over to it and then stood up on her tiptoes and peered over the edge! Then she started fiddling with the fastener but couldn't unlock it. Drew says not to worry -- it's difficult enough for us to lock and unlock, let alone an almost-15-month-old.

In the last two days, whenever I set her down on the changing table to undress her, she stands right up. And when I was getting her some socks from the drawer underneath her crib yesterday morning, she grabbed the edge of the table and almost pitched herself to the floor. Thank goodness Drew was in the room, getting ready to leave for work.

I can't believe how careless I was. It's a wonder she hasn't hurt herself already. I'm sure that's coming -- with her first tree climb.

big baby!

Drew took Rachel grocery shopping and to the park yesterday while I stayed at home, trying to get work done. He said he saw a boy about 2 years old with his mom. His mom remarked, on seeing Rachel, "what a beautiful daughter you have! She's 2, right?"

"Uh, no," Drew answered. "She's not quite 15 months old."

"Wow!" the woman remarked. "She looks so big!"

Drew reported to me later that Rachel was at least two inches taller than the woman's son.

It's true, she seems to be getting bigger by leaps and bounds. I can barely keep up with how fast she outgrows stuff. Drew bought some winter clothes for her on Friday. Unfortunately there were no dresses in the pile -- just preppy turtlenecks and slacks.

She has also become very interested in Matchbox cars. "Could you get her interested in some dolls? At least one?" I asked Drew.

He chortled in reply, no doubt counting the days he gets to take her to spring training camp. The Mets, of course.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Last night we were formally welcomed to our new synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, with a lovely musical service in the gorgeous sanctuary. Rachel managed to sit on Drew's lap for a while, but then got restless. So, she spent most of the hourlong service crawling around in the lobby.

You can imagine how her yelps reverberated througout the synagogue. Luckily Rabbi Cahana has a sense of humor (he has a 16-year-old son and 11-year-old triplet girls) so he didn't even stop his sermon!

Later, at the reception, Rachel continued crawling around. She probably was amazed at all the room she had -- it must have felt like a giant playground! No chairs and nothing else to impede her progress except a lot of legs.

An elderly woman noticed Rachel and said to Drew, "that is one happy baby!" And most of the time, it is true. We feel very blessed.

Mardi Gras Rachel

Rachel has discovered some Mardi Gras beads I brought back from a Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans years ago, when I went there to celebrate the release of "Extreme Barbecue." She was wearing them around her neck when she and Drew greeted me tonight after I got home from work.

During dinner she took them off, played with them on the tray of her high chair, then put them on again. Each time she did that, she smiled a huge smile, as if she knew she was getting away with something!

She is definitely worried about my nutrition. Tonight she held out a piece of challah. When I held out my hand for her to put the challah in, she pushed my hand away and reached for my mouth and smiled when I ate it.

I think she believes that if mommy's sick, she doesn't get fed.