The calm after the storm

After a temper tantrum (usually at the table), Rachel now lets us know when all is right in her world again: She says "hi!" in a cheerful voice. That lets us know that she's OK, we're OK, and can we please go read books now??

22 months old!

As usual, I'm late. So, what else is new? Here's the Rachel birthday update for this month:

--She now wants to "read" to herself, so the other night as she sat on her little red plastic chair "reading" "Go Dog Go" -- which she has memorized to the point of being able to correctly say, "Big Dog/Little Dog" -- I pulled out a Wallace Stegner book and read right along with her until she indicated she wanted me to haul her on my lap and read aloud to her. I'm already dreaming of winter nights with her in a beanbag chair in front of the fireplace, buried in some book, while I read a magazine nearby and Drew reads the latest book he has to review for The Seattle Times. Ah, bliss...

--Her newest word is, "cuddle" although it comes out sounding like "cu-yul!" She likes us to cuddle her while she's eating, when I pick her up from daycare, and any other time she needs a hug. I'm mastering the art of putting my arm around her and pulling her close to me while she eats challah and I try to eat salad and read the paper.

--She LOVES being chased. She'll run into the living room or her bedroom, collapse on the carpet and exclaim delightedly, "All fall down!"

--She also loves being sung to. Her favorite songs that she requests over and over: "Baa baa black sheep," "Twinkle twinkle little star," and "You are my sunshine."

--She drinks a lot of water, especially after daycare. I think it must be dry in there.

--She has started to tell us when she's gone "pee pee" and "poopy" but hasn't indicated any interest in giving up diapers. Maybe later this year?

--She's still dependent on her pacifier when she's eating, if she's mad that we won't race to feed her or that we won't spoon food into her mouth. She also uses it at night and during the day on weekends. We are about to begin the weaning process.

--She has begun to pick up TRASH. Usually she makes a face and says, "yucky!" What a good little Oregon girl!

--She can identify where "mommy cah" lives (in the garage); "daddy cah" (out front) and "rachey cah" (near "mommy cah" in the garage). If we could take Rachey cah to daycare, we would, because she LOVES it.

--Now that she has all her letters, we've moved on to colors. She can correctly identify blue, green, pink, purple, yellow and brown. We're still working on burnt sienna (ha ha).

--She now has a nightly routine of covering her three rubber duckies with the washcloth, turning to Drew and saying, "sh! sh! sh!" The duckies go nie-nie, just like Rachel.

--She has the best laugh -- it's so infectious. I think it'll turn into a full-on belly laugh when she's older, just like her mommy....

--Speaking of mommy, she still looks nothing like me. Her face is still all Drew, as everyone constantly points out.

--She's got a strong sense of herself. If you ask her if she's a baby or a toddler she'll say, "toddle" very emphatically. Also, "no baby shoes" -- she wears TODDLE shoes (which are really a pair of cool-looking purple Converse high-tops that Drew bought for her one weekend. What, you thought I would buy such a thing? But she looks really, really hip in them!

--Every night that I pick her up from daycare, we get home, I take off her shoes, we go to her bedroom, she drops them in her drawer and pulls out her slippers (see-poos, in Rachel-ese). I take her in my lap and put them on her, then we go into MY room and she gets MY slippers from beside the bed and hands them to me. It's the sweetest thing you can imagine!

--She can unzip her windbreaker and take it off without mommy or daddy's help.

--She loves playing with miniature blocks. She's especially fond of the cylindrical ones -- she takes them out of the box and arranges them very carefully on the coffee table in a pattern that only makes sense to her.

--Friends of ours say she looks so intelligent. That's probably because she has a habit of really concentrating on something when she's thinking or trying to puzzle out how something works.

--She takes her nightly fluoride drops -- the ones she used to hate and shut her mouth and cry about -- quite willingly. Even eagerly -- she'll remind me to give them to her by reaching for the container.

--She says "I love you" almost every time I say it to her. I can never hear enough of it.

--Her favorite food to ask for is, "cookies?" which she says in a hilarious drawn-out way, as if she's trying to get away with something. It's hard to resist.

--She is such a wonderful daughter that I constantly ask myself, "what did I do to deserve her?"

Happy Mother's Day!

We spent it with Molly and the kids because, as I pointed out to Molly, this may be the last time we EVER get to spend Mother's Day together in our LIVES.

We had a nice trip down there; when Rachel wasn't being fussy in her car seat, she got us to sing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." All she has to do is approximate the words and tune to one of those songs and we know exactly what she's talking about so we join in. Then we usually move on to, "He's got the whole world in his hands." So picture Drew and I singing to the little girl as we head down the highway and, as Drew remarked, "You're back in volunteer mode, aren't you?" YES, I was remembering Namibia and all the Sixties lefty protest songs that a whole African village is probably still singing. Which is why it was totally approriate to do this as we drove to Eugene, the hippie capital of the universe.

Molly's kids arrived at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Drew cooked breakfast for everyone, then Molly, the kids and I and Rachel headed to Molly's church. It's a mellow Christian fellowship and aside from the mentions of Jesus there was a lot I could relate to. Rachel spent time in the nursery and barely noticed when I came back; she was evidently having a lot of fun! Then we came back to Molly's where I napped a bit while Drew packed the car. Molly begged me to stay until Monday but I insisted we needed to get back home.

On the drive back, Rachel gave me the best Mother's Day gift ever: She said, "hi mama!" from her car seat. "Hi Rachel!" I replied.

"I love you," she said -- TOTALLY UNPROMPTED!!

"I love you too!" I said back, and almost started crying with happiness. This is what having a child does to you.

Then a couple of minutes later she said, "Daddy ha boo eyes," -- Daddy has blue eyes!

"Did you HEAR that?" Drew demanded. I think it was her first grown-up sentence!

When we got home she and Drew gave me two lovely gifts: a certificate for a spa that he demanded I actually use and not put off; and a magnet with "I love you Mom," that Rachel helped make in daycare. I promptly put it on the refrigerator and I swore to Drew that I would never, ever throw it away. Now I know why moms get obsessive about keeping boxes and boxes and boxes of their children's treasures.

Lastly a big thank-you for the most tears-inducing gift: A book called "Mars needs Moms!" from Daniella. It's by Berkeley Breathed, the cartoonist of "Opus," fame. It is so touching that I started crying when I opened it on Saturday, and I re-read it just now and started crying again. Thank you, Daniella. You're a no. 1 mom and no. 1 sister! I'm so lucky to have so much!

Nie-nie, part 3

Last night Rachel asked for "Daddy books. Daddy books. Daddy books." She was remarkably patient when Drew asked her to wait until he finished his salad. Then they toddled off to her bedroom with barely a backward glance at Mommy. Sigh.

At least she still lets me put on her slippers. She won't let Drew do it -- maybe I'm better at that sort of thing?

Anyway, Drew told me later that after she lay the washcloth over her duckies in the tub, she turned to him, put her finger to her lips and said, "sshhh."

"Are the duckies sleeping?" Drew whispered back.

"Yah," she said.

Is it any wonder we find her absolutely magical?

Rachey cah!

Our friend and Supermom Molly gave Rachel a toddler-sized plastic car for her 1st birthday. It's perfect for kids to sit in the seat and either pump their legs on the pavement to make the car go or relax and let Mommy and Daddy do the work.

Rachel loved it but we never used it much until a couple of weeks ago, when Drew was inspired one Saturday to put her inside. She's much bigger now than when she was 1, of course, so she had A BLAST.

Now every night she points vaguely in the direction of the garage, where the car lives, and exclaims, "Rachey cah!" (I dislike the nickname "Rachey," but that's what she's called at daycare and I just go with the flow. Plus, as Drew points out, she's going to get a nickname eventually). That's usually followed by "Mommy cah!" and "Daddy cah!" (she points toward downhill as she says this because Drew parks on the sidewalk in front of the house, under the maple tree).

Nie-nie, Part 2

Last night while I was at chorus, Drew was giving Rachel a bath when she began the cute nightly routine of covering her rubber duckies with the washcloth.

Drew began splashing the bathwater a little and she gave him what he described later as a reproachful look. Then she held her finger to her lips and said, "shh!!"

"Rachel!" Drew laughed. "Are you telling me to be quiet so the duckies can go nie-nie?"

"Yah," she whispered.

Hours later he had this to say, "Don't tell me our daughter doesn't have an imagination!"

Rachel counting

..and now that she knows the alphabet, Rachel has moved on to counting. She can count "one" and "two" but not much beyond that. However, if she sees a row of things (like the buttons on my shirt), she'll do what Drew and I call "Rachel counting." It sounds like this:

"Ses. Ses. Ses. Ses. Six!"

I have no idea where she gets that from. I almost would rather her count in Rachel-ese than in English, it's so endearing!

We have all 26!

Yes, folks, it's true!! Rachel can identify all 26 letters of the alphabet! It doesn't matter what order they're in; she'll point to them and say them correctly (although "w" is still "double," but it counts). I'm so glad we bought a pretty picture of alphabet letters and hung it over her changing table because she loves touching the letters and identifying them.

My friend Dan, ever the set-the-bar-high kinda guy, asked me when I planned to start teaching her to speak Spanish.

cuddle!

After I pick up Rachel from daycare, we usually have a wind-down cuddle session in the car. I'll give her a sippy cup of water and she'll sit on my lap, point out any dogs or buses or yellow objects she sees, then settle into my chest for some Mommy hugs and pats.

Today after I got some takeout Chinese food and was about to settle her back in to her car seat, she looked at me and said, "cuddle!" So OF COURSE we did. We ended up getting home late, but who cares? I savor every moment she wants me to hug her because I know the day will come when she'll want to avoid me like The Plague.

Last night was another tender moment. I had just finished reading books to her when I said, "I love you!" and she looked at me with an unbelievably cute expression on her face and replied, "I love you TOO!"

I hugged her and said, "Oh, Rachel! I am so LUCKY to have you as my daughter!" And all of a sudden this feeling swept over me -- how fortunate I am that Drew and I ended up with such a great kid, and how much fun she's getting and what did I do to deserve such fortune, anyway?

Then I burst into tears and hugged her tight.

Daddy books & thank you

Two things of note today: I've spent most of it apart from Rachel because I was on a panel in the morning about courts and the media, and I'm working a night cops shift that ends at 11:30 p.m. Drew brought Rachel into the bathroom this morning as I was finishing up my makeup. She seemed perfectly content to wave "bye-bye!" to me as I rushed out the door. Probably because she knew that she'd get Drew all to herself today.

I called home before I started my shift and Drew told me that Rachel said, "Daddy books!" after breakfast. Only now it seems to mean that she sits on his lap and
"reads" books to herself until she decides she wants Drew to read to her.

Really, she'd probably let us read to her all afternoon if we could.

She also said at least one unprompted "thank you," (which in Rachel-ese sounds like "thank-oo!") after Drew gave her some yogurt. She is getting better and better at saying "please" and "thank you" at the breakfast/lunch/dinner table. Now we'll move on to trying to get her to say those words in other parts of her life. Also, we'll start teaching her to say, "you're welcome!"