Our sweet girl

Yesterday when he dropped her off at preschool, Drew said, Rachel's friend Giada rushed up to her and said "Rachel! Rachel! Look what I made for you!"

It was a friendship bracelet with white beads spelling R-A-C-H-E-L.

I was speechless and immediately e-mailed Giada's mom to thank her, tell her that I'm glad our girls are friends, and to set up a playdate for this weekend. It's tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m., and Sharon (Giada's mom) invited me to drop Rachel off for a few hours. Freedom! Hard to believe we've gotten to that stage in life where the kids get dropped off and the mommies and daddies get to roam. Of course, us being us, I'll be working on magazine stuff from home and Drew will take the time to go to Costco and run other errands. Sigh. One of these days we'll manage a matinee....

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Today Rachel had a dentist's appointment with Mike McKeel, our family dentist, whose wife is on the Multnomah County Commission and whose kids are all very successful in life. McKeel is a jolly, Santa-like guy who is the very picture of a good dentist and Rachel adores going to him. Today, she informed me, she gave him "two hugs and three kisses" and Mike's dental assistant told Drew, "you're doing everything right, and I don't just mean her teeth. She's a wonderful little girl." The assistant also told Drew that seeing Rachel "could be the highlight of my day." I'm always thrilled to hear stuff like that, especially after the hellacious week I've been having at work.

Mike said Rachel's teeth were great. "If all kids' teeth were as good as your, I'd be out of business and their mommies and daddies would be very happy," he said. Love hearing that, too!

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Rachel was extra cuddly this morning. I woke up early because of stress and also because I had to do a follow-up interview with someone in South Africa at 8 a.m. So, I had time to read to and snuggle with Rachel on the living room loveseat.

She woke up totally on her own at 7:30, which was a relief because it left Drew and Rachel plenty of time to get to the dentist before Drew had to leave for Seattle. I praised Rachel for getting up so early on her own initiative, and she said her stuffed animals had woken her up in the middle of the night because they wanted to go ice sledding.

"Ice sledding!" I laughed. "What did you tell them?"

"I told them, 'Animals!' Rachel said in an exasperated voice. 'We went ice sledding YESTERDAY!'"

I burst out laughing and told her she'll be an excellent mom someday.