More milestones

They're little, but significant. A sampling, just from today:

--She took off her zippered hoodie. Yes, it was unzipped, but the fact that she managed to shrug her way out of it was, to me, amazing.

--At lunch, after I fed her a cheese stick, she reached for the wrapping. Then she tried to open the garbage can; her booster seat is about level with it. When I opened it for her, she dropped the wrapping inside.

--She built a very high tower out of her Lego blocks.

--I was looking all over for my glasses -- scrabbling under the cushions of the leather couch, peering under the pillows, on the floor, starting to grumble about how was I supposed to find my glasses if I couldn't see anything? -- and said absent-mindedly, "Rachel, have you seen my glasses?" She reached over to the end table and handed them to me. "Uh, thank you honey," I said, astonished.

--Rachel likes to mess around with my cell phone a lot, and has somehow discovered how to get on the Internet and find the way to entering contact information for frequently-called numbers. She found the key to entering contact information; I entered Drew's numbers, then asked her if she could pull up the same list again so I could enter a friend's number. On the second try, she did.

--She grabbed at my sport watch; I took it off and she threw it on the floor. "Rachel, don't throw Mommy's watch," I said. "Please give my watch back to me." She scrunched over a bit, retrieved it, and handed it back.

Bad Mommy, Part II

Drew left for Seattle this morning to work a *$!# weekend shift. Can you tell how much I hate the fact that he, an experienced business reporter who lives 300-plus miles away from his newspaper, has to drive up there every six weeks to work a Sunday cops shift? He has tried and tried to get out of it, to no avail.

Anyway, he left just as our friend Laura and her two girls, 3-year-old Carly and 6-month-old Ren, came to visit. Rachel seemed intimidated by Carly, who had no problem snatching Rachel's toys and giving them to her sister. Rachel was a bit put off when Ren started "playing" (more like trying to grasp) her toys. Soon enough, though, it was time for Rachel's nap. And Laura and the kids left soon after.

It was/is bitterly cold here, and after Rachel woke up and had lunch, I just couldn't summon the energy to take her anywhere -- a walk, the museum, even the mall to to some holiday shopping. So we ended up playing in the living room most of the day until I got really tired at 5 and lay down on the couch and closed my eyes. If Drew had been here, no problem -- he would have taken Rachel upstairs, or I would have gone down to the basement, to sleep. Instead, I had to contend with Rachel who obediently lay down on my chest to cuddle but then wanted to get up and PLAY. I finally just closed my eyes and ignored her -- even after she brought pine cones over to me and tried to make me EAT one. (I'm not kidding, there is sap all over my neck tonight). I finally sat up around 6:15, I read the paper and she played somewhat quietly at my feet, then I went into the kitchen to make dinner.

Why am I a bad mommy? Because I should have thought up interesting games for us to play this afternoon, instead of drinking cup after cup of tea to stave off laryngitis (it's true, my voice is almost gone) and trying to sleep. And somehow I forgot to give her her four bottles of milk (she only got three; two at dinner). Hey, at least I remembered lunch AND snack.

So now I am getting ready for bed, thankful that I am a working mom because I think I'd be a complete failure at staying home with her all day. I don't have anywhere near the imagination to deal with a toddler.

I read!

That's what Rachel said this morning while Drew was showering downstairs. She and I were in the kitchen; she was sitting on top of the table, took a book from the basket of toys and books we keep to amuse her while we're eating dinner (since lots of times she eats beforehand) and, while leafing through "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," she said, "I read."

I READ!!

OK, it was a little garbled, but still.

I READ!!

She made little comments as she was flipping through the book.

I READ!!

If it's true, it's....it's....well, let's just echo what Drew said: "You are an AMAZING baby!"

(Except, as you can see from this picture, we can't really call her a baby anymore. She's a toddler who likes to throw balls.)

She's a KID!!

Toothbrush terror abated?

Drew put Rachel down for the night on Wednesday and Thursday. Both days, he actually was able to brush her teeth! He put the toothbrush on her cheek and brushed her lips with the bristles. She resisted at first but then was OK with having the toothbrush in her mouth.

Drew couldn't brush vigorously, but it was enough to give her front and bath teeth a quick going-over. Yay! No baby cavities!

I'm not totally surprised; she has asked, "wash shat?" and pointed to the toothbrush, then pointed to the bristles. She has even picked it up.

Drew reminded me that Rachel also used to cry and scream when we have her fluoride drops, which she will taking in liquid or pill form until she is 13 because this stupid city won't fluoridate its water (don't ask). Now she matter-of-factly opens her mouth and swallows the odorless, tasteless drops. No big deal.

Rachel's other life

..I think she's leading an entirely separate existence at daycare. Why? Yesterday her daycare report said she "had so much fun playing with the dolls and dishes."

I got very excited, thinking she is FINALLY ready to play with the basket of stuffed animals and cuddly dolls we've been given (including some lovely little dolls in the shape of mice that my friend Jeannette sent her from Japan).

Well, I brought the basket out last night when we got home...and Rachel showed NO INTEREST, actually pushing the animals away. Then she returned to stacking blocks.

One nice thing they did say at daycare: Yet another attendant told me that she has never seen Rachel cry. And except for getting defensive when another child snatches a toy from her, she's pretty even-tempered. She never goes on the attack.

Mommy's hair

..apparently is fascinating. The last two nights, Rachel has looked up at me as I rock her and sing her to sleep, then reached out to touch my hair. Then she looks at me intently and snuggles back into my chest. I think she wonders why my hair is different from hers, which is light brown and so sparse! (we're assuming it will grow in thick and lush like Drew's).

Yes, it's the best part of the day: Holding a cuddly baby against my body.

A restless night

..for me, anyway: Rachel woke up crying at 3:30 a.m. Just as I was about to go in and soothe her, she got herself back to sleep. Yay for her but not for me: I ended up being awake until 4:30 a.m., when the applesauce and trips to the bathroom finally took hold and I fell asleep.

I woke up at 8 a.m.! And Rachel didn't wake up until 9!

She did, however, have quite the conversation with herself on the way to daycare. When we got there and I was preparing to feed her some yogurt, she pounded on the table (she does this on her high chair tray as if to say, "Yo, Mom! I'm HUNGRY!"). She finished about a third of it before I walked her into the Do Room, which has lots of mats and slides to play on. The other kids, especially a cute little girl named Sloane, seemed so happy to see her but she hesitated before going in. Then Teacher Karen took her hand and led her inside, and (hopefully) all is well!