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!"