Lots of Changes

"When did we get The Goblet of Fire? I haven't read that one yet.

"She sees me, doesn't she? Quick, think of something clever to say. "

"Hello, mother. You look so lovely today. I've been right here the whole time."

No Sugar Added applesauce is a little tart

It seems like a lot has changed quickly in Raegan's world lately. For the past 4 weeks, she hadn't been sleeping well. She woke up crying several times a night and was wide awake. She had been sleeping through the night since 3 months but had been having a hard time lately. She also had not been very interested in finishing her bottles. We didn't know if her sleeping problems were from hunger, teething (another tooth is coming in on top), separation anxiety, or a combination of everything. It felt a little like having a newborn again, which I'm not quite ready to relive yet. To everyone's delight, this past week she has been finishing her milk and sleeping through the night again. We have also dropped her 3rd nap - the evening cat nap. She was basically phasing it out herself by not going to sleep. She fussed off and on through most of the nap time. I just thought it was her usual 5:00 trouble, but apparently she's at a normal age to drop it. It did not occur to me at first that this meant less down time for me, but that's okay. It's still an adjustment period because she's not used to staying up for much more than 2 hours at a time, and she's up for 3-3 1/2 in the evening. She gets pretty cranky around 6:00, but we try hard to keep her entertained. She and Ryan like to chase me and scare me. She sits at the table while we eat dinner and she nibbles on teething crackers and her sippy cup. I think the cup is just something else for her to chew on right now. Another thing that suddenly changed is how messy she is. She still eats purees, but I also give her finger foods to practice feeding herself. Anything soft gets mashed and squished in her hands, and then dropped on to the floor. We find little bits of food everywhere! We bathe her right after dinner and sometimes she has food stuck to her body.

She found her forward gear and is crawling forward a few moves at a time now. She loves exploring the living room, especially books and anything she can scratch. I know babies are tactile, but she is tactile to the max. I guess it feels and sounds neat to her when she scratches her fingernails on pillows, walls, the DVD player, etc. We have covered the basics in terms of safety (outlets, cords), but otherwise we don't mind her exploring. We tell her "no" if she pulls on the DVD player or tries to put her mouth on restaurant tables. She opens her mouth and leans over to a restaurant table and Ryan says "no" and she stops. Then she'll slowly start to lean over again and look at him to see what he's going to do. She's been sitting up in her crib sometimes when she wakes up from a nap. I found teeth marks on the rails already so I bought some rail covers before she whittles a fancy design in it.

We have play group tomorrow, and we are more than happy to go deposit our germs at someone else's house ;)