Responsible Driver

"Is this not where we hang out?."

She scurries to the fridge when she hears me open it. Sometimes I let her browse for a few seconds and she always grabs her yogurt. She loves yogurt but I think she also likes the container because it has a picture of a baby.

A little pool time on Memorial Day in my old bathing suit.

We had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at home. I get spoiled by having Ryan home an extra day and it seems really quiet here after he has a day off. It's been unbelievably hot here all of a sudden. It's been 100 the past few days and supposed to be close to 100 all week. I'm trying to think of some fun things to do with Raegan during the day. It's too hot to be outside very long, but I don't want to go out and shop unnecessarily. I might look into some story times at Borders, but I don't think she would sit still. I checked the schedules at Gymboree and The Little Gym, but the classes for her age are at 9:30, and she goes down for her morning nap between 9 and 9:30. I don't think delaying a nap would ruin her world, but if I'm going to pay for a class, I want to take her at a time when she's well-rested and feels like playing. It seems like everything else I've checked on - library story times, etc. - is at 9:30. I assumed Raegan's nap times are pretty common, so I'm a little confused as to why everything is at 9:30.

Raegan is doing so many new things lately. Monday morning when we got her up, it seemed like she grew and matured overnight. She started signing "more" but we're not sure she totally understands the concept. Originally she did it to ask for Puffs, so we're trying to incorporate the sign into other activities and other foods. She points to the clock and says, "cuh." Sometimes she says "puh" for pup, her many dog friends, and she said "Pop" (Ryan's dad) when he talked to her on the phone. She imitates the sounds we make. I make motor sounds while I push her on her car, and she tries to do it too. She also imitates the sound of a bee buzzing when I buzz around her with a bee finger puppet.

It's safe to say she's obsessed with the photo book I made her. She gets it from the shelf several times a day and grunts for someone to read to her. She waves her arms and we ask her if she wants to read her book. She smiles and gets very excited. Sometimes she listens patiently, and other times she turns the pages very quickly. She turns back many times to the page of pictures from the day she was born. I don't know if she understands it's her, but she recognizes herself in more recent pictures. She has photo blocks with pictures of family members and common objects in them, and she pointed to Ryan's picture while he was at work and said "dada." She took 3 little steps in a row on Thursday. She was distracted by the toy she was holding and didn't know I was watching her. I tried not to make a big deal of it until she sat down. Today she did really well with getting herself out of car wrecks. She's been involved in many hit-and-runs where she flees the scene on hand and knee, but today she was very patient to turn the car around or walk around and push from the other direction. Ryan is better than me at making her do things like that for herself. She was very proud every time we clapped for her.

She'll be 11 months this week, and I've been working on her birthday plans. I'm hosting play group at the end of this month and celebrating with her little friends. I'm almost finished with my post about the party details and I'm excited to share it soon.