20-4-2009 - best day with baby

My mood while writing this blog: Ok

I had the best day ever with Ada today. We did lots of things, nothing particularly different. I don't know why I think it was the best day ever; it just was. She petted the dogs, and it was cute to watch her reach for them. She crawled uninhibitedly on the trampoline today. She usually whines after a few crawls.

I see awareness now, and this month is explosive with awareness whereas last month was explosive with mobility. We walked past the backyard gate to the edge of the woods, and I heard my dog, and then I said, "Hey, Charlie." I wasn't even looking back at the gate. I was facing the other direction, but Ada whipped her head around toward the gate. She understands outside now, just in the last few days in fact. Today, she understood the difference between Nugget and Sparky, two dogs she rarely sees. When I called Nugget, she would look at him, and when I called Sparky, she would look at him. She has done this a couple times--when leaving, I say, "Bye. Bye," and have her wave, and she moved her arm forward as if in an attempt to wave. So, I'm excited about her awareness.

One of my favorite things is when she gets excited and bounces up and down and smiles with all her might. All babies do that, and I just think it is the best thing about babyhood ever. That smile and excitement just light up my life.

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For those of you who read my blog about the strong-willed child I have and her napping challenge, I'm happy to report that I thought she was going to give me the routine again today, so I did what I have been doing, just slightly differently. I went in immediately upon the first real cry and put her back into her sleeping position. Then, I left and turned on the timer for 5 minutes. She screamed for a while, but toward the end, it turned into Jane of the Jungle hollaring instead of crying until it was just a here and there belt-out hollar. When the timer went off, just as I was about to walk in, she started real crying again. I put her back into her napping position and left again, this time setting the timer for 10 minutes. After 3 minutes she was asleep and slept for 2 hours. One more day down. I believe this contributed to the best with her day ever.