Right now she is talking more, throwing tantrums less, and is still struggling with the fact that she does want her independence yet doesn't want it at the same time.
She spent a week and a half in Newburgh with her Terry grandparents and had a blast. Grandma Terry was really good about trying new foods with her that I just haven't had the time or haven't thought of trying. Thus far we've learned that she absolutely loves sweet potatoes and hates carrots. She apparently likes olives and apricots, neither of which I can stand at all.
In the week and a half she was gone I did notice that she got a little taller and her hair did get longer. Here's a picture to show how she does have hair:
She also really wants to eat mommy's food. And I don't mean just the food that I make, I mean MY food. So we get home from day care and put together a yummy dinner for her. Full of colors and textures for her to pick and choose from. She'll eat really well from that then decide she's done.
We let her walk around for a bit while we finish up making our own dinner then sit down to eat. This week she has constantly come up to me and eaten about 1/4 of the food on my plate after she's already eaten her dinner. This means she's eating the equivalent of a dinner and a half. I'm so very thankful that she loves to eat and isn't that picky of an eater. But......Mommy's hungry too!!!! And a lot of times I'll have items on my plate or in my glass that I don't necessarily want her to have, which results in the word "No", which ends in a tantrum.
I can really tell that Grandma Terry worked with her on her tantrums, because after her first full day of adjusting to being home, the tantrums really aren't that bad. She still fusses when we enforce limits, boundaries or in general say no. But there's no more of this folding like Gumby or tossing her entire body back to collapse in a fit of tears and kicking. Not saying it doesn't happen altogether, it's just less and not as horrifying.
While she was gone, Jason and I shopped. And this is something I did that probably wasn't so smart. You see, we've been blessed with a niece who's just about 2 years older than Rachel. We've been blessed to receive her hand-me-downs. I've spent a lot of time organizing all of the hand-me-downs by size so when the time comes I can start pulling the next size out of the closet. So when I purchased several, and I do mean several, outfits I found heavily discounted I realized I was purchasing 12 - 18 or 18 month sizes and we already have a plethora at home!!!! So now we're oveflowing with clothes and her usual "drawer" of things we wear every day is past capacity. However, I have a lot of fun picking out her clothes every day :o)
She is "talking" more. Although sometimes unintelligible, she does say words and can repeat some words. Last night while I was visiting my Grandma (All the great-grandkids call her "Gigi"), Rachel was ready to go home. So much so, that she announced "bye-bye" to the room and walked over to the door and kept smacking it, like she wanted it opened. When that wasn't enough, she picked up one of my boots and brought it to me. I laughed and put it on, but kept talking. That wasn't good enough. So she sauntered over and brought me my other boot. Frustrated, she started to get fussy in desperate attempts to tell me she wanted to go home!
She's become very interested in being outside. Jason's grilled out a few times this week and each time she gets mad when he goes out to check on the grill and she isn't able to go as well. Wednesday night it was raining and she insisted on being out there. Apparently the cold doesn't bother her, and neither does being wet.
She distinctly will say "Mamamamama or Mommy" to me. When I say bye bye she'll sometimes say "bye" or "bye-bye" and will wave. Sometimes it's at the room, sometimes she'll wave as we're walking in the other direction. She does also say "Daadaa" sometimes, although normally for Jason she'll just point and coo in excitement.
As we were entering my grandmother's home on Thursday I let her walk in all by herself, and she sweetly accepted my grandma's hand to get over the doorstep since it's just slightly higher than the porch. Her little legs are still too short to get up small steps, so she willingly accepts help and it's adorable.
One of her other favorite things to do is to walk up to you and say "Yay!!!!" then start clapping. Her face just lights up and she gets so excited. This is something we started doing at Grandma's to help entertain her and now she does it on a whim. It's adorable!
Another of her manerisms is when she's walking. She can stand up and walk around very well now. She has a tendency to put her head down and swing her arms as if she's trying to get momentum to go faster. She also will swing her hands as if saying, "Low-de-doe.....what'll I do next?" Sometimes she'll walk and swing her hands in front of her and clap, as if she's just taking a leisurely and carefree stroll. Aunt Gail commented the other night that she sometimes will hold her right hand on the small of her back as she walks. I didn't see this one, but Aunt Gail voiced her observation.
I wish I had more pictures, but right now she's not doing a whole lot that's photograph-worthy nor does she hold still long enough to capture in still what she's doing.This weekend we plan to be home, so I'll try to take a few more just to have something new to post on the blog. I'm also hoping to capture some more video of her.
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