Rachel just keeps growing up!

These past few weeks I have seen Rachel grow up so much. Some of her notable developmental milestones have been . . .

Mobility: She covers a lot of real estate rolling around. The baby gate is now indispensable. She is thinking about crawling, but is not quite there yet. Ah, the good old days of her staying in one place, yeah, those days are over!

Verbalization: She uses her voice a lot! She says “da da da da” and “ba ba ba ba” a lot. Sometimes she screams it. The other day I swear she said “hi dad.” Jeff was there, so I have a witness. (editor’s note: Marlene reminded me correctly that Rachel said “hi” to her yesterday too, so that’s two witnesses.) I’m pretty sure when she says “ba ba” she means “mama.” It’s just that the B sound is easier than the M sound. Yeah, that’s it. For a couple of months she hardly cried at all. Now she uses the fake crying technique to say she is not happy. It’s so much fun. She can clap her hands together, but does not do it on command, just when she feels like it, so I don’t have it on film (yet).

Eating: Her eating of solid foods has improved a lot this past week or so. I am glad. I was worried for a while that I would be packing bottles and formula for her lunch in high school. I guess that won’t happen after all.

Rachel likes playing the piano, going for walks, swinging on a swing, playing outside (she really likes wiggling her feet in the grass), and taking baths. She is an absolute delight.