January Playtime!

Lest you think we have done nothing since returning from our hut trip 3 weeks ago, here is an update on Rachel and MoJo through January. Mostly this is a series of pictures with brief explanations. Rachel spends most of her time eating, sleeping, growing, and talking. She is experimenting with lots of different sounds, and loves to show off her smile.

The Bumbo Chair
Rachel loves to sit in her Bumbo (that's the brand name) chair. Sometimes she plays with toys, other times she watches the world go by.

Rachel has also recently discovered her thumb, and it has been a great asset in our recent efforts to encourage her to go to sleep on her own -- instead of being nursed to sleep. Most nights (but not all) we go through the bedtime routine and put her down, and as soon as she finds her thumb she soothes herself to sleep. This has also improved her ability to start a nap during the day, and clear her ears during ascents or descents of the hill on our way to skiing.

Rolling!

Rachel is now able to roll from front to back, and from back to front. Her biggest obstacle to performing this amazing feat is the sheer size of her cloth diapers. It seems to be much easier for her to roll when she has no diaper on. Also helping her rolls is the amazing flexibility of her neck, and how much stronger it is as well.

Here are some picture highlights from January 2011:

Rachel gets ready for another adventure

Rachel the airplane

Can we take the tree down now, Daddy?

Oops, I drooled on the elephant

I love my Daddy!