The new family addition

After the last post, you'll all be happy to know that sleep has significantly improved.  We haven't done anything differently, but Rachel is napping during the day and sleeping quite well at night and we're thrilled.

It appears that we have a new addition to the family.  No... we're not expecting another baby.  But Rachel has decided that her stuffed bear (who we call 'Bear') must now come with her just about everywhere.  She can't say many words yet... but she can point and say 'uh uh' or cry and point or crawl or walk with help over to where bear is, and make the helping adult get bear to come to breakfast, lunch, or dinner, bedtime, stroller trips, or car rides.

Other fun things Rachel is really into:
- trying to flush the toilet
- puzzles (like the wooden ones with handles that remove and replace the animal into its proper space)
- learning body parts
- giving kisses, blowing kisses, and giving hugs
- lift the flap books
- pumpkins
- walking

Like most skills, Rachel hasn't exactly walked on her own yet.  She has taken 1 independent step several times, but this has been when she's let go of one object and throws herself forward toward another object and grabs it to save herself.  She does want an adult or a stroller to help her walk around and around and around for hours and hours... so because of this, we're looking forward to her figuring out how to do it all by herself.

The last point to update is that Rachel is still very clingy.  She wants her mamma all the time and is pretty upset when mamma goes more than 1 foot away from her.  We've had many upset moments trying to leave Rachel with other people while mommy tries to do something else... and we're hoping that bear can serve to replace mommy as mommy can't always have Rachel attached to her.  At the moment, Rachel cries even if her mamma puts her down long enough to stand back and take her picture, which is what happened in many of the 'pumpkin patch' pictures.

For those of you who haven't seen recent photos of Rachel or our other adventures, check out:
- Hike in Rocky Mtn National Park Oct 2
- recent pictures of Rachel
- pumpkin patch