Rachel update: 15 months

Wondering what Rachel is up to?  Sorry I can't post pictures since I don't have the camera cable / computer with me in Victoria.  But I can tell you a few of her favorite activities lately:

1) The washing machine.  We're staying mostly at Grandpops' house, and his washing machine door is at Rachel's height.  She takes toys, cloths, shoes, etc and puts them inside, shuts the door, opens it, and unloads it and repeats this *100. 

2) The dog.  Rachel wakes up at 4:50am and the five words out of her mouth are 'mama', 'milk', 'NuNu' (her blanket), 'Baby' (her doll), and 'daw-daw' (dog).  Max the 15.5 year old border collie doesn't wake up until after 7:30am, so I have over 2 hours of explaining to Rachel that she can't go in and see the dog yet because he (and Grandpops) are sleeping.  Max is tolerant of Rachel's poking, prodding, and saying 'beep beep' when she wants him to move and pushes him out of the way. 

3) My wallet.  I got this awesome new wallet for Christmas from my sister in law.  Unfortunately, Rachel also thinks it is very cool to open it, empty out all my cards and things, and then hand me back my 'wa-wa' (wallet).  I have to then search around the washing machine, under carpet, and other strange places to find all my cards.  I actually don't mind this game when we're safely at home and I can remove all important cards.  But I do mind the game in the middle of the grocery store!

4) Zippers.  Rachel's zippering ability has improved significantly over the last few weeks.  She can now open the zippers on her crib, her diaper bag, her duffel bag, her jackets, etc.  The only zipper that I don't think she's discovered yet is the change purse of my wallet (thank goodness).  But there are not a lot of places that Rachel cannot get into anymore, except things that are up high or locked.

5) The potty.  Rachel was given a potty for Christmas by my brother Jeff's family.  This, by the way, was a difficult thing to let go of by Cooper (3.5 years old), who wasn't sure he was ready to give away his potty.  Rachel loves to open the lid, hide things (pens, calculator, small toys, etc) inside, and close the lid.  She loves to climb on the seat, sit there, and say 'potty', or 'chair', or 'peeeeee!'. 

We're staying mostly at Grandpops' house, where Rachel has really moved in and is finally comfortable and sleeping well through the night and for naps! YAY!

So we're enjoying these things in Victoria and may join in a couple of kids activities this week (at the library or rec center) before heading to Kelowna later in the week for Jason's ceremony and to visit friends in Penticton. 

Thanks for staying tuned and cross your fingers that I get my paperwork asap so we can go home soon!