Various musings

I realize I haven't been writing much here lately. Since we haven't had any vacations or other outstanding moments, there have been no obvious reasons to write. But meanwhile Melina continues to grow, and develop a personality, and learn words, and form preferences, and assert her will.

"No" is now one of her favorite words. I really do try not to say "no" too often, but it's hard. Melina says "no" now whenever something isn't going her way. She also says "uh-uh" and shakes her head. This is handy when I'm trying to feed her and she doesn't want something, or when I'm reading her books before naps. She seems to be tired of all her books (as am I). Time to go to the bookstore.

I am still experimenting with ways to get her to nap. (Jeff puts her to bed at night, and his system seems to work pretty well). For naps, it's a little harder. Usually I read to her, rock her until she seems sleepy, then put her down in the crib awake and go lie on the bed. She used to cry for a few minutes and then go lay down, but now she stays up and plays (and even laughs). She kicks the side of the crib, drops her binky, jumps on the mattress, stands on her head (sort of) and does all kinds of other distracting things to keep herself awake. Meanwhile I'm nodding off on the bed reading Lord of the Rings while my stomach growls. Usually I get fed up and either pick her up and rock her some more (she often falls asleep after that) or go downstairs for a few minutes, at which point she screams bloody murder and tires herself out. Then I go back up, lay her down, and she often falls asleep.

Her hair is getting longer, and I've managed to put it in little pigtails a few times. I'm not really sure what else to do with it. If I let it grow without cutting it, I'm afraid it will turn into a mullet. If I cut the back, I won't be able to put it in pigtails. I could let the bangs grow out a little more, or not. It's a dilemma.

Olallie is proving himself to be one of the most patient cats in the world. Melina loves to lie on him, and Norah pulls his tail and covers him up with our sheepskin rug. Still, he hangs around - I think he likes the attention. I've never seen him do more than complain a little and walk away.

My stomach is growling again and I don't know how long it will be before Miss M wakes up, so I better go take care of it.