The Bub in the Belly

Little lady is growing up! You probably hear this from every mom but - where did the time go? Gone in a heartbeat, it seems.

Now Rachel is replacing her babylicious goodness with girlish loveliness and natural feminine wiles. I see her emerging features taking up permanence. I see her legs lengthening and strengthening. I see her eyes, wide with innocence and curiosity at times, wicked with glee and mischief at other times. She knows exactly how to look at you, exactly which expression to put on, exactly which buttons to press and which strings to pull.

I have been getting the same compliments on Rachel as I get for Ryan. I always think that people are just being polite and it's just the easiest thing to say when you meet someone's child. However, the other day, I was waiting for the lift with Rachel and I could hear some ladies in the nearby corridor going on and on about her - "Did you see that baby? So cute! She was playing with the car keys? So pretty!" I'm sure that there are lots of pretty and prettier babies out there but, nevertheless, it was really nice to know that someone genuinely thought that Rachel falls into that category. Made me smile.

Temperament-wise, babydoll is pretty calm. Apart from the usual crying because of separation anxiety, tiredness or hunger, she hardly cries. In fact, she hasn't thrown an actual tantrum yet. When things don't go her way, she just turns her attention elsewhere and finds something else to do. She's pretty easygoing - if you tell her "No", she will listen and follow your instructions. Well, for a while, anyway. Hee hee.

She definitely recognises faces now although she isn't yet at the stage of being shy. She adores her big brother and is happy to be in his company. I'm not sure Ryan feels exactly the same way, haha. Nevertheless, he fully accepts that our family is made up of Papa, Mama, Ryan and Rachel.

We have two rules for the children when playing together. One is "No pushing". The other one is "Talk nicely". And yes, they apply to both Ryan and to Rachel. Although when I remind babydoll, "No pushing, Rachel", it's more for Ryan's benefit because I want to show him that everyone is equal before the law, hahaha.

In case you're wondering, "sharing" is not a rule - Rachel is not at the stage to learn about sharing and, if Ryan does not feel like sharing, we won't force him to. We only monitor that the two rules, "No pushing" and "Talk nicely", are adhered to. This makes for some entertaining scenes. You'll see Ryan patiently explaining to his sister, "This is how you do it, put it here and then do like this." Babydoll will be gazing adoringly at him and then a split second later, she goes "Gah!" and messes everything up anyway. It drives Ryan nuts.

  

Babydoll eats like a champion and is already getting teased by her nanny for going "mum mum" everytime she sees someone eating, even though she has already had her meal. I don't know if she is actually asking for food or just describing what's happening? The other day, she called out "mum mum" when she saw Caroline eating and when Caroline told her, "but you just finished your lunch", babydoll put her forehead down on her arm in front of her and slumped her shoulders mournfully. Sent Caroline and her nanny into peals of laughter!

At home, she is still latching as per normal. However, according to her nanny, babydoll is down to one milk feed (for the period that she is at her nanny's), with the rest of her meals being solids/semisolids. This is great news to me!