an update

:: Rebecca went to physical therapy yesterday.  The whole thing has been a long process, but we're finally set to go once a month.  A few weeks ago when we went for another evaluation they gave me several exercises to do with her and said they wanted to follow her progress.  I've been doing them faithfully and she's coming along, according to the PT.  She said Rebecca's back and neck muscles are strong and that she has really good head control.  So even though she still can't roll, sit up alone for very long, or push up very well, she's getting there.  I'm less worried about her than I was a couple of weeks ago.

:: Rachel's naptime has finally come to an end.  (sniff...sniff....as I mourn the loss of naptime!)  On Monday I instituted "rest time" instead of nap time.  Rest time consists of staying on her bed and looking at books until the clock says 3:00, and then playing in her room until I go get her.  I started rest time because she hadn't been sleeping (or taking two hours to fall asleep!) for a week or so, and even before that, naps were becoming fewer and fewer and she was complaining more and more about not being tired when it was time.  I finally decided I had to stop being in denial about it.  But yesterday (day two of rest time) I heard a "thud," went to see what it was, and she was fast asleep, the book on the floor (that was the thud!).  So maybe she's not quite ready to give it up.  But she's excited about rest time and actually told me today she was tired and wanted to go rest, so at least it's a lot easier than dealing with a girl who doesn't want to take a nap!  And I still get my break in the afternoon (as long as Rebecca is napping, which is a whole other issue).

:: Rebecca is NOT a napper.  I finally have her on an eating schedule (6 AM, 10AM, 2PM, and 5PM (I'd love to wait until 6, but she is dying to go to bed by 5:30 or 5:45!), then I wake her up at 9:30 and feed her and put her right back to bed), but a nap schedule still hasn't happened.  She rarely sleeps past 45 minutes, so I have to let her cry until she falls back asleep, but right now she has a cold, so if I let her cry she gets all snotty, stuffy, and gross, and really just mad.  She doesn't go back to sleep because she's all stuffed up, so I just have to get her up.  So she's taking many 20-45 minute naps a day right now.  Ugh.  Any advice on how to deal with short naps during a cold??

:: Rachel's always been a well behaved girl.  But for the last several weeks she's been pushing the envelope in the obedience department.  It's so unlike her, and I'm really, REALLY hoping it's just a phase that she'll grow out of as soon as she realizes that I mean what I say and she's going to get herself in trouble consistently each time she choses disobedience, but man, is it rough to go through.  She's such a sweet girl and I hate to see that changing.  It's just a phase...it's just a phase....it's just a phase....or so I hope.  Tell me this isn't what I have to look forward to for the next 15 years.

:: I'm getting sick again.  I don't know if I wrote before about the tonsilitis, ear infections, and sinus infection I had, which ended just about 2 or 3 weeks ago.  And now I have another cold, likely whatever Rebecca has.  This is what I hate about fall/winter--passing all of our germs back and forth.  Yuck.

:: Next week we're headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for 5 days.  Rachel's been talking about it for WEEKS.  She even told her class all about Grandma's butterscotch pie that she makes for Thanksgiving.  I don't know who's more excited about it....Rachel or me!  Over the river and through the woods....