my ponderings

Jenn: Sorry I haven't posted in a while, things have been a bit crazy. After the camping trip, I came down with a horrid cold- I actually had laringitis for two days. Considering how much I talk, it was probably a bit of relief for Matt, but having to work and conference with teachers and students was not fun. While dealing with my cold, I ended up revising my proposal and turned it in to all 5 committee members. Then Matt left for San Diego for 5 days, so my plate has been loaded.

Lately Makaela has been very clingly-typical 2 year old behavior. I was trying to put her to sleep last night and she was giving me a hard time. Everytime I tried to put her down, she'd scream, but we had little Brooke sleeping over, so didn't want her to wake Brooke. I laid her down and rubbed her back and then little by little tried to inch out the bedroom door, but at one point, she shot up and in efforts to hide from her, I crouched to my knees. She just stared at the door, looking at the hallway light for minutes- her face was so angelic and her eyes kept blinking with those gorgeous lashes. It took every inch of self control not to reach out and touch her face- she was so entraced, and I with her. When she finally put her head down, I started creeping out of the room, but (with her head still down) she shot her hand out of her crib and said "No mama, stay". She hadn't looked at me in 15-20 minutes, but yet, she still knew I was there. What could I do? We ended up listening to a total of 15 songs before she fell asleep.

Clingly-ness aside, her cognitive awareness and maturity is developing. This morning we got dressed and were heading down to breakfast when Makaela suddenly stopped on the steps, gasped and said, "Coopke (her version Brooke)", ran back to the guest room and looked for Brooke. She was very concerned that we were leaving Brooke in the guestroom while we did our morning routine. She was asleep when Brooke was picked up by her parents last night, but yet, she still made the connection that she needed to take care of Brooke (or at least remind me to do it). I know this sounds so simple, but to me, this is amazing.