Tonight after I nursed Claire and rubbed her back, I put her in her crib (pack n play) as usual. She has always slept in a pack n play ever since we trained her to sleep in her own bed. She is normally accompanied by two monkeys--ones from my childhood collection that my mom so kindly saved for me even when I insisted I didn't have room for them! Now that I have child(ren) I am so glad she saved them! This week, in addition to her two monkeys, she began requesting "mouse!" as soon as I placed her in the cribby. The mouse is a small plastic one that belongs to a set of nesting doll farm animals. It's really cute because it fits right in her hand. After a few days of sleeping with Cirro, Macacou, and Mouse, she also started requesting "baby!" Baby is a very cute baby doll with piercing blue eyes, like Claire's, that Julie gave her for her 1st birthday. So she has slept with all four friends the past 2 nights. I think that when she asks for another toy, I'll have to explain that there are room for only 4 toys in the crib (and that's actually probably too many already) and she can take out one of the monkeys if she wants a new toy. It will be a good chance to practice counting.
Another darling bedtime antic that Claire is developing is saying one last farewell to me as I walk out her door. Sometimes she says, "mawo," and I say, "See you tomorrow!" Sometimes she says, "Guh-night." Tonight she said, "Hola, Konichiwa!" I laughed and said, "Chao chao!" and she repeated it back to me. And now, 20 minutes later, I can still hear her squealing in enthusiasm and talking to her toys. It is so darling! Yes, she really should be asleep. We got her in bed too late tonight because it's Sunday, and beyond that, we were invited to an all day fish fry at the branch president's house. But it was a very good day and we'll get back on track during the week.
I am so excited to stop teaching my music lessons. Not because I don't like to do it. I do really like it and am nervous that I will really miss the opportunity to use that skill set once I stop. But I am excited to have more time in the evenings to do projects at home, like cooking ahead a couple days, organizing (we still aren't fully moved in from September 2011), cleaning, and doing family history. I haven't posted pictures of Claire in like 7 months! So tonight I am posting a bunch of current ones, then I'll go back and do the ones I missed during that time. Come check them out!
