Ni Ni

Well, I'm convinced that Ryanne knows what "ni ni" means. Yesterday afternoon she was getting really whiny. After a few minutes of me trying to calm her, she looked at me and said, "ni ni." I took her upstairs and she was down for a nap within 10 minutes. It's SO cool having her begin to communicate.

Last night, we worked on going to sleep. She actually crawled off my lap and went to her books while I was trying to get her to nurse. We looked at a book for a few minutes and she nursed later. We've tried reading to her since that's the recommended thing to do, but usually she doesn't have the patience for it and wants nothing to do with the books. It was very cool to know that, even though we haven't followed through completely, she still knows they're there and wants to look at them on her own.

She also has put herself to sleep the past two nights. On Sunday, Chrys had to talk to his parents so he let her cry for a few minutes and eventually noticed she had stopped. Upon checking on her, she was asleep and he realized she had only cried for about 15 minutes. Now, we've never been big fans of "Cry It Out," but I want her to learn to put herself to sleep. The fact that we kind of stumbled across it is interesting. Last night, we put her in her crib and I think she was quiet within about 10 minutes. I looked in on her and she was awake, just stretched out in her crib staring at the wall and blinking kind of slow. I ran out of the room and wasn't caught. When I went back later, she was out. I guess we'll try it for a few more days and see how she does. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of her learning to put herself to sleep more reliably. Now, I just have to hope that travelling doesn't break it too much.

Speaking of travelling, I booked tickets to go to the Boston area for Labor Day. This is just Ryanne and me. I'm terrified. I wonder how I'll get a shower, whether she'll be able to sleep next to me in the bed, how I'll get through the airport, whether she'll be a wreck when we get back - AUGH! Oh well, I guess I just have to hope for the best. I'm sure I can do this...I've been alone with her before, but she was a month old. Man...what was I thinking? I guess Chrys and I were just discussing how she hasn't slowed us down so we'll just have to put that to yet another test.

I have to comment on how independent R is. There was a poll on my mom's board about kids playing by themselves. R has always done pretty well playing alone. She used to sit in her swing or bouncy for 10-20 minutes as a tiny babe and just be content rocking and bouncing. Now, she crawls around and plays with stuff in the house for what seems like forever. I guess she periodically comes to check on me, but it's not very often. I guess she just knows I'm there and doesn't worry about it. She expects me to respond to sneezes and stuff, but not much else, it seems. I don't think we did anything to promote this. We've just always put her down to play frequently and she's been happy. At the same time, she spent a great deal of time being held those early months because she didn't like being put down and we were ok with that, too. Maybe we're lucky and she's just a good kid. Maybe we unknowingly did something to promote it. Either way, I think she's turning out ok.