Big Weekend!

Boy, what a great weekend! The big news, though not the only news, is that Rachel tried solid foods for the first time! We gave her a little rice cereal mixed with water on Saturday, and she found it pretty agreeable. As you can see from the pictures below, though, we figured out pretty quickly why high-chairs and plastic bowls are a good idea: Rachel was much more interested in grabbing the glass bowl and spilling the contents than actually eating anything. On Sunday, things went quite a bit more smoothly: you'd never think that a kid would need to be strapped into a high chair with a five-point harness, but it really helped to have our hands free. Another great idea: the plastic bowl with the suction-cupped bottom. This was much more difficult for Rachel to up-end, though she figured out how to do this eventually. She seemed to enjoy the cereal, and we're pretty sure she got a couple of spoonfuls down (you can see most of it on her face, below.)

Rachel also had two play-dates this weekend. The first was with Andy and Grace, who graciously brought their parents (Dave and Alyssa) over for dinner. All the kids were well behaved, and had a good time. I'm sure I caught Rachel eyeing the fish we had for dinner, but she won't get that for a year or so.

The second playdate this weekend was with the Tuckers, who are back in town after a three-year hiatus in Indiannapolis. They brought along seven month-old Bryce, and the two of them had a lot of fun playing together. There's some serious boyfriend potential here, and Bryce even tried to plant a kiss! Rachel was very excited and very happy.

Rachel was pretty happy through most of the weekend, and maintains the title of happiest kid ever. The only time she gets cranky is when she's being put down for a nap: she knows she's tired, but she doesn't want to sleep -- there's too much to see and do. Actually, she's gotten quite good at manipulating her parents around nap time: as soon as you put her down she'll cry and cry until we offer her one of our fingers. Then the mouth opens wide, and at this point she has the expectation that we'll let her suck our finger until she goes to sleep. This could be dangerous down the road, but for now we're letting her get the best of us.

Another funny thing that happened was early this morning. Rachel had been tossing and turning a bit during the night, so Anne was with her in the baby's room. At about 7am, some landscapers came by to trim the palm trees out front. When they fired up the chainsaw for the first time, Rachel went from dead asleep to eyes wide open in a fraction of a second -- and her eyes were wider than we'd ever seen them. Fortunately, the first thing she saw was her Mom. After casting a few nervous glances, Rachel decided everything was all right and started into her happy morning routine.

Well that's about it for now. Rachel continues to be the joy of our lives, and we hope every weekend is as fun as this one was.