One Baby Discovers Another

The baby has discovered her big sister's baby doll and is enraptured. Every chance she gets she is playing with the doll, chewing on its bald head or grasping it by the arms and studying it, not to mention flopping it about vigorously. It's great fun to watch and my new way to keep her reliably entertained.

The toddler thinks this is awful. She'll tolerate the baby playing with the doll for only a few minutes. Then she'll grab her toy away from her sister, shrieking, "My baby, my baby!"

Which means it's my reliable entertainment only when the toddler is asleep. But hey, if one's sleeping and the other is busy playing, life is good.

The baby also has been practicing squatting. Her balance has improved to the point that the other night, while standing holding onto my knee for support, she suddenly let go of my knee and lowered herself to a squat with just her own sense of balance keeping her from falling. She wound up sitting down very gracefully, with no idea of the huge leap she'd just taken. It was all very exciting for Mommy, although I was sad that the husband wasn't here to enjoy it.

Told the husband about last night; he was suitably concerned, though harried-sounding. (This is a big week at work; lots of training going on that he's in charge of ensuring goes well.) I've taken precautions to make myself feel safer, although we'll see how I feel when it's time to close my eyes and go to sleep. I didn't get much sleep last night, and what sleep I did get was done holding onto the phone, my finger glued to the 9 of 911 even while I was out.

I find it interesting how I'd feel so much better if the husband was here. After all, the teen is bigger than his father, not just in weight, but height and breadth. But then, there's a big difference between an experienced adult in his prime, and an inexperienced boy. The teen will be quite a man when he grows up, but for now he's still just a child who I am responsible for protecting, not the other way around.

So I'll sleep with the phone again tonight and buy more Mountain Dew tomorrow. Unless someone can recommend another soft drink with even more caffeine?