It's almost that time of day when I can sit back with a cold can of Mountain Dew and breathe deeply and just do whatever I feel like doing for an hour or two (I just have to get through linebacker baby's next waking, so I should be free by ten or so).

We finally broke down and bought gripe water the other day for him, and it seems to be helping a little bit. His crankies don't seem to reach fever pitch as often or as long as before. :)

Little one was being so cute today! (I think she's cute anyway, but some days it's like the terrible twos just don't exist and I have my sweet angel girl all day, or close to it.) She very agreeably walked to the mail building with me, and was delighted when I let her pick a leaf from a pile to carry around...I have no idea why there are leaves on the ground in August here, unless it's because they got so dry and brittle in the 100+ degree heat that they just snapped off branches in a light, hot breeze.

When it was time for supper, linebacker baby was in "hold me or I'll cry" mode, so I went with soup for little one 'cause it's quick and easy (chicken w/stars today - yeah, mother of the year right here, buddy! :-p). About the time it was done, he decided to go to sleep after all, so I heated up my leftover fettuccine alfredo from last night, and little one and I sat down together at her kiddie table.

While my daughter is pretty average for her age in the language department, I am often amazed at our ever-increasing ability to converse. It seems so miraculous that in such a relatively short time, she has become this complete little person, with likes and dislikes and her own way of doing things. As I spooned soup for her (she can do it, but when I have my hands free, I like to skip the colossal mess involved there sometimes), she looked carefully at what was going toward her face, grinned, and proclaimed, "Stars yummy, mama! Eat stars!"

Maybe I should call her Star Eater from here on out. :-D She got such a kick out of those little shaped noodles!

She also surprised me with "Mmm, soup 'licious!" I didn't know she knew that word.

When little one got bored with her soup, she started looking at my plate with her little mooch face on, that hopeful "You know you want to share with me because I'm so cute, right?" look.

"You don't like fettuccine, remember?" I reminded her gently. I tend to get the same thing whenever we go for Italian food, so she has had multiple opportunities to try - and reject - fettuccine alfredo. However, I'm a big fan of "keep trying" with foods, so I gave her a small bite.

Little one chewed thoughtfully (I was surprised it didn't come right back out, given past experiences), swallowed, and looked longingly at my fork.

"More chee-nee, pweese!" she half-asked, half-demanded. (Score!) She proceeded to eat about a third of what I had on my plate. I love sharing food with her. :)

My books arrived today (Writer's/Poet's Markets 2008). I had to thbppt a while at that, but hopefully I'll have my stuff back within reach by the end of the week. We found something else to try before we go the Norton Ghost route, so we'll try that tonight when DH gets home.

I had more to say, but a certain not-so-little baby is awake. (I can't believe he's almost three months old already!)