Hide and Seek

Staley has a new favorite game.  And really, who doesn't love a good game of hide and seek?  If you want to play Staley's version of hide and seek, however, you'll have to consult the Staley rulebook.  Rules are as follows:

1.  Staley is all-time seeker.  No questions asked.
2.  Staley does not have to close her eyes, turn away, or count as you hide.  Watching you hide is part of the fun.
3.  Hiding places must be within crawling distance, away from potentially dangerous distractions, and easy to get to.  Behind partially closed doors that she can open is preferable, but not necessary.
4.  Using the same 3 hiding places throughout a 20 minute game of hide and seek does not ruin the fun.
5.  If Staley is having difficulty locating you (like forgetting to look in the third of the 3 hiding spots), auditory hints are encouraged .
6. After finding you, if Staley emphatically says 'hide' or signs 'more', that means the game is not over.
7.  Squealing and laughing required!

If you think you can master these rules, come on over.  Hours of fun await!!

Thanksgiving

Each and every day, I thank God for the blessings in my life.  For Staley.  For Zach.  For our families.  For our friends.  For our stable jobs.  For our home.  For our health.  And for a God who surrounds us with love. 

Thanksgiving gave us a long week-end to enjoy many of life's blessings.  The whole week-end centered around family.  We soaked up quality time with my extended family in Indianapolis on Thanksgiving day. Staley and Liam enjoyed playing together and swimming together at our hotel on Thursday night.  (Staley, Zach, and I 'bonded' from 2 am-6 am during Staley's fitful sleep at the hotel as well.)  Throughout the remainder of the week-end, we spent time with my parents, Zach's parents, and enjoyed celebrating Elliott's third birthday.  We have much to be thankful for!

My family

Sharing story time with cousin Liam

The big pool was fun, fun, fun!

Conductor Elliott...

...and his train party.

Whoooo is the Cutest Baby Ever?

Let the Exploration Begin

Staley is becoming increasingly mobile.  She is now primarily crawl-crawling (good-bye inchworm), and is getting faster and more proficient.  Fast, proficient crawling means that her world is expanding.  She can also pull herself up to stand at almost anything stable (and, on some occasions, not so stable), which increases her exploration zone all the more.  And Staley has a profound love for opening things, closing things, taking things out, and putting things in.  If you put those skills together, you get...

Staley's new favorite game.

To Nap or Not to Nap

For Staley, that seems to be the current question.  Staley has always been a good night-time sleeper.  Her daytime napping habits are bit more questionable.  For the past several months, Staley has been taking two naps during the day.  Her morning nap averages about 1 1/2 hours and her afternoon nap averages about 45 minutes to an hour.  Over the last few weeks, however, Staley will not take an afternoon nap for me.  She will usually take an afternoon nap for her baby-sitters and will often fall asleep in the car if we are driving home from afternoon errands, but it's not pretty if I try to put her down for an afternoon nap at home.  Crying, screaming, standing up in her crib, red eyes, snotty nose.  So there have been a number of days lately where Staley only gets one nap--and that's usually her hour or two in the morning.

What to do?  I could run errands in Peoria or Bloomington every afternoon to provide 30-40 minutes of napping on the ride home.  I could hire a baby-sitter to come put her down for her afternoon nap every day.  Or we could move her nap later in the day and make the transition to one nap.  Option 3 seemed the most logical, so I decided to put the plan into action starting today (which would give me 4 days to trial a new schedule before my next day of work.)  Staley woke up at 6:30, so my goal was to have her nap around 11:30.  She made it to 10:15.  Guess maybe we'll have to run some errands in Peoria this afternoon.

Crawling

As much as I love Staley's little worm crawl, it makes me happy to say that she has finally figured out how to move using the 'regular' crawl.  However, if she's in a hurry or has a long way to go, the inchworm is back.  We get the best of both worlds:  we can acknowledge that Staley knows how to crawl-crawl, yet still enjoy watching as she worms her way across a room.

Instead of Gifts

On Staley's 10 month and one day birthday, she didn't get gifts.  Instead, she got:

1.  Her 7th tooth (bottom right)
2.  Her crib mattress moved to the lowest setting
3.  Her first big bump/bruise on her head.  Apparently her pop-up toy is more fun to play with than to fall onto.  (She got over it more quickly than I did.)

Gifts would have been better.