reindeer and friends

Nobody likes to be laughed at when they're in a less than good mood, and Rachel is no exception, so I had to watch myself this morning. When I went in to get her up she said "No. You do it." I had to really work at not laughing at her. She moved fairly quickly and didn't have much trouble this morning. She has a rather large collection of Christmas sweatshirts and sweaters, which I start letting her wear after Thanksgiving. This morning after she put her sweatshirt on I asked her what was on it. She looked down, but didn't answer, so I said "is that a reindeer?" She started to smile, and said "reindeer." She really looked like she wanted to smile but didn't want to let me see that she was happy, but she just couldn't help it. Silly girl. I told her, loudly enough for Daddy to hear, to go show Daddy what was on her shirt, so when she went in the kitchen he started singing "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer." Then she really smiled and said "You're singing that song." A very fun morning. I would let her wear her Christmas sweatshirts all year long if it would make her that happy. Then they wouldn't be special, though, so it probably wouldn't work. And it might be a little too hot to wear in July. Sigh. She went right out to get on the bus. I was even a little nervous because she was walking more quickly than I wanted her to, considering how much snow/ice there was outside, but she was just fine. I probably worry too much. (Hey, I'm a Mom!  I'm supposed to worry! It's my job!)

Yesterday afternoon Rachel's oldest brother and his wife stopped in to say hi, and it seemed to cheer Rachel up a bit. There was more smiling and laughing while they were here, and fewer random obnoxious comments. That makes me happy. I love that my kids love each other. She also had a couple of friends stop by to say hi. They talked to her and read her a book. I left the room so I don't know if she responded appropriately to them or not, but I do know that she was a lot happier the rest of the day. She really notices that everyone else has people come over and visit. Sometimes she says things like "No! Where's my friends?" So it is awesome when people stop in to say hi to her. She was quite happy all evening. She enjoyed watching out the window (there are Christmas lights that she can see now, and it snowed quite a bit, so it's really pretty out there).  She spent some time looking at books in her room as well. Daddy made cookies, but she didn't want any (so maybe her tummy is upset? Where's the instruction manual on this child?????) Anyway, it was a beautiful, happy day. She even smiled at me when I tucked her in bed. She didn't say anything, but the smile was wonderful.