Sweetest Face Ever

It's amazing to me how quickly Rachel changes and learns new things. On the one hand, it's somewhat a gradual process. On the other hand, it seems like last week when she was a tiny baby who didn't do much but eat, sleep and dirty her diaper, and now she's playing the keyboard and "chatting" with us regularly.

It's also amazing to me how seeing my daughter can lift my spirits in a way nothing else can. There's just something about seeing this little person who's a part of you, grinning at you with their innocent, sweet little face looking at you. Yesterday at work was just a sucky day. I tried to get out of my crappy mindset before picking up James. Didn't happen. So I was crabby the whole way to pick up Rachel at school. But we walked into her classroom, and she looked at us and started to smile, and my crabbiness just disappeared.

Rachel did something new yesterday, too. It was a subtle thing, but pretty neat nonetheless. Usually when I pick her up and hold her against me, chest to chest, she kind of looks around and sees what's going on. When I picked her up last night at school, I looked down at her and she was looking right back at me. She did that several times last night, and it's like she has a new awareness of interacting when she's that close. She's becoming more and more aware of what's happening all around her. It's awesome to watch.