Penny

So we had to have my mom come over and babysit Penny for us today. Matt and I have both taken way too much time off from work lately, and she couldn't go back to daycare. Matt and I kissed our darling daughter goodbye and went off to work with fear in our hearts - not that my mom would mistreat her, but that she would turn into the Screaming Demon Baby and Mom would vow never to babysit ever again.

I came home for lunch, to see how things were going, and to give Mom a chance to take a break for her own lunch, if necessary.

It wasn't necessary. When I came in, Mom was just finishing her lunch as Penny talked quietly to herself in the bassinet. Mom told me she'd had a couple of diaper changes and a couple of bottles, one medium-length nap, and they'd spent a lot of time playing and generally having a good time. No Screaming Demon Baby. When I left, Penny was starting to fuss, but it was the kind of fuss that generally precedes sleep by about half an hour, so I wasn't too worried about it.

When I came home from work at 4:30, Mom reported that Penny had fallen asleep shortly after I'd left at lunch, woken up at 2:30 for a bottle, and then promptly fallen straight back asleep and not woken up until just before I'd gotten home. Mom was afraid that Penny wasn't going to sleep tonight. So am I, but there's nothing that can be done about it, so I guess we'll see.

Since Penny had been so good today, Matt and I decided to make another attempt to start her on solids. I mixed about a tablespoon of formula with about a teaspoon of rice cereal, got out the nice infant spoon from the baby/kid set of flatware my mom had got us, and we plunked down in the kitchen.

Penny was very frustrated with the cereal process, but I think mostly because it was so freaking slow. About halfway through, she started actually opening her mouth when I tickled her lip with the spoon, and more went down her throat than came back out onto her chin. She only took about half the mixed cereal - maybe two teaspoons in all - before getting too frustrated to continue, but I think it was a very respectable introduction to "solids" and spoon-feeding.

In addition, she's spent (for her) pretty long periods on the floor and in the bassinet entertaining herself before getting fussy enough to require immediate attention from Matt or I.

So all in all, today has been a pretty good day in the world of parenting.

After all the whining I've done lately about her being sick and fussy, I thought y'all might appreciate a glimpse of the other end of the spectrum.