The birthday update

First bit of information to report is that Lauren does not like to have "Happy Birthday" sung to her. She made that quite clear.

We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with some of the neighborhood kids with cake on the back deck and a little playing in the back yard. It was simple, but a nice celebration. Weeks before Lauren's birthday, Erin had chosen the perfect gift for Lauren. She decided Lauren would like the Dora suitcase she'd had for a few years. She found the wrapping paper (Christmas paper, actually), tape and scissors and wrapped it herself. She was very excited to give the gift to her little sister. It was very sweet.

Erin had been playing with the kids across the street a lot, but hadn't really spent much time with Alan down the street, age 6, or his brother Zach. On Saturday and Sunday they spent a lot of time playing together, which was nice. You can always tell which house the kids are at, as there are a pile of bicycles in front of the house.

We've been trying to reduce the amount of time Lauren spends with her "binky" (pacifier), and she did so well that on Saturday night she fell asleep without a binky! She did wake up at 3, and got one then, but that was quite an accomplishment. On Sunday, we did a good job of distracting her every time she asked for a binky. Finally, after her bath, when Rene was reading her books, she kept asking for her binky. Rene said, "I don't know where mommy put it." Lauren said quickly and clearly, "kitchen counter"! She was obviously motivated to expand her vocabulary. Again we successfully distracted her. When I was changing her diaper and getting ready to put her to bed, she said, "Wait! Where binky go?" I told her she could have her binky when she went in her crib. Which seemed to make her happy. That did not prevent her from having a very bad night of sleeping. Mommy and Daddy are tired today.