Bedtime experiments

For the last week or so Bryan and I have been experimenting with putting Penelope to bed awake... and when I say "Bryan and I", I mean Bryan since I only have bedtime duty one day a week (soon to be more once he's in softball, soccer, and school). We go through the routine (clean-up, bottle, bath, teeth, PJs), she's then rocked for 5-10 minutes, and put into her crib sleepy but awake. Tonight B added a lovey (her stuffed cat) and so far it seems to be working.

I'm really excited that it seems to be working so far. I really hope that it continues to work as it will make bedtime easier once "&" gets here... especially since at least one night a week (possibly two) I'll have to put both babies to bed by myself. If Penny can get to sleep on her own then I really only have to worry about "&".

Hopefully once he/she arrives Penny won't regress (our Ped mentioned it might happen) because that would be a major headache. We'll see.

We're also working on her proficiency with utensils. She ate soup on her own the other day (and when I say "ate" I mean "bathed in") and when I give her oatmeal she does pretty well getting most of it in her mouth. Baby steps :)

She does love to feed herself, and makes quite the mess... but practice makes perfect. I know she won't have perfected anything by April, but the better she gets at it the easier meal time will be once baby arrives. I could just make nothing but finger foods since she's fantastic with those, but that's just boring - and besides, she'll never get better if I don't give her opportunity to try.

Alright, time to get back to work, I have a little more homework to do and then I'm done with this class! Only one class left before I take a short maternity break from school...