Jadzia sleeps in a big girl bed. Night 1.

Adam has plans to build Jadzia a canopy princess bed to compete with William's car bed.  In the mean-time my parents had a comfy mattress and box spring they wanted to get rid of.  It's the same bed I slept on as a teenager and it's very, very comfy.  Adam is going to modify his bed design to accomadate the mattress, which is a double, not a single like William's, and takes up 80% of her bedroom.

Yesterday was a day of birthday partying, no napping, and temper tantrums, so I decided to put her to bed early.  So just after dinner I managed to get the tantruming sesame street addict to brush her teeth, then I took her to her room to read her stories.  When I said "story" she ran out of her bedroom towards the basement and freaked out when I brought her back.  She thought I meant "Toy Story" and screamed "Toy Story Three Buzz!"

I calmed her down and got back to the business of reading stories.  Normally I read two or three stories and then put her in her crib.  This time, Jadzia was boss, jumping out of bed to pick another book sometimes when I was in the middle of reading one.  I read almost every book in her book bin, and read several of them twice. 

By the end, I was reading each book EXTRA SLOWLY, like a robot running out of batteries, and she was sucking her thumb and jumping out of bed less often.  When she looked dozey enough, I shut the light and started singing "Hush little baby", just like I do every night.

I sang it lying down.
I sang it standing up.
I sang it while sitting on the floor.

Jadzia kept almost sort of pretending to sleep, then waking up grinning at me.  Finally, two hours after I began the process, she fell asleep sideways on the bed, which still left enough space for me to lie beside her.  It's a big bed for a little girl.

She slept all night, all the way to nine.  Her brother woke up at 5 am because he "needed" someone to sleep with him.

Jadzia's voice

Jadzia has grown up a lot in the last little while.  My baby has suddenly morphed into a child, with her own voice.  Her words are becoming more clear, and she's realized that she can use them to get what she wants.

This morning, for example, she asked me for a banana for breakfast.  She pointed to the shelf and very clearly said "Nana." When she wants to brush her teeth, she points to the washroom and says "Teeth."  Last night, she chose her stories by saying them by name "Choo Choo" (Thomas the Tank Engine) and "Baby" (Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes).  Just now, William grabbed a toy from her and she protested "Mine!"

One of her favourite games is identifying parts of the face, her favourite being the nose ("No"), and with eyes ("Ah-ee") in second place.  She'll point to her nose, then mine, then giggle when I join in, labling her mouth, ears and cheeks.  She plays this game with humans, as well as dogs and goats.

She's also developed an interest in putting on clothes and shoes, a skill we're still working on with William.  Note, I didn't say putting on her own clothes.  At the hotel in California, she amused herself by putting on a pair of mine, Adam's, or William's underwear and dancing around with it around her waist.  Her favourite shoes to wear are William's.  She often shuffles in the room wearing big, blue, spiderman sandals and chanting "Shoes.  Shoes."