So two things happened tonight that made me laugh.

1. Olivia is starting to imitate hand motions of songs. I sing to her all the time, but during dinner, I've been singing The Wheels on the Bus because she thinks it's fun and is more likely to eat. Lately I've been doing motions that I know she can do -- tapping the high chair table, clapping, putting my arms up, opening/shutting my hand, etc. What's really neat is that she will do the motions even if I'm not singing that part of the song and then look at me expectantly. In other words, she is starting to use the motions as a way to get me to sing that part of the song (which, of course, I honor -- thank you, ABA friends). When I sing that part, she smiles and does the motion more. And tonight she did two motions in succession! I was singing If You're Happy and You Know It, but I replaced "stomp your feet" with "tap the table." During the final verse, she tapped the table and then put both hands up for the "hooray" just as I did! Very cute! Both Frank and I were there (so I had a witness), and we erupted in cheers which shocked her a little bit.

2. We've had the same bedtime routine for the past 5 months. We sing the Goodnight Song, say our prayers, and then she gets kisses as the lights go out. Generally she goes to bed without a hitch and sleeps through the night. Recently we've had a night or two where she wakes up about 2 hours later, cries, needs to be changed or held, and then returns to sleep. Tonight was another story. She woke up around 2 hours after going to bed, which didn't surprise me because she had been restless with some whimpers. Frank went up and held her, but she didn't go back down. In fact, she cried when he tried, and then, when he picked her up again, I could hear her playing/cooing. This kid! Eventually he brought her down to me, and I held her. She was super content. Worried that she may be teething (lots of drool today), we gave her some Tylenol (which had the dual purpose of potentially knocking her out) and waited. I sang to her; I cuddled her. She seemed to [finally] be winding down, so I started singing the Goodnight Song again... and didn't her face contort and tears come out of her upset eyes!! It was all very intentional. Frank and I laughed to each other at how she was trying so hard to get out of bedtime.

But when I laid her down, she didn't make a peep. Go figure.