Dawn Patrol: July 24, 2009

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Abby and I went to the Thursday morning playgroup, where she saw several other babies.

It appears that her sleeping patterns have shifted slightly again. She has started going to bed a little earlier in the evening, but she still wakes up at roughly the same time. So she's starting to sleep longer. She usually gets zombie-tired between 6:00 and 8:00 pm and wakes up between 5:00 and 6:30 am. Do the math. Our little girl knows how to sleep! For the most part, she sleeps straight through, and only occasionally does she even make a sound. When we do hear from her, it is usually just a momentary stirring or dream. I can count the number of times that I've actually had to go into her room in the middle of the night on one hand. We are very lucky.

I had a very nice moment with Abby yesterday. She had just woken up from her nap, and I was holding her in the chair in her room. She was standing with support in my lap and facing me, and she started giving me the most beautiful smiles. I spoke to her very softly, telling her that I love her and asking her if she had a good nap. Then she babbled, cooed and squealedin reply. It was very sweet, but the interesting thing is that she imitated the quietness of my voice. She actually squealed very softly if you can imagine that. And her coos and babbling were very quiet as well. It was a completely enchanting moment, and I will always remember it.

Continuing yesterday's discussion about the general guiding principles that Mommy and I are going to apply to our raising of Abby, I'll reiterate the two that I mentioned. First, we will be mindful of the fact that the health of our marriage will be fundamentally important to how Abby thinks about her future relationships and how men should treat women (and vice versa). And second, we will put a lot of time and effort into Abby's education.

A third principle was foreshadowed by my earlier discussion of recreation in the city. It will be very important for Mommy and I to habituate Abby to making the effort and spending the time to exercise regularly.

Two other big concerns are teaching her about morality and religion, but it occurs to me that this will be an involved and potentially lengthy discussion. I will, therefore, break it down into other posts.