They're growing up so fast!

Cosleeping:

I knew that this day would happen, but I thought it was several years in the future: Elena now requests to sleep in her own bed. I know that different kids reach this point at different times, but I really didn't expect that Elena would get to this point for a good while. We haven't encouraged this at all because Erich actually prefers to sleep in the bunk beds when she's not there. I wonder whether part of it is getting disturbed by Dmitri in the middle of the night. Last night, for example, she chose to sleep in the big bed, but moved out to the couch in the middle of the night.

Bathing:

Elena washed (and conditioned!) her hair herself today. She said Papa taught her how. I observed just to make sure and found that her technique was effective. But I didn't really expect her to start being independent in this realm so soon. Especially not with long hair.

Solid food:

Dmitri is now taking in some solid foods. Little bits of bread, banana, and nectarine so far. He enjoys it. I'm reminded that the major downside to solids is the drastic change in poop smell. Sigh. At least much of his poop just goes straight in the toilet.

Toileting/EC:

Dmitri now often makes it through the night without wetting his diaper. He wakes to pee two or three times a night, but since I have a chamber pot next to the bed and spare diapers (the kind I can literally do with my eyes closed), I don't have to get out of bed or turn on a light to help him out. If he wakes because he needs to pee, he refuses to nurse, so I can't mollify him into peeing in his diaper (though he will eventually if I just ignore his fusses).

Swim Lessons:

Elena is now in her fourth month of the most basic swim lessons. In her third month, she got a new teacher who was significantly less nurturing. During that month, she actually regressed as far as her fear of water was concerned. She became VERY resistant to participating in lessons at all and screamed and cried in fear through them. She's now back with her old teacher and is doing much better. She tells me that she's no longer scared and she enjoys swimming again. Phew. Can't wait until she builds enough skill to actually SWIM.

That's all for now! Maybe later I'll make a note about Elena's progress in reading.