Samantha has learned to wave, and does it at every opportunity. Wave at her and she waves back. Say "bye bye" in the morning on the way out to work and get a big grin and a wave. Hold her up where she can see herself in the mirror and she'll smile and wave at herself. I wonder if I can teach her to waggle her fingers like Vir Cotto waving at Mr. Morden for the last time. (This makes sense if you're a Babylon 5 fan; otherwise just ignore it.)

A remarkable thing happened this evening. I got home from work and running errands (55 minutes in Homeowner Hell -- aka Home Depot -- to buy a piece of wood and two metal mending plates to repair the cat tower) and decided tonight was my night to put Sam to bed.

So we went through the usual bedtime ritual: I gave her a bath, we read "Goodnight Moon", she had a bottle (which she sucked down in an instant), and I rocked her on my shoulder for a while in the rocking chair while we listened to her cd of Yiddish lullubyes. After a while I put her down in the crib and she tried to get comfortable, but I guess she decided she wasn't really ready to stop snuggling yet. She stood up and put her arms out asking me to pick her up again. Naturally, I did.

I stood next to the crib with her on my shoulder, rocking and swaying her to the music. Usually she falls asleep this way and I can put her down, but tonight after a few minutes of standing there she did something she's never done before. She picked her head up off my shoulder, looked over at her crib, then twisted her body around away from me and held out her arms toward the crib. She was very clearly telling me that she wanted to lie down in her bed now and go to sleep. I put her down, she gave a big yawn, turned over, and went right to sleep.

Who knows if she'll do this again, or when, but tonight it feels like a major breakthrough.

Must stop writing now -- Ella is demanding my attention, and she's been a very patient dog since I got home.