I was half-asleep last night, cuddling my pillow. It had been warmed by my body, and it felt nice, leaning against my chest. Almost like cuddling Penny.

Not that she cuddles much, these days. When she's taking a bottle, or is exceptionally sleepy...

It won't be long before she's too big to crawl into my lap.

The thought made me want to cry. It made me want to run over to my mom's and put my head in her lap and say, "I'm so sorry."

It's a thought I've had before. It's the thought that makes me not mind so much when we go out to eat and Penny wants to sit on my lap the whole time. (I just need a few minutes to cut up my food so I can eat one-handed...)

And yet, time marches on. I was complaining to a friend that we can't get Penny to drink from a sippy-cup, and she's so careless with open-top cups that I despaired of ever weaning her from the bottle.

My friend suggested a soft-tip sippy-cup, to help her make the transition from bottle to cup. So when we got back from Chicago, I picked one up from the grocery store.

Success! The first time or so we used it, I had to take the valve out of the lid, so the liquid flowed freely, to give her the idea. But then after she started shaking the cup upside-down, I put the valve back in, and she was fine with it.

So we spent most of the weekend alternating between using the sippy cup and a bottle, and I bought a second cup and put her name on it. It's going to daycare with her today, so that they can work with her on the transition, too.

Speaking of growing...

Friday, Matt sent me a phone message to say that Penny's right top bicuspid had finally broken through the gum. (Her gums have been bulging for a month.)

Five teeth!

Saturday morning, as I was "brushing" her teeth after breakfast, I felt something a little funny, and pried up her lip to look. I saw her front two teeth, the newly-broken bicuspid, a gap where her canines will eventually be... and a tooth. Right where the premolar goes.

So much for the usual order of teething...

Okay... Six teeth!

Sunday, just after lunch, she bit my finger through the toothbrush, and I pried up her lip on the other side. The other premolar was easily visible, as well. Both of the premolars have obviously been in for a while - at least a week.

So that makes seven teeth. Two on the bottom and five on the top. No wonder she's not having as much trouble with the grape and tomato skins lately...

*sniff!* My baby's getting so big!

While I get small... Well, smaller. With the advent of true fall (Saturday's high was 68) I realized that it was time to put away the capri pants - and that I don't have any long pants that even remotely fit. So Sunday, I dropped Matt and Penny off at the park for an hour while I went shopping.

I've gone down another size. I'm in an 18, now. Really in it, not just on the border - I usually buy jeans a size larger than all my other pants, because I don't like wearing tight jeans. But I had to put the 20s back on the shelf because they were so baggy around the waist.

I haven't been in the "-teen" sizes for years. It was (and is, still) a kind of heady thought.

I got my new pants out this morning, and pulled on one leg, and looked at what was left. There's no way my butt is going to fit into that little space, I thought.

But it did. I didn't even have to hold my breath to zip them up.

--Liz