Penny and naps... ugh.

She resists taking naps at daycare, and that's even easier for her to do now that they've moved her out of a crib and onto a cot.

Which means that she falls asleep in Matt's car on the way home, and he brings her in and puts her to bed for a late nap.

Which means that she either wakes up after half an hour or so and is mildly cranky for the rest of the evening, or else she takes a long nap and is up late. Neither of which is optimal for us.

I need to call the daycare and lend a mother's weight to the instructions Matt's been giving them, though. We've started sending in a sippy cup for her every day so that she can start being weaned off bottles - but I'm not sure they're using it more than once a day.

I don't know if they used it at all yesterday; it didn't come home to be washed, at least. Though maybe it was just forgotten.

Once again, the disadvantage of daycare is illustrated: We're not there to enforce the decisions we've made about her capabilities and care.

I gained three pounds while we were in Chicago, and it took about five days for it to all disappear. Now I'm back to where I was before the trip, more or less. The same weight (more or less) that I've been at all month.

It goes up half a pound, it goes down half a pound, it goes up again. Daily fluctuations, but the smoothed curve is practically flat, except for the little hill representing the trip.

I'm at just about the same weight I was when I stalled out with Weight Watcher's, too. I sat at that weight for more than six months before I finally quit.

I remember hearing somewhere that everyone has "natural" plateaus - weights at which the body is comfortable, and kind of settles into an equilibrium. I guess this is one of mine.

But I'm nowhere near my goal, yet. I need to really buckle down and be strict with myself about going to the gym several times a week, and not cheat on the diet. If I'm still on this plateau in another week, I may even need to step things up - more exercise, fewer snacks - to kick-start my weight loss again.

--Liz