Mr. Butterfly

It never ceases to amaze me how little Ben and I know about parenting. Seriously, I have a lot of experience with children. I babysat every summer growing up...plus so many of my friends already have babes...so you would think I understand the simplest of things. Yet one day Isabel was fussing away...we tried the typical routine of changing her diaper, walking with her, putting her in her swing, jumperoo, rocking, feeding...nothing really seemed to satisfy. And then we saw it...the mound of toys in this girls room. Ben holds out Mr. Butterfly in front of Isabel in hope of satisfying her and instantly she reaches out and grabs the toys right out of his hand. She did it with such skill that you would think she practices this as night after we go to bed. What were we thinking...she wants to play...well that and put things in her mouth. The poor thing is teething...er, at least I think she is teething (remember my earlier disclaimer about my inexperience). She drools all over the place and puts everything in her mouth. I have seen the outline of the bottom two front teeth for over a month, yet I still don't feel anything sharp.

So anyways, back to Mr. Butterfly. Ever since this day we don't go anywhere without Mr. Butterfly. He goes up the stairs with us, down the stairs with us...in the car, to church, to the grocery store, to the ISU game, etc. He has saved me repeatedly.

Mr. Butterfly even gets Isabel to fall asleep in her car seat. It's a great alarm clock too...when she wakes up she just starts playing with it and the crinkle noise lets me know she is stirring.

Look at these adorable legs. She is still a bit little for the Jumperoo, but with a pillow under her feet she goes to town!

In the jumperoo hanging onto Mr. Butterfly...she is in 7th heaven.

Again, Mr. Butterfly lulls her to sleep. It probably helped to have the "lights off" with her hat over her eyes :)