"Oh, hi, Mom. I'm up."

The baby has learned how to stand, which means that I've often open the door at the end of nap time to a little person standing up to greet me. Of course, I also get to come in during the middle of the night to a little person holding on to the edge of her crib rails and crying, because she's woken up and can't figure out how to get herself back to sleep. So, there's a trade-off. For a while there, she was napping for longer periods and getting up earlier, a nice trade-off, but now she's just getting up earlier.

Recent cooking
Mac and cheese - I declare a winner in my search for the best macaroni and cheese recipe. The roux-based recipe from The Pioneer Woman (made with the delightful cheese combination of Swiss, Parmesan, and blue from the CIA macaroni and cheese recipe) is creamy and cheesy, but not so rich that it makes you sick. The leftovers are also good, something I find important in family-sized recipes. The the copious quantities of butter in the CIA mac and cheese separated from the sauce when the dish cooled, leaving the leftovers greasy.
Red rice - I know red rice is an actual dish, but this just seems like a jambalaya hack. I only recently discovered They Draw and Cook, and while it is a very pretty format for displaying a recipe, the quality of instructions for actual cooking was not great with this particular recipe. It's hard to read and the rice needed several cups more water in order to cook properly (one can of tomato sauce and a half can of water just doesn't cut it for two cups of rice). Still, tasty.