12-20-05
Last night Jessie totally impressed me! She was coloring and she pointed to the crayon marks she had made and said
"purple". She was actually coloring in purple too! Wow! I tried to work with the other colors some, but
she did not repeat her trick for me. That isn't the first time we've pointed out colors to her, but that purple was
pretty out of the blue. Lately she has taken to running around and asking to sit on the couch to watch "movie".
She will pat the couch and have brother sit with her and she wants the table moved really close so she can put her feet on
it and then she needs the blanket just so on her lap. She'll actually sit there for quite some time like that.
Last night while reading stories she would run out the door a ways and then yell "ready, set, go!" and run back to the bedroom.
Gavin was laughing at her and saying ready set go for her so then she started pointing at him and saying "brother!" until
he'd say it again for her. We've ordered a bunk bed set that has a desk and shelves in the bed part for Gavin and Jess's
room. Kris got the bunk bed and put it up in the room and WOW that takes up a lot of space. I'm considering telling
him to return it for just a couple regular beds that we could arrange better in the room. The way the window, door,
closet and built in desk work, the bunk bed thing is a tough fit. I don't know. Kris wants to keep it so I may
have to get used to it. I'd rather fight the battle of getting the bottom half of the room, which is green now, painted
over in shades of brown. I want to do a beach room for the two as it seems pretty gender neutral but Kris doesn't want
to deal with painting. Ah well, it'll work out one way or the other I guess.
12-5-05
A big milestone for Jessica was hit yesterday! At barely 18 months, our little girl had her first success on the
big person toilet! It's not the first time she's asked to sit there, but this weekend she was really asking a lot and
she was coming to tell us when she had to go. We would sit her on the toilet, nothing would happen, we'd wait for about
5 minutes just holding her up (cause she'd fall in otherwise), and still nothing would happen. We'd put her down finally
and she'd pee on the floor. It was so classic. Well, I think she's starting to get the idea now because she did
it!! YAY!! Of course, we've been down this road before and while Gavin had his first success at about the same
age, he was not really trained until he was 3 so I'm not tossing out all the diapers just yet. :)
Jessie has really been into dressing up to go outside lately. She pulls out her boots
and hat and mittens (which she calls 'mit' - it's so cute!) and everything and wants it all on. Of course, it's FREEZING
outside and I have no intention of going out there so she just gets to walk around on our porch a little - but she has fun.
She is also really taking to the bucket we have of fake food. She pulls it out and says "cook" and "food" so that I'll
open it up for her. Then she prepares all sorts of meals in the little pans and dishes with the spoons and such and
brings them all over to me. I think she'd really have fun with a pretend stove and sink to use with that stuff as well.
I'd love to get the whole fancy set ups with the fridge and all that, but I'm not really sure we could fit the whole thing
in our playroom. That, and I went through the "buy big toys" stage for Gavin and other then collecting junk on top of
them, they don't get played with as much as you'd think. Maybe she's having more fun with just the little foods and
pans. She's also starting to be able to put the right shapes in the right holes in her shape sorters. She may
be going through a growth spurt now as well because yesterday she was eating a lot and as soon as Daddy came home, she ran
upstairs and told him "hungry" and "eat" as she was banging on her tray. They sat down and ate but then about 15 minutes
later she saw me making dinner and she went nuts saying "food!" "food!" and "eat!" and she wanted in her highchair
again. Oh, and I gave her a pear and some orange slices that morning and she was so in love with getting the whole pear
to eat. She carried it around with her saying "Apple". She calls all fruits apples. We have this book about
summer with a big picture of watermelon (which she LOVES) and she yells "APPLE!" whenever we read it. She also pretends
to call "farma" on the phone and then she declairs "see Farma!" because we have to go see her. She does this with pictures
too.
11-29-05
I think Jess's days in the crib are numbered. Last night she actually dropped to the floor. She's been found
hanging onto the outside of the railing a couple of times but she's never made it all the way to the floor before. I
think we'll have to go get that bunk bed set for her and Gavin before we really planned on it. Jessie is getting better
and better at saying names for people. Gavin is "big brother" and my mother-in-law is "marma", which is her pronunciation
of "farma" which means father's mother. She has also started showing off two word combos like "daddy's shoes".
Oh, and what does the little girl that won't stop eating the sand do in the snow? She eats it. I took her out
in her first snowfall and she just stood there eating all the snow around her. At least that's better then sand.
Jessie is really facinated by babies. Even 'babies' that are older then her. Whenever we ask her if she's going
to have a baby brother or a baby sister, she claims it will be a brother. Gavin does as well. I suspect that Jessie
is just doing that because she knows how to say brother, but they are both quite convinced. My water baby is also still
open to putting her face underwater as witnessed in her baths when she thinks it is funny to put her whole head under the
running faucet. I think this bodes well for her swimming lessons in January. I was worried the long break would
leave her new to swimming again but I think she'll be just fine.
11-3-05
Little blue eyes is talking sooo much! She's been getting plenty of use out of "no no!" lately, even when you ask
her things she should say yes to. "Jess, you want some chocolate?" "NO NO!" hehe! She is also showing
some preference for which clothes she wears and which shoes and which jacket, etc. Too bad her sense of what matches
with what isn't so hot just yet. She yells "Daddy!" whenever we drive by a truck now, after seeing Daddy in his truck
a few days ago. Kris and I were out at Target the other day and we picked up some holiday gifts for the kids.
We got Jess this little chair that has buttons that make all sorts of noise and such. She LOVES chairs so we think this
should be a big hit. What else does she like? Opening Halloween candy wrappers! She doesn't so much eat
the candy, she just sucks on it until it is nice and messy and then leaves it on the floor to open another wrapper.
She does like those little Nerds candies though. Hey, sand you CAN eat! Physically she's really getting coordinated
as well. She can dance up a storm and she walks up the stairs like a champ. I caught her with her leg up over
the side of the crib the other day too. Hmmm... maybe we should get her into that bunk bed we're planning on BEFORE
next May after all. I just have a hard time seeing Jessie and Gavin actually going to sleep if they are in the same
room.
9-19-05
Jessie is getting more teeth! I can actually see one of her molars through. She was super crabby for a bit
too so I guess we know where that came from. She's been napping like crazy this past weekend. Not really more
then she normally does, but all in one nap. She'll go down around 11 or 12 and sleep until 3! By 8 she's getting
so tired she practically climbs in the crib herself though. She loves to sing too! You can sing anything and she'll
approximate the words and sing right along.
9-7-05
My baby can count to 3! Well, if we say "1..." she'll finish it with "2...3!" and fully expect something really
fun to happen when she hits 3. She also sings along with "Rock-a-bye Baby" by saying "baby" over and over, and she loves
to say "humpty dumpty" because when he has a great fall, she gets dumped in the water or tossed in the air. We also
sing this cute little song Gavin learned at school.. "Have you ever gone fishing on a bright and sunnny day, when you see
the little fishies going up and down the waves, With your hands in your pockets and your pockets in your pants, All the little
fishies do the hoochy koochy dance." She dances to the whole thing with the shoulders swaying and the butt moving.
She is so funny! Jess loves outside and will stand at the door saying "out?" forever. When you say "Go get your
shoes." She replies "Allright" and goes to pick out shoes. We had her final pictures taken yesterday, they were supposed
to be the 1 year pics but we had her mid-year pics at 11 months so this got put off a bit. She was just a doll for them!
What a cooperative little girl!
8-29-05
Jess got her first hair cut this weekend. I finally couldn't stand seeing those bangs in her eyes and I decided
to cut them rather then wait for them to grow out. We saved the little hair clippings in a little baggie - hopefully
I'll be able to tell the difference between hers and Gavin's now. I have to admit that it wasn't that horrible cutting
her hair. She's still adorable! We we over to Kris's Uncle's house this weekend for a going away party for their
daughter Julie. She is such a sweet person and I hope she comes back to visit plenty. Everyone was so taken with
how totally adorable Jess is! We started the party out in piggies, but she managed to pull those out of her hair pretty
quick. I also spent the weekend finishing off some of the pictures that had been piling up. I finished one whole
album and I need to start another to get done. Jess has shown that she does not like tomatoes. I've given her
a few cherry tomatoes and she bites into them all happy and gets this look on her face like she just ate mud and spits it
out... well.. not exactly like she just ate mud because MUD she likes! Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans has a dirt flavoured
jelly bean.. ya.. those are her favorites.
8-19-05
Well, Jessie did well at the cabin this past weekend. She even had a cold on Friday when we headed out so she was
not feeling her best over the weekend. We kept her medicated pretty well. It sure is great when she takes those
chewables all on her own, but man when she refuses, she refuses! She slept in a little porta crib in the room with Kris
and I and she did pretty well with all the noise. Naps were patchy, but we managed at least one each day. I think
she's cutting down to only one nap per day as that morning nap rarely ever happens at our house anymore. We got her
a little fuzzy toy puppy on the trip out to the cabin and she just loves it. She'll snuggle and say "puppy" over and
over. She has sort of created this language all her own. She'll use the same sounds to mean certain things and
I can pretty much understand her, but it's certainly not english all the time. She also uses "me" whenever she wants
to have or participate in whatever you are holding or doing. I'm amazed with her use of that since the understanding
of "me" and "you" is a pretty tough concept. She also loves anything that big brother loves and if he has a cookie,
she needs a "gukie" too. Of course, that "gukie" is likely to get thrown on the floor the second she sees something
else that Gavin is touching that she wants. I'm debating cutting her bangs now. I don't really want to, but they
are very much in her face now and she refuses to let me put anything in her hair to hold it up anymore. It bugs me to
see her walking around with her hair in her eyes. Hopefully it'll just grow long enough to not fall right in her eyes
soon enough and then I won't have to think about cutting it.
8-9-05
Jessie is FINALLY over 20 pounds!! I weighed her this weekend and she was 20 pounds 2 ounces. She also took
that diaperless moment to pee on the scale!!! No wonder she was actually sitting still for once. While I was making
dinner last night she went over to the pantry and pulled out a baby food jar of spaghetti and cheese. It is a toddler
meal so it is kinda like those little lunch pasta things. I sat her in her high chair and gave her a spoon and I had
a spoon and between the two of us she ate the whole 6 ounce jar in not very long! This is the baby that has turned her
nose up at baby food since she was 8 months old! What a nut. She has also been really crabby lately so I keep
thinking she's getting more teeth somewhere in that mouth. I'll have to go look up when they get their eye teeth.
I seem to remember Gavin was super crabby with those too.
8-4-05
We had a slightly crabby night last night. I'm not sure if she was just feeling a little off or if it was teeth
or what. At this point she's got all 8 front teeth and I'm not even sure if she has the molars started or not.
Not many people want to stick their hands in little Jaws mouth to find out. We've got these homeopathy teething tablets
that she likes taking so she gets two of those on crabby nights and it does seem to help. We've also noticed that she
prefers taking those children's chewable tablets for things like advil or tylenol so that makes giving her meds really easy.
For our neighborhood night out last Tuesday we all went out to our local park and met a bunch of our neighbors. That
was nice because I'd never met any of the people there before. I really wish we knew more of the people that live around
us better. Jessie was the only little toddler there and boy was she hamming it up! She was walking around and
saying 'hi' to everyone and stealing ice from this couple's cooler and then she'd just laugh and laugh. She had a sippy
cup with water in it that was not 'spill proof" so she would turn it upside down and trickle water over her head and down
the front of her dress on purpose and turn to laugh at everyone when she did it. It was 90+ degrees so I'm sure it felt great!
8-1-05
Jess has grown so much over the last few weeks! This weekend she was actually eating with her fork. She has
always insisted on having utensils at meals and she has always tried to use them, but generally she would not be able to spear
whatever she wanted so I'd have to do it for her and then she'd eat it off the fork. It was funny because she was picking
out all the peas from the hot dish thing we had to eat with the fork. Jess has really been asking to go outside a lot
too! She'll go to the door and say "Side?" "Side?" and if that doesn't get her out, then she'll go get her shoes
and ask to put them on and then repeat "Side?" at the door. She is so cute it is hard to resist. I'm not
real fond of bringing her to the sandbox though because all she does is eat the sand. This child! She loves to
eat cat food, sand, and toilet paper (TOILET PAPER!!) but get her anywhere near a cooked carrot or scrambled eggs and
you are evil! I can't complaign much though... she does eat most foods well. As long as you don't try to feed
her, she has to feed herself. hehe.
7-18-05
Boy, when this girl decides she's walking, she's WALKING! She walks everywhere now, regardless of the terrain.
Hills, grass, rocks, whatever. OK, I have to say this girl has had a "shoe" thing for a long time now. Even as
a little baby she tried to put on her own shoes when you'd wonder if she even knew what her feet were, she was that little.
"Shoes" was a first in tyhe word department and she says it repeatedly whenever she spots something that looks shoe-like.
Since she is now walking I decided it was time to get her a pair or real walker shoes. We took her out and as soon as
she saw the racks of shoes she went NUTS. She was grabbing anything she could reach and giving it to us stating "SHOES!"
She was actually getting mad at me because I couldn't find her size at first and I wouldn't put the wrong sized shoes on her.
We settled on a few pairs and now even if she is WEARING shoes, she will bring us another pair and wants us to put both pairs
on her. NUTS! I think we're in for trouble in a few years. Oh, she also has a fondness for sunglasses and
bracelets and "pretties" of any kind. I've personally witnessed her picking out the PINK option whenever available and
that nearly makes me insane as I'm trying to keep pink out of her wardrobe, or at least keep it from taking over.
Anyway, I've seen the pictures we had of the kids in their renfest clothes and they are BEAUTIFUL! I cannot wait
to get them online. The Rademaker studio also said they had no problems at all with me scanning things in to put them
on my website so I'll get them up as soon as I have them. This photographer was so great with the kids... he kept giving
them cheerios and he'd throw them at Gavin trying to get them in his mouth. He was so good with Jess that by the end
of the shoot, she was letting him pick her up and carry her around the studio by himself!
7-7-05
Hello! My baby is now 13 months old now! Jessie FINALLY started walking for real in the last few days.
She's been able to take steps for weeks... since about 11 months I believe... but she refused to actually walk anywhere.
I wouldn't say she's not a risk taker because she is certainly happy enough to climb up on anything and she's been in love
with crawling up and down stairs for awhile now... she just wasn't real big on falling on her butt while walking I guess.
Well now she will stand up from wherever she is and walk from place to place all on her own so I guess she's a toddler now.
We're down to nursing just in the mornings and at night now... and at nap time if I'm home with her. It's sad for
me but she doesn't seem concerned at all. I guess since she's decided that it is funny to pretend she's going to bite
me I'm not all THAT sad. hehe. Speaking of bitting, little Jaws seems to not be bitting other people quite so often
now. I'm glad to see her growing out of that. My little sister was a biter until she got ahold of a balloon once.
The funny thing is that Jessie has bitten a balloon and made it pop in her face but it hasn't stopped her one little bit.
She didn't even cry! She thought it was funny!
I need to get some new photos of her up! She is soooo cute! She had got these adorable little curls in the
back of her hair and her big blue eyes are just amazing. I had the kids in for pictures not long ago so hopefully I'll
be able to get something of the both of them up soon.
Oh, one last thing, she is such the talker! Her latest word is Mowgli for our cat. She actually says "gogli" but
I think that's pretty good! Poor Gavin... she's got the cat's name down before his. He claims that she can call
him whatever she wants but I can't wait to hear her saying "Gavin". The other day she was handing me these balls from
one of her toys and I was saying "Thank you" as she did that. She would look up at me and repeat "tangu". Yay!
