Category Archives: Family & Friends

My baby girl turned 19 months old last week and she is getting to be such a big girl. I had hoped to finish this post before we went out of town last Thursday, but that didn’t happen.

 

 

What Jessica is Up To

She now runs everywhere. This has led to quite a few scrapped knees, as she gets to going so fast that she trips over her own feet.

The majority of the month was spent preparing to move and unpacking from moving. So Jessica spent a lot of time climbing in boxes, “helping” pack, and then “helping” unpack.

 

 

 

 

She has become interested in water. Here, she watered plants in the yard. I’m looking into swim classes for this summer.

 

Jessica is still sleeping in her crib, but we will start the transition soon, because we’re concerned she might climb out (she hasn’t yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she did). For now, I’ve placed some floor pillows in front of the crib just to be on the safe side.  She finds the pillows a handy spot to read.

 

I think she’s going to be a great big sister. When I was unpacking the cloth diapers, so I could wash and start using them again, Jessica decided her stuffed animals needed diapers. She has become so enamored with diapers on her animals that I now keep the door to the nursery closed unless we’re changing her diaper or doing the bedtime routine. Otherwise, she opens the diaper drawer and pulls them all out.

 

Jessica also will climb into the bathtub in the middle of the day and take her stuffed animals so she can give them a bath.

 

She is quite a fan of animals. She knows a number of them by sight and by their animal sound: turkey, cat, pig, elephant, dog, rooster, bird. She loves to point to birds or fish. I like to take her to the pet store just so she can look at the critters. I look forward to more zoo visits. She loves to feed the fish in the pond in our back yard.

 

Jessica loves the phone, but she hasn’t quite grasped the concept of talking into the phone. Sometimes I can get her to say bye-bye to Daddy on the phone. Often this includes waving bye-bye at the phone.

 

She’s not a big fan of hats when I want her to wear one outside to shade her face and neck, but inside she loves to put on hats. She’ll put them on her stuffed animals too.

 

What Jessica is Saying

Jessica is quite the talker. Often we don’t know what she is saying. The clear words she can say: cheese, juice, up, out, mama, da, poopy (while getting her diaper changed), ball, wow, whoa, whee, uh-oh, hello, hi, bye, bye-bye (one of her favorites), book, more, fish, George, birds, mouse, chips, blackberries, flower, gobble-gobble, meow, cock-a-doodle-do, caw, bubbles, balloons and I’m sure there’s a few more I’m forgetting.

What Jessica is Eating

Jessica has for the most part recently boycotted high chairs, especially at restaurants. Until we moved she was against her high chair and even her booster seat. When we moved, the high chair was adjusted to the lowest setting and the cover/straps removed to make it easier to move. Once it was put in the new breakfast room, Jessica saw it and thought it interesting and spent some time climbing in and out of it. I had an “Aha” moment. I adjusted it up a notch to table height, put the cover but not the straps back on it, and pulled it up to the table. Now Jessica loves sitting in it again. I feel that it might have been an anti strapped-in movement instead of anti-high chairs. I’ve stopped strapping her in at restaurants and she will often sit in them now.

 

 

Granted, we’re 7 days shy of Jessica turning 19 months old, but with packing and moving, my blog has fell by the wayside the past few weeks. Better late than never, right?

A few days after Jessica’s half birthday, we went for her well-check at the pediatrician’s office. She measured 33 inches tall (90%), which is a jump from the 70% she was in at her last well-check. She weighed 22 pounds and 14 ounces (25-50%). Her head circumference was 48 cm, which has steadily been in the 90th percentile. She received two shots, the last shots until she turns four. She didn’t really cry out after the first, but she didn’t like the second one.

 

What Jessica is Up To

Being rather tall, she can reach anything on edge of the kitchen counter. She also opens kitchen drawers and will take out spatulas, turkey basters, etc.

 

Jessica has boycotted pretty much anything that straps her in: high chairs, strollers, etc. Although, she is still okay in the car seat, most of the time. However, she does like to play with the straps and can wile away the time strapping her kitty in the summer seat or climbing in and out of the stroller. She is quite adept at connecting the straps, but she gets frustrated that she can’t undo them once she connects them.

 

 

Jessica now loves her stuffed animals. Kitty seems to be her favorite, but she plays with almost all of them.

 

 

She enjoys playing with blocks now. She is still best at taking built things apart, but her interlocking skills are improving and she will even intermingle her different types of blocks.

 

 

Jessica is a big fan of George, Curious George that is. She will point at the TV and say “George.” Unfortunately, she watched a lot more George in the 18th month than I would have liked, but it was hard to pack with her “helping.”

 

Jessica’s entire 18th month was spent house-hunting. We looked at over 50 houses, I think. She really likes our realtor, Madeline Mansen. Madeline let Jessica hold onto the little gadget that opens the realtor boxes. Jessica liked pretending it was a phone.

 

At the playground, she especially loves the steering wheels.

 

Jessica is starting to get puzzles. I guess all the practice of putting things in and taking them out is paying off.

 

Books and her Animal Baby magazines are still one of her favorite pastimes.

 

Her bangs are now past her eyes, but I am trying to grow them out as they just grow too fast. I know hair in her face bothers her as she keeps trying to pull it out of her face, so I always put her hair up during the daytime. I either put the front half up in one ponytail or two pigtails (only the front half of her hair so I can include the long bangs). After naptime, it is often messy and part of her bangs are out of the ponytails. Jessica has a tendency of holding the ponytail in the hand that has the thumb in her mouth, which makes it loose.

The last thing I baked in our old house was some chocolate chip banana mini muffins. Jessica helped out. Really, she didn’t do much more than watch, but she sure enjoyed it. I can’t wait to bake with her more.

 

What Jessica is Saying

Jessica is quite the talker. Often we don’t know what she is saying. The clear words she can say: cheese, juice, up, out, mama, da, poopy (while getting her diaper changed), ball, wow, whoa, whee (going down slides), uh-oh, hello, hi, bye, bye-bye, book, more, fish, George, birds, mouse, and I’m sure there’s a few more I’m forgetting.

Her comprehension is also amazing. She will often do what I ask of her, such as bringing me an item or wiping the table. She knows a number of her body parts: belly, belly button, hands, feet, tongue, nose, ears, hair. Often if you ask Jessica where her belly is, she will lift up her shirt and point to it. She also will lift up mine or James’ shirts and point to our bellies.

 

What Jessica is Eating

Jessica has her front eight teeth (four on top and four on bottom), plus her first four molars, so is quite capable of eating a variety of food. However, she is still picky. Fruits are usually a go, although she is not the biggest fan of cantaloupe or pineapple. She loves peanut butter, plain or on crackers, but she hasn’t quite figured it out on sandwiches. Jessica stills loves yogurt and cheese. She still hasn’t gained a taste for pasta or rice yet. She often requests juice, but I keep that on the top shelf of the refrigerator so she can’t reach it when I open the door for her to grab her milk or water cups, which are kept in the door at just her level.

 

Can you believe it? Time is flying. Jessica turned 17 months old yesterday.

 

What Jessica is Up To

Jessica is now almost running everywhere. I insist she hold my hand when we’re outside (and not at the park or in the backyard), since I’m afraid she’ll run into the street. I think her favorite time to run is when we get her undressed in her room and put her down and say bathtime. It’s so cute to watch her run to the bathroom.

She also likes to climb. She climbs into things and on top of things.

 

Jessica has become quite the bag lady. If something has a carrying strap, she will carry it around. I gave her this little purse that I never really used, because it was too little. When I first gave it to her, she carried it everywhere, even to the bath.

 

 

 

 

 

I even took a little video of Jessica showing off her bag-carrying skills.

 

She has also started enjoying stuffed animals more. Puppy and her are great friends. There’s been a few times she has insisted we take puppy with us in the car.

I’m trying to get her interested in coloring, but so far I haven’t been very successful. Jessica does like to take the crayons out of the tin we keep them in.

 

She’s all about moving objects from one location to another. The crayons from tin to table and back to tin. She even gets her baby carriage involved, but not really for a baby doll. Jessica likes to put the pots and pans from the Elmo kitchen fridge magnet in the baby carriage and push them around and then take them out. And then put them back in and push it back to the fridge and hang them back on the hooks.

 

Jessica likes to go for rides to check the mail. The other day, we had the garden cart out to transport some mulch to the backyard and Jessica wanted in. She liked it so much that when we finished with the mulch we took her to check the mail in it.

 

Even though she has become enamored with things that aren’t toys, like my contact case or the soda coozies, she still loves to play with her toys.

 

We don’t let her watch much TV, but I occasionally put on Little Einsteins or Curious George while I get dinner ready. When they start a mission and pat their laps to help Rocket to take off, Jessica will pat her lap too.

What Jessica is Saying

The last two or three weeks have been an explosion of vocabulary and comprehension. In addition to signing more, she will now say more. She has also mastered the signs for all done and milk, although she will sign milk for any beverage. She says both no and yesh. The inflection of her no is so cute. It’s hard not to smile. She can say: cheese, juice, up, out, mama, da, poopy (while getting her diaper changed), ball, wow, whoa, whee (going down slides), uh-oh, hello, hi, bye, and I’m sure there’s a few more I’m forgetting.

What Jessica is Eating

I think Jessica is trying to double the amount of teeth she has. She now has the top front four, 3 in the bottom front, a molar on the bottom left and top right. Plus, she has 3 or more in progress.

My child is the pickiest eater. I’m trying to introduce new foods all the time, but she is still a fruit eating piggy. She does get protein from peanut butter and turkey and she even enjoyed some tuna salad today. And of course she gets her carbs from crackers and bread, but she still won’t eat pasta. Fortunately, she still loves the Stoneyfield veggie yogurts so all is not lost. I’m hoping it it just a matter of time.

 

I’ll leave you with one last picture of my cutie pie peeking out from behind the rocking chair.