Category Archives: Family & Friends

Today, Jessica is 16 months old.

My Valentine Cutie, 2/14/11

What Jessica is Up To

Crawling? What’s that? Jessica is definitely a walking machine and only crawls when going under or through something that she can’t walk through.

Crawling Through a Gymboree Tunnel, 1/27/11

She enjoys putting items in containers. I think her favorite part of music class is the clean-up song to put the musical instruments back in the container. When we went to the children’s museum recently, I would take the cows out of the dairy farm and she would put them back in.

Playing with Dairy Cows, 1/20/11

Putting the Dairy Cows in the Barn, 1/20/11

Her eye-hand coordination seems to be really good. Jessica can pick up multiple items, even large items, and carry them around. She doesn’t really seem to favor one hand over the other except at meal time and there she sort of favors her left hand. Maybe she’ll be a leftie like her Daddy (or Nana or Aunt Sarah).

Picking Up Balls, 2/4/11

If I have to pick Jessica’s favorite toy, I would say books, although not one in particular. She loves to pull her books off the shelf and flip the pages. She loves when I read to her also, but sometimes if she’s too tired before naptime or bedtime, she’ll actually just try to get off my lap.

Reading, 1/23/11

Bedtime Story with Momma, 1/23/11

Reading in Her Rocking Chair, 1/25/11

Reading, 1/26/11

Reading with Daddy, 2/4/11

Jessica’s Speech and Comprehension

The words I can think of currently: cheese (when prompted to say cheese), whee (when going down the slide or swinging), whoa, uh-oh, hello, hi, up, ball, thank you (sorta), momma (sorta), da-da. I’m sure there are a few more, but I can’t think of any others right now.

She knows where her belly is. She’s starting to understand where her ears are.

What Jessica is Wearing

Jessica is still wearing 18 month (considered 12-18 months) clothes, and she will probably continue to wear them for a little while yet. Basically, all of her pants are still fairly loose. We’ll probably graduate to 24 month (considered 18-24 months) when we hit summer and she needs the shorts I have in the closet instead of the pants in her armoire.

Styling, 1/30/11

What Jessica is Eating

Jessica still has just six teeth, although I think she is working on two molars. Normally, when I think she is working on more teeth, nothing comes out of it, but this time I can feel  teeth trying to poke out of her gums (and she didn’t bite my finger off). She has been fussier lately, but she’s still so easy-going, so I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.

See My Six Teeth, 1/25/11

Jessica is somewhat of a picky eater. She loves pretty much all fruit. Veggies require more effort. I will often give her a cup with applesauce or yogurt and a spoon and then I’ll have a spoon of some veggie and sneak in bites between her bites.

Messica, 1/21/11

She definitely enjoys feeding herself even if she isn’t that great with the spoon yet, partly because she likes to turn the spoon over and put it in her mouth upside down.

See My Mad Spoon Skills with the Berry Smoothie, 1/21/11

James and I had really wanted Santa to bring Jessica a Little Tikes Picnic ‘n Play Playhouse. It took us a long time to decide that is what Santa should bring, so we were bummed when it was out of stock everywhere that had it at a price Santa could afford. It finally came in stock at Wal-mart and arrived at the store closest to us using the ship-to-store option last Monday. We put it together during Jessica’s nap Saturday afternoon. It is really neat in that it is a playhouse, but it also has a slide and climbing steps. The slide section is attached to the playhouse via a door that can open up allowing for more play area.

Jessica tried it out after her afternoon snack and she absolutely loved it. In fact, every day since Saturday, she goes to the back door and points to it.

First Time Checking out the Playhouse

Entering the Playhouse

Yes, it came with a phone (no batteries required).

Testing the Phone

The seats can swing to the outside and the table can flop to the outside as well.

Relaxing

Using the Phone

Daddy and Jessica

Climbing the Steps to the Slide

She is just barely tall enough to reach the button to turn on and off the light (2 AA batteries required).

Turning on the Light

Hanging the Phone Up

Here’s a little video of her enjoying her playhouse.

I’m sharing a video from last Friday of Jessica eating lunch. And yes, she’s talking while eating.

You might have noticed near the end of the video, Jessica does some compartmentalizing of the food she has left. Do you think that is a trait she’s picking up from me? I was the kid in preschool who lined up the lunchboxes.