Bookworm

Jillian has a lot of books that she loves to have us read to her, including "Zoo Friends", "My Puppy" and "Daisy Duck". But when she received "Where's Spot?" from The Johnson's (see photo), that became her new favorite. When we first read it to her, she got so excited about the little doors opening that she wanted it read over and over and over again. Reading it to her usually means about 5 times at least. Once she figured out how to open the little flaps herself, she likes to pick up the book and go through it on her own.

Maternal Instinct

This past Christmas, Jillian received a baby doll from her cousin Rielee (see photo). It came with a little bottle and a backpack. Ever since she got it, Jillian has been practicing her mothering skills. She really likes to carry the baby around, sometimes by the head or foot. We've shown her how to feed the baby with the bottle, and Jillian will try to do the same thing, usually by smacking the bottle against the side of baby's head.

Hello?

Here's a video of Jillian talking on our house phone, one of her favorite "toys". She likes to press the buttons and hear them "beep", then hold the receiver up to her ear and talk into the phone.

Keep-a-way

It's not so much of a game to Jillian. When she is holding onto something, and she sees someone trying to take that thing away from her, she will try to hide it behind her back. It's pretty funny to see. No doubt, she's learned this after having many things taken away from her.

Ball Girl

Jillian was at Coach Mommy's volleyball practice tonight. She always loves going to the gym at Castle Rock because the bleachers are pulled out, and they are just the right height for cruising. Plus, she just likes being in wide open spaces and seeing her cousins (Meagan, Tierney and Macee) playing volleyball.

Grannie was babysitting, and to entertain Jillian, she put her into the ball cart with all the balls (see the photo), and pushed her around the gym. Jillian loved it! In fact, she loved it so much, that when would Grannie stopped pushing, Jillian would throw a fit, yelling and getting red-in-the-face. And you can imagine what happened when she took her out of the ball cart. Yikes!

Uh-oh

Daddy has been a slacker in not posting this for a while. It is a video of Jillian saying "uh-oh". She learned this from her Grannie, after hearing it when she fell down (or something similar). Now, if Jillian hears someone say "uh-oh", she'll repeat it over and over again. We tend to say it a lot, since she has a lot of spills and crashes.

Finger Foods

Jillian has gotten pretty good at picking up food with her index finger and thumb. We have been putting Cheerios in front of her and letting her go after them. At first she treated them like a toy ... she just hit them or swiped at them and sent them flying all over the place. Now, she has been grabbing the Cheerios slowly and bringing them to her mouth. The tough part has been letting go of them, since they tend to stick to her wet fingers. But when they end up in her mouth, she chews them real good with her gums and occasionally bites them with her 4 teeth. Here's a little video of some of the action:

Sighting No. 21

Here's a little bonus photo of Jillian on Christmas morning. She was a happy little girl all day long.

Christmas Day

Jillian really enjoyed her first Christmas Day! She traveled, opened presents and played, and hardly even fussed at all. She was a very good little girl, which is a good start for the next time that Santa Claus comes again.

The day started off nice and early with some presents for Jillian under the Christmas tree and in her stocking. Both Mommy and Daddy had nostalgic ideas about gifts, giving Jillian a wood xylophone (which Mommy got when she was about the same age) and wood blocks (which Daddy loved most when he was little). Jillian liked banging on the xylophone. After a few other presents amongst all of us, we packed up and headed to Scott & Cindy Stephenson's house.

After picking up Grandma Helen and then battling slushy snow, we entered to a full house with Scott & Cindy, Jason & Dany and McKenna & Lindsey. There were lots and lots of great gifts exchanged, and Jillian received so many neat things that she'll get to use for years to come. She spent a lot of time roaming around and playing with wrapping paper, bows and Josie the dog. When the snow really started coming down, we packed up again and headed to Grannie and Papa's house.

Jillian slept on the way there, but then woke up on arrival to find Grannie & Papa, Betty Uhlenkott, Uncle Dan & Aunt Robin and Cousins Ainsley & Tierney, Uncle Kevin & Aunt Julie and Cousins Cale, Ty & Brock. A quick bite to eat was followed by many more presents. Once again, Jillian received wonderful things from everyone, and enjoyed played with her new stuff (including a bottled water that Aunt Robin gave her). All of the presents wore Jillian out, as she and Mommy then took a nice, long nap. The day ended with a bunch more playing around with her cousins. When it got late, we packed up and headed home.

All in all, a great first Christmas for our little sweetie-pie!

Christmas Eve

It was Jillian's first Christmas Eve! We spent the evening with the Peterson family at the Verd house. It was packed, with Grandpa Ken & Bev, Uncle Clark & Auntie Greta, Auntie Sheryl & Auntie Denise, Mommy and Daddy and Cousins Meagan, Adam, Andy and Jillian (with the traditional appearance by Missy & Steven).

We had a big dinner of tacos with all the fixings, followed by whatever desserts we could cram in. Then we got down to the business of opening presents! There were lots, and throughout the evening, Jillian liked to roam around and check out what everyone else got, especially Adam and Andy's toys. Occasionally, she'd just sit and play with the wrapping paper (shown here). Jillian received many awesome gifts ... she sends out a big "Thank You!" to everyone. She has lots of serious playing to do with all her new toys, plus she'll look stylin' in all her cool new clothes.

After it was all over, she was one tired little girl ... she immediately sacked out when she got home.

Santa Claus

The Peterson family cousins all made a trip over to the Three Rivers Mall to visit Santa Claus today (Christmas Eve). This would be Jillian's first encounter with the jolly old elf.

Cousin Adam showed the way, making a dash for Santa as soon as he saw him, jumping into his arms and coming away with a candy cane. All of the cousins (Meagan, Adam, Andy and Jillian) then got together in a photo shoot, as you can see here. Andy and Jillian stuck in there pretty good, though Jillian started getting a little anxious towards the end.

Then Mommy and Daddy joined Jillian for a family picture, and this is when Jillian starting wailing. Until, that is, we gave her a candy cane to suck on ... then everything was good! She forgot all about Santa Claus, and we managed to get a decent photo.

Snowbunny

Here's a photo of our little snowbunny!

For the past week or so, it has been very snowy and cold ... pretty unusual weather for around here. Jillian didn't have the kind of clothes that we could take her out into the snow, until her Auntie Sheryl scored her these cute bibs and coat. So, we bundled her up and took her outside. When she got a chance to see and touch the snow, she wasn't too interested. As this photo shows, this is about as close as she wanted to get to the white stuff.

Elf Movie Night

It's almost Christmas, which means that it was time for the annual Kid's Day featuring the movie "Elf". This was Jillian's first time for the traditional event.

Cousins Ainsley, Tierney, Cale, Ty, Brock, Meagan & Adam all came over on Sunday evening to our house. Mommy got us started with pizza and snacks, then we watched the "Elf" movie. Afterwards, we played lots of board games before finally settling in for the sleepover in the living room.

One of Jillian's favorite moments was waking up in the morning to find all the kids still at the house ... she had a big smile and was so excited. She played and played with the cousins before they finally went back home.

Grinding

Now that Jillian's top 2 teeth have poked through (joining her pretty long bottom 2 teeth) she likes to grind her 4 little teeth together. It makes a terrible-sounding "crunching / scraping" that makes Mommy cringe when she hears it. We much prefer the sucking and popping sounds that she makes with her lips.

Big Tub

Jillian has outgrown the kitchen sink, so tonight she got to take a bath in the big bathtub. As always, she loved her bathtime. Mommy had bought a rubber mat to keep her from slipping around, and it did its job, but now our focus is to keep her from standing up, which she tried to do several times. This photo shows her favorite bath toys, some little squirters that she likes to dunk and chew on.

Some New Stuff

Our little girl continues to grow and change a lot. Here's just a few observations of Jillian in the last couple days ...

1. Her understanding of "mine" is beginning to show. First of all, she's got the iron grip, and it can be nearly impossible to take something out of her vise-like fingers if she doesn't want to let go. Secondly, she usually doesn't want to let go, and if something is taken away from her, she gets mad! The growling isn't so bad, but the crying (i.e., screaming) is. This is a new thing for Jillian, since before she was pretty indifferent about it.

2. She does not appreciate having a door shut on her if she's not along with us. Anytime we go outside (usually the back) and shut the door behind us, she crawls like a flash to the door, stands up and starts crying. The problem, then, is that we can't open the door, because she's in the way. When we come back in, though, everything's OK.

3. She is figuring out how to make a kissing-sound. We like to give Jillian kisses, and we tell her what they are ... and in those times, she has started making a suction-type sound with her lips, so they make a little "pop". But, she's still not much into giving or getting kisses, yet.

Walking Video

Finally, caught on video ... it's Jillian walking! Today was a good day for it, because she was a walking machine. If we put her on her feet, she'll usually try walking over to the nearest tall furniture.

Again!

Jillian is a little more expressive about letting us know about her wishes. For instance, when we are playing a game with her, and then we stop ... she lets out either a whiny cry or a mad grunt, telling us, in her own words, "Again!" So, if we're up to it, we'll keep playing the game.

Sighting No. 20

Here's another photo of Jillian and her big, blue eyes ... anymore, it is pretty difficult to get portrait-type shots of her, since she's always on the move (and moving fast!)

Children's Sermon

Today at the morning church service at Grace Lutheran, Mommy took Jillian up to the altar for her first children's sermon that Maggie Berryman does every Sunday. Mommy had Jillian on her lap while Maggie talked about Jesus as Light of the World. Jillian was a very good listener as she sat quietly (unlike the rest of the service). Soon, she'll be running up there on her own.

Little Logger

Mommy, Daddy and Jillian went to get their Christmas tree on Saturday. It was a cold, cold day, but no rain or snow. We went up to the tree farm on George Miller Road in Silver Lake, where we go every year, and looked around for a while. Jillian helped us look, and found a tree just her size (as shown in this photo) ... here she is clapping for joy! We eventually found our tree, as far from from the truck as possible so we had a long trek back. But it's home now, and Jillian can't wait to attack it.

Many More Steps

After taking her 1st step just a few days ago, Jillian went ahead and took a whole bunch more tonight. With Mommy sitting on the floor, Daddy picked Jillian up and got her standing just a couple feet away (although this took some time to do, since she was already trying to walk before her feet hit the floor). After letting her get her balance, she took a step towards Mommy ... then another ... and another ... it was probably about 5 or 6 steps in all before she finally reached her Mama's arms! This was followed by a big hug from Mommy, then lots of clapping and cheering by all 3 of us, of course. Then Jillian got down and got back to crawling, since it's much faster.

We did manage to get all this on video, but it's on the miniDV camera (which is more difficult to post to the blog). So hopefully soon, we can get a good pocket camera video of Jillian walking and get that posted here.

Standing Video

Here's a little clip of Jillian standing up in the kitchen. She likes to clap and yell when she does it.

Mommy's Clone

Does this little girl look familiar? Well, it's not Jillian. This is a photo of Mommy when she was about the same age!

Mommy showed this photo to Daddy, and asked "Do you think Jillian might be my daughter?" You can guess the answer ... talk about a strong resemblance! But now Daddy knows that when Jillian grows up, she'll look just like her beautiful Mommy.

Sighting No. 19

Here's a new photo of our little sweetie pie. She's about 9-1/2 months old, and changing so quick!

Leg Crawler

If she wanted to be picked up, Jillian used to just cry ... and usually someone would come and get her. Now that she's mobile, she takes the initiative and crawls over to our (or anyone else's) leg, grabs on and pulls herself up to a standing position. And then, she'll cry for attention to get picked up. At least this gives us a clue about what she's crying about.

A Leg Up

Jillian's newest trick is to get into a kneeling position, like this photo shows. From the sitting position, she will rock forward so that one knee is up and the other is down. This lets her get up higher, without actually standing up. Jillian does this a lot, especially when she's got a toy in hand.

First Step!

Jillian took her first step today!

Mommy, Daddy and Jillian were over at the Verd house having dinner with Uncle Clark, Auntie Greta and Cousins Meagan and Adam. We were all in the living room relaxing, when Auntie Greta got Jillian up on her feet. She has gotten pretty good at standing, so she can stay there as long as she wants. But, apparently she wanted to get over to Mommy who was sitting on the couch, because she took one little step in her direction, and stayed on her feet! There was lots of clapping and cheering from everyone!

Christmas Parade

The last time Jillian was at the Longview Christmas Parade, she was in Mommy's tummy. This year, she got to watch it all on Mommy lap, along with the Stephenson and Verd families. Since it was a little cold, she was bundled up nice and warm, which was probably the reason why she fell asleep about half way through the parade. Even the loud horns on the big log trucks didn't wake her up.

Shake, shake

We don't know why, but there are times when Jillian will shake her head around like this video shows. Sometimes it happens when there's music (for dancing), or when we say "No!" to her. Then, there's times that she does it for no particular reason at all.

Big Stand

If you put Jillian on her feet where she can't reach anything, she'll go ahead and stand there ... at least for 10 seconds or so before she gets bored with it and sits down. A lot of times, she'll clap her hands and yell while standing up. Occasionally, she'll also bend her legs and bounce a little bit. And, when it's picture time, she likes to give a big smile (like this photo shows).

One of Two

Just tonight, Meagan noticed that one of Jillian's top 2 teeth had poked through the gums. When we laid her back and opened her mouth, sure enough, a little bit of white on the top left tooth was peeking through. The one on the right was just about to come through, as well. This would explain why Jillian has been drooling a river the last couple days ... and also why she hasn't been sleeping well at all. So, that big cheesy smile of hers is about to get even bigger!

Stranger Danger

Jillian has been having more frequent bouts of "stranger danger" lately. There are a lot of people that she sees pretty regularly, and she's perfectly fine being around them or being held by them. But, if there is someone that she sees only occasionally (say, once every couple weeks), then she gets anxious and starts crying if she gets near them.

9-month Check-up

Jillian made another visit to the doctor today, this time for her 9-month check-up. The nurse started out right away by measuring her length at 28 inches (75th percentile), her weight at 19 lbs 3 ounces (100th+ percentile ... basically off the charts), and her head size at 18 inches (the same 90th percentile). So, Jillian continues to grow at a good clip.

Her resident doctor this time was Dr. LaGrande, with Dr. Liu also attending. Both doctors remarked at how happy Jillian was, probably because of all the smiles she was giving them. Dr. LaGrande checked her over and asked the usual questions, and said that everything looks good. They also both enjoyed watching Jillian perform all of her tricks for them (clapping, standing, talking, etc).

Then the nurse returned to apply a flouride varnish to Jillian's 2 bottom teeth. It must have been tasty, because she hardly flinched when the nurse stuck the flu shot needle in her leg.

Cheese!

Here's a great big cheesy smile from Jillian, after Daddy said "smile" before taking the photo. She likes to show off her 2 bottom teeth with the biggest smile she can muster.

By the way, if you're wondering why there have been no photos for the past 2-1/2 weeks, it's because Daddy had a little mess up. During a visit to Yakima, he left his camera bag (with both digital and video cameras) in a movie theatre. Fortunately, someone turned it in to management, and after many phone calls, he found the company that was keeping it for him. They wouldn't mail the bag, but agreed to hold onto it until someone picked it up. Dany made an attempt to stop by, but the business was closed that day (sorry, Dany ... thanks for trying!). Then, Grandpa Ken paid them a visit and came away with the bag (thank you, Grandpa!). So now, we're back in business, and hopefully lots of photos will be posted again.

Vocabulary

There are a number of words that Jillian seems to understand pretty well ... at least we think she does. We get a fairly consistent response from her when we say them. Here's the current list:

Mama
Dada
Jillian
Sweetie Pie
No! (or maybe not, based on how well she behaves)
Bye-bye
Open (mouth, when eating)
Up
Legs down (when on the changing table)
Doggie
Smile (when Daddy is taking photos)

She also seems to recognize the words from her favorite books (or at least the way we say them when we read them). If we say the words from her Zoo Friends book, "Hello Panda, in the zoo", she'll get a big smile on her face.

Shopper in Training

Jillian joined Mommy, Dany, Cindy and McKenna & Lindsey for some post-Thanksgiving day shopping on Saturday. It was an all-day affair, and Jillian showed that she will be ready to join the ladies soon ... she was a good girl, and kept on-the-go the entire day. Here's a photo (thanks to Dany) of Jillian next to the loot.