Watch & Learn

We've been making the (faulty) bubble machine work by pouring the liquid into the top and pulling the handle ... a little backwards, but the bubbles come out. Jillian has been watching us closely how we do it, because she wanted to do it herself. So this evening, she had apparently seen enough, because she popped the cap off the squeeze bottle, and squirted the liquid into the top ... and out came bubbles. She was very excited that she made it happen! Unfortunately, she kept pouring the liquid in until the machine flooded and stopped working altogether. Oh well.

Obsessive & Compulsive

Jillian's obsession with keys and buckles continues. It makes it difficult for Mommy and Daddy when driving her anywhere, because using the car involves keys and buckles. First, Jillian wants to hold the keys on the way out of the house, so that she can try to open the garage door and car door. Secondly, she wants to play with the buckles in the carseat when we strap her in. The return home is even more involved. When she gets out of the carseat, she wants to go right back in to play with the buckles ... OR, she heads for her stroller that's parked in the garage and climbs into it to play with the buckles. And when we pull out the keys to open the house, she wants those, too.

This obsession doesn't end there, either. Out on the town, Jillian will grab a person's purse (doesn't matter who it belongs to) and open it up, looking for the keys. And she looks for any buckles to play with, whether it's on a shopping cart or some other baby's carseat.

Outdoor Girl IV

Jillian went to Lake Sacajawea yesterday, just to enjoy the nice weather and play outside. Daddy made the mistake of not using the stroller to get her there, and ended up having to carry her the whole way (since she usually stops every couple steps and looks at something on the ground). When we got there, Jillian did some people- and dog-watching, then got down to the business of picking things up off the ground, like this stick (see the photo). She even made a couple runs at the lake before Daddy stopped her just short of getting soaked.

Ya-Ya!

Most kids say "Hey!" when they want to get someone's attention. Not Jillian. She yells out a big "Ya-Ya!" when she wants us to pay attention to her. You can see an example of that in one of the previous videos ... after clicking the buckle together, she held it out to Daddy and said "Ya-Ya!", wanting Daddy to un-buckle it. We have no idea why she says this, or where she got it.

Bodily Functions

Jillian has gotten a lot better at communicating with us, letting us know what she wants or what she has done. One of the latest ones, which we are very excited about, is that she knows when she has dirtied her diaper. Yesterday, she came up to us and said "poop". So, we checked and that's what she had done, so we changed her. A little while later, she said "poop" again, and sure enough, she had gone again. We're not sure if she's telling us because she wants to get changed (because she doesn't really like having her diaper changed), or because this is something new to talk about. Whatever, it just means that potty training is getting closer.

Big Molars

Here's a photo of Jillian sporting her lower molars. She has quite the mouthful of teeth at 15 months old already, and can chew, chew, chew.

Rumbling, Stumbling

Jillian had a little oopsie today. Daddy opened up the front door to let Jillian go outside, and she took off to get out there and didn't bother waiting for Daddy at the steps ... she decided to head down the short stairs on her own. And she literally went "head down"! Before Daddy could catch up to her, she was going down head first, skinning her nose on the carpeted stairs and then skinning her forehead on the concrete driveway. To top it off, she ended by flipping completely over in a somersault. Jillian was very unhappy! But after a minute of crying, she wanted to go right back down those stairs (to go outside, of course). Poor Mommy when she had to hear about another Jillian boo-boo.

Sighting No. 36

It was Father's Day today, and Jillian was all dressed up, ready for church in the morning. Jillian's early gift to Daddy was being a good little girl and letting him take this photo of her.

Hi, Everyone!

Jillian loves to say "Hi!". It doesn't matter if she knows someone or not, she still likes to greet them. When we take her to the store, she'll yell out a big "Hi!" to everyone she sees (and that's a lot of people), and most people will respond with a smile and a "hi" back. The funny thing is, if a person tries talking to her, she gets all shy.

Buckle Success

Jillian continues to play with buckles and straps, and in this case, it was Mommy's backpack. She was able to snap the buckles together, and she was so excited by it, that she did it over and over again. Here's a little video that shows it:

Kids' (Cousins') Day

School is out, which means it was time for the annual Kids' (Cousins') Day at the Beach. Jillian made the trip this past week, and she was joined by cousins William, Ainsley, Ty, Brock, James, Parker and Auna, along with Mommy, Daddy, Grannie and Mocha (and Papa later in the week). Jillian was feeling better, though she still had a bit of a low-grade fever that came and went ... so she was still lethargic and kind of crabby. But it was the beach, and she had lots of company, so she still had lots of fun!

When we went to the beach on Wednesday, it was very nice and all the kids went right for the water ... except Jillian. She was still scared by the waves, and wanted nothing to do with them. So, she stayed with Mommy and Grannie where it was safe. She got a treat, though, on the way back to the cabin. One of the traditions is to stop at Full Circle Cafe and eat cones (or cups) of ice cream. Jillian got right into the tradition with a vanilla cone.

On Thursday, on our trip to the beach, it was again very nice, and this time the kids were able to convince Jillian to get into the water. She let the waves run up onto her feet a few times, and she was OK with it ... until she lost her balance and sat down in the water. At that point, it was time to head back to the cabin to get changed.

One of the strange things that happened during the beach trip was that Jillian got lots of little red bumps all over her torso. This didn't seem to bother her or slow her down, and the Advice Nurse (who Mommy called) said to just watch it. Daddy thinks Jillian might be allergic to the beach, but Mommy thinks it was a virus. Anyways, it's all better now.

Sighting No. 35

Not sure what got into Jillian, but she decided to stop and smile for the camera for a bunch of shots. She waited patiently, and kept up a half-smile while Daddy took pictures. Then, she went back to ignoring Daddy and his camera.

More Tooth Pain

It was a long day for Jillian on Monday. Apparently, those molars are still working their way in, because Jillian had a bit of a fever (99 to 101 F), not much interest in eating, and was just kind of lethargic in everything she did. After a nap and dinner, and a dose of Ibuprofen, she had a brief return to her wild-girl self, before tiring out. Now she's back to being clingy and not sleeping well. Poor little Sweetie-Pie!

Jill the Builder

It was a big moment when Jillian finally started building with her wood blocks, instead of destroying them. She had gotten into the habit of knocking down whatever Daddy had built, and then laughing about it. So, Daddy worked on it, and after many attempts, found that praise was the answer. Now, when Jillian places a block on top of a structure (like this photo shows), there's lots of clapping and cheering ... and Jillian joins in, and she also expects that praise everytime. She's getting pretty good at block building; she can stack them one on top of the other for a while. Occasionally, though, she reverts back ... getting that wild look in her eyes and knocking everything down. But, we're making progress on choosing construction (not destruction).

By the way, in this photo, Jillian had just eaten dinner, so she's sporting her full little belly.

New Books (at last!)

Mommy and Daddy just couldn't handle one more reading of "Go, Dog, Go", or "A Fish Out of Water", or "Clifford, the Small Red Puppy", or even "Are You My Mother?" There were some days when we would read those and more to Jillian at least 5 or 6 times each. Either we would recite them from memory, or fall asleep while reading. So, Daddy went to Amazon.com and picked up a whole bunch of new classic books, such as "The Bear's Picnic", "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go", and "Just Mommy and Me". Those should last us through the next month!

Bubble Maker

Jillian had some bubble fun today with Maddy (neighbor Jack & Peggy's grand-daughter). We got out the big bottle of bubble solution to fill up the bubble machine (that doesn't work right) and found a wand inside. Maddy used it to make some very big bubbles. Then she let Jillian try it, and Sweetie-Pie found out that she could make bubbles herself by dipping the wand in the bottle, and then waving it really fast. She loved it, and made bubbles for a long time. Here's a little video of some of the bubble-making fun:

Letting Us Know

Jillian has gotten much better at telling us what she wants or needs. There are times that she'll yell at us (with no particular words) and motion that we need to follow her into the kitchen, and when we're in there, she'll go up to the counter and point at the cups, meaning that she wants a drink. Another time was this afternoon ... she was getting crabby, and when Daddy tried putting her down for a nap, she got all worked up and cried even more. Eventually, she started saying "eat, eat, eat", which she can say pretty clearly. So, we went into the kitchen, and Jillian ate a ton of food. She was a very hungry little girl. Now, if she would just tell us when she wants to go to bed ... ha! That's very unlikely. She's still doing her best to resist the Sandman, so she's not about to tell us that she's tired. Oh well.

Drop It, Quick!

One of the things that Jillian does that makes me laugh is when she gets rid of something, fast! She knows pretty well what things are OK to pick up, and what things are not. So when she picks up something that she's not supposed to have, and then we approach her (so that it looks like we're about to take it away from her), she'll chuck it as fast as she can ... it just goes flying out of her hands! That's fine with us, as long as it's not something breakable (in which case we have to sneak up to her). When she does do the quick-drop, she'll also sometimes say "no".

Graduation

Jillian got to attend her first graduation ceremony tonight, watching her Cousin Ainsley graduate from Castle Rock High School. She watched Ainsley give her most excellent speech as the valedictorian, and then later receive her diploma. Jillian was a little tired, since it was getting late (about 8:00 pm), and when it was over, she ran around deliriously. We did manage to get a little photo of them together.

Backyard Video

It's been awhile since a video was posted, so here's a little one of Jillian rambling down the walkway in the backyard:

Parrot Girl

Jillian has begun repeating lots of words, though it's just the first syllable. But if she can, she'll try saying whatever word that we (or anyone else) says. She does pretty good at getting the right sound, and now we're working on getting more than just one sound or syllable in the word, or even stringing some words together.

Soaked

Grannie and Papa's house has a lot of water features, and Jillian loves to play in all of them. And when she plays in them, she gets soaked, so Grannie usually has to keep her away from them. But it was hot last week, so she got to play in the big one ... the waterfall! Grannie stripped Jillian down to her diapers and let her get right in. Here's a photo of her having a fun, fun time.

New Night-Night

Night-night time has mostly been a long, and not always quiet, affair. Jillian doesn't really like heading for bed, and does her best to keep herself awake. When we try to get her to slow down and relax, she starts to throw a fit. Mommy decided to make a change a couple nights ago. The routine is to read 4 or 5 books to Jillian, while she drinks her milk ... and then lay her down in her crib. It's been surprising to us that Jillian actually stays down. She cries a bit (probably because she's mad), but then goes to sleep. Mommy and Daddy are very much liking this new night-night!