Driving Lessons

Jillian got to drive her first motorized vehicle this week. Grannie and Papa bought a little battery-powered quad that travels at about 2.5 mph that will stay at their house, so that Jillian can play on it when she visits. This is keeping with the tradition of having little battery-powered vehicles for the grandkids (like the old quad, the jeep, and the "wild thing"). Jillian did pretty well on it the first time around, figuring out that the foot pedal makes it go ... it's her steering that needs a little work. This video shows her taking the baby for a ride:

Little Climber

Something has gotten into Jillian, so that she is climbing just about anything. Mommy was standing at the changing table, and she looked over and Jillian had climbed up and was standing at the top next to her. Daddy turned away for a moment in Jillian's room, and when he looked back, she had pulled out a top drawer in her dresser, and was swinging from it. Jillian can now climb onto our bed, which is pretty high up. And of course, she can climb onto the kitchen chairs and sit on them.

Sunday Dress II

Aunties Greta and Sheryl picked out this dress and hat for Jillian during a recent shopping trip. Mommy called Jillian her "little French girl". She got to wear it to church this Sunday morning, and everyone there loved it. We've been fortunate that Jillian actually doesn't mind wearing hats.

This bigger photo shows her "cool" look. And of course, there's always a smile nearby, as shown by the smaller photo.

Independent Girl

When Jillian has asked for water or juice, and we were holding the sippy cup or juice box for her to drink from, she's gotten really mad! It was hard to figure out what the problem was, because we were giving her what she asked for. Then, she started pointing at the floor. That also seemed a little odd ... until we put the cup or box on the floor where she pointed. That's when the crying and whining stopped. Jillian picked up the cup / box and drank from it, and she was a happy girl again. Apparently, our little independent daughter wanted to do it all by herself.
This photo shows one of those "independent moments". Jillian has gotten good at drinking from a regular cup, with just an occasional drip. Although, we still have to watch her, because she'll still pour it down her frontside, just to watch the water come out.

P.S. -- This pointing at the floor is not just for sippy cups and juice boxes. Jillian does this now for whatever she wants to do by herself, like a piece of clothing or shoes that she wants to put on herself.

"I Like Shoes"

We don't know where this came from, but Jillian has started saying "I like shoes". And she says it over and over again. Maybe it has something to do with the new shoes that Mommy bought that Daddy said he likes. Or maybe it's because Jillian really does like shoes (well, we know that for sure, since she likes to play with them all the time). Mommy and Auntie Greta have said, "Auntie Sheryl will be so proud!".

For good measure, here's a video of "I like shoes":

Wild Coloring

Jillian first started coloring at Grannie's house. Her favorite color was brown. She used to just scribble around, until she saw her cousin Tierney color the books. Tierney starts with a little scribble, then finishes with a flair, whipping the crayon all over the page. Jillian loved it, laughing and saying "more".

So, a little while ago, Mommy brought a big coloring book home for Jillian. And when Jillian colors, she'll just whip the crayons all over the page, saying "Tierney" while doing it. You can see her handiwork in this little photo.

Bedtime Friends

Jillian's "baby" has been her crib companion for some time now. She wants her baby with her when she drinks her evening milk, and definitely when she lays down for sleep. The last couple of days, though, she has been carrying more things around with her before bedtime. Last night, it was her tiny green blanket (and baby). And tonight, it was Tad the Frog (and the tiny green blanket, and baby), like this photo shows. Maybe she has some comfort in numbers.

Tickle Spot

It took a long time, but Jillian finally has a tickle spot. She hadn't shown much response when tickled on her tummy, sides, bottom of feet, armpits, hamstrings, knees or neck. Usually, she just looked annoyed. But then, Daddy tickled the top of her thighs, right below her tummy, and Jillian giggled and giggled and squirmed around. Very funny!

Nutella

Jillian is actually a pretty "clean" eater. She gets most of her food in her mouth, with a minimal mess all over her face. That wasn't the case when Grannie gave her a Graham cracker covered with Nutella. Jillian didn't want to just bite the cracker ... she wanted to lick the Nutella off. So, it ended up all over her face. This photo shows the beginning of the mess. It got a lot messier later.

Sighting No. 41

Here's a new Jillian photo taken this afternoon. She continues to not like having her picture taken by Daddy, usually saying "no!" when he brings his camera out. Lately, her new thing is to want to look at the photos in preview mode on the camera. When she wants this, she'll say "watch" and try to look at the back of the camera. There are times, though, when she's busy having fun and not thinking about the camera, that Daddy can take a bunch of photos. This usually means about a dozen quick photos while the moment lasts.

We can tell that the weather is turning, and autumn will be here soon. So that means fewer outdoor photos ( :< ) of Jillian. We'll have to get as many as possible before that time.

New Stuff X

Here's a collection of the latest stuff, and it will probably be added to as things go along:

1. The Name Game : When Jillian gets tired, she starts saying every name she can think of, such as "Papa", "Tierney", etcetera and on and on. So, we'll reply with one of three things, saying either that they "went home", or they "went nigh-nigh", or they "went to work". She's usually pretty satisfied with these answers, and repeats them after us.

2. "Tight" : This is what Jillian says whenever we put on her shoes. We're not sure if the shoes are actually tight (some of them probably are getting too small, considering how fast her feet are growing), or she just likes to say this.

3. "Push" : Anymore when we go shopping, Jillian just wants to push the shopping cart around the store the whole time, just like she does with her toy shopping cart at home. She also likes to push the big shopping cart until she hits something, then she says "crash".

4. Counting Trick : If you say "one", Jillian will then say "two". And if you say "one, two", Jillian will then say "threeeee"!

5. Fist Bump : If you hold out a fist, Jillian will give you a little fist-bump. She learned this from Mason (a friend of Ty and Brock) at a volleyball game this past evening.

6. Closing Doors : Jillian may not be able to open doors just yet, but she can easily close doors now. She likes to pull on the knobs and close any door that is open, just for the fun of it.

7. "Lub, lub" : This is how Jillian says "Love You", which is what we say to her when we leave or when it's time for nigh-nigh.

8. Uno Attack : Jillian found the Uno Attack game in the closet, and discovered that when she presses the big button, cards come flying out. It didn't take long before all the cards were scattered all over the floor.

9. "Towel" : Jillian says "milk" when she wants her morning or night-time sippy cup of milk. Then, if it's warming up in the sink, and she is running out of patience, she'll grab the dish towel that hangs from the oven, and hold it out to Mommy or Daddy, saying "towel" (which means: Dry off that sippy cup and give it to me!)

10. "Boom" : If we talk about volleyball to Jillian (like when Tierney or Meagan are playing), she'll say "boom!" in reference to their hitting or serving.

Low Door Knob

The beach cabin has a utility room with a door that has a low door knob. It's something that Jillian can reach pretty easily, and she can get her hand over the top of the knob and turn it ... and open it. Our guess is that she's observed her cousin Adam open enough doors that she knew how to turn the knob on this one. This utility room door is just practice, of course. Jillian is just a couple months away from being able to reach the regular-height door knobs in the house. Yikes!

Pretend Potty

Jillian likes to mimic a lot of things, and now that includes "going potty". She likes to go through the entire routine. First, she'll pull down her pants, and then waddle into the bathroom (yeah, that's a little backwards). Then, she backs herself up against the toilet. After a moment, she'll pull off some toilet paper and throw it into the toilet. Then, she flushes the toilet and closes the lid. We usually have to remind her to pull her pants back up.

Kids' Day at the Beach

School was almost back in session, which meant it was time for Kids' Day at the Beach. This was the "grandkids" version of the annual trip, so cousins Ainsley, Tierney, Cale, Ty and Brock joined Jillian for some fun (though not much sun).

We came down on the Oregon side, thinking we'd get to go swimming at the Astoria pool, but it ended up being closed for a couple weeks (starting on the day we got there). So, we cheered ourselves up with some ice cream at the Custard King. Then we headed to the cabin, and the older kids played some football while Jillian took a nap.

The next day we attempted to do all the traditional beach-type things. We started with blueberry pancakes in the morning, which Jillian likes to eat ... she especially liked to have bites from Brock's pancake, since he covers it in peanut butter. Then we went to the beach for some moat-building. Unfortunately, it was very windy and rainy, and the waves were big and fast, and before we knew it, the moat was wiped out and it was pouring down rain. So, we took off back to the cabin, stopping by the Full Circle Cafe for some ice cream first.

In the afternoon, we went to Long Beach. We stopped by Uncle Dave and Aunt Charolette's beach house to visit, and also got to see Sheryl, Greta, Clark, Meagan and Adam who had come to visit for the day. Mommy and Jillian stayed there while the kids all went to Funland. When that was finished, we all headed back to the cabin to watch videos to end the night, including "See Spot Run" ... Jillian likes to see all the doggies!

It was a short trip, since we left the next day. We look forward to going back soon, so Jillian can have some sand-time.

Throwing Arm

Here's a short video of Jillian and her throwing arm, when she was outside tossing the ball to Mocha. Ever since she began throwing things, she's done it the same way ... by holding it back behind her head before chucking it. We don't know why. And she finishes with some hand waving, her usual way of expressing her excitement.

18-month Check-up

Jillian turned 18 months last week, so it was time for a visit to the doctor. Mommy and Daddy headed down to the family medical center in Vancouver in the afternoon, and Sweetie-Pie slept all the way there, since she was having some serious melt-down issues earlier. When we got there, we found out that the clinic had built a new waiting room for kids, complete with a TV that was playing an Elmo video. When Jillian saw it, she started yelling "ELMO!!!", and shaking from excitement. When Elmo started dancing, she danced right along with him in the waiting room. When the video stopped, she was on the move, going up and down the elevator and stairs (with Mommy and Daddy's help). After a wait, we finally got in to see the doctor.

The nurse practitioner came in to visit, and did all the measurements. Jillian now weighs 23 lb 15 oz, which is in the 50th percentile, and her height is 32-1/4 inches, which is in the 75th percentile. Her growth continues to follow the same curve on the doctor charts. We also found out that her head size is still in the 90th percentile, and the new measurement of body mass index (BMI) put her right at the middle.

Then Dr. O'Neal came in and talked with Mommy for a while about Jillian's development. Then she checked her over for heartbeat, breathing, vision and hearing, and Sweetie-Pie sat very patiently through the whole thing, never squirming or fussing. She was a very good little patient. She even displayed some of her vocabulary to the doctor, saying "eat, eat" over and over again (since she was hungry). She did get a little tired of the whole thing, and wanted out of the room, and when Daddy said "no", she displayed a little attitude with a short angry yell, which the doctor also got to see. This part of the examination eventually came to an end, Jillian gave the doctor a hug and a kiss.

It wasn't over, though, as the nurse practitioner came back in and applied some tooth varnish, which Jillian didn't care much for, even though it had a banana taste. And then it was time for the dreaded shots. The nurse pinned down her legs and Mommy held her arms, and bam, bam, bam ... those were some of the quickest shots ever. Jillian was not happy; she cried immediately and kept crying for several minutes. So, we left and headed to Burgerville for the traditional french fries and a milkshake, and everything was OK again.