Crazy for Starfall

Everytime Jillian comes she must play Starfall, a computer game that Aunt Dianne used with Rielee. She can't work the mouse yet so usually Papa sits with her and does it once a day, which isn't enough, she thinks. Poor girl was down with a head cold and a little crabby until she took her nap and then was ready to play. Of course, she had already done Starfall and wanted to do it again and neither Papa and I would give in, so when we were out of the computer room for a minute she jumped up there and decided to do it herself. She put on my glasses (don't know how she could see the screen then) and worked hard on getting the mouse to work. I relented and brought up Starfall but said she would have to do it herself and she managed to bring up a book with lots of concentration on moving the mouse and lots of clicking. All in all, it kept her busy for awhile.

One-Eyed Smile

Here's the usual photo of Jillian ... with one eye shut (and sometimes both eyes shut). To get a photo of her with her eyes open, we have to be a little sneaky.

New Stuff XIX

A little post-Christmas fun, courtesy of our little Sweetie-Pie:

1. ABC Song : We've sang the ABC song to Jillian enough times that she tries to sing it herself. It goes something like this: "A, B, C ... X, Y, Z ... Now A, B, C ... Next time X, Y, Z". It's kind of the quick, abbreviated version of the song.

2. "No" : Jillian has been able to say this for some time, and we've heard it a lot. But now it seems like we hear it all the time. That makes sense, since she's almost 2.

3. Drawing Faces : Jillian has a couple of drawing tablets (the magnetic kind), and she loves to draw on them and then erase. She's watched Grannie draw countless people faces, including Dora, and now she does her best to draw faces, too. She draws a circle, then does a bunch of dots (for the eyes), then a scribble inside the circle (for the mouth), and a scribble on top of the circle (for the hair). She'll even throw in a scribble on both sides of the circle (for the ears).

4. Super-Fast : It's always been hard for us to keep Jillian's socks or shoes on; she can easily take them off by herself. And with all the times that we've tried to stop her, she's learned how to take them off super-fast! It happens in the blink of an eye, now, so it's not even worth trying to stop her. One nice thing, though, has been that she likes to try and put them back on herself, and she's usually pretty successful.

5. "Feety-Fie" : Jillian can't quite say her "sw" sound, so when she says her knickname (Sweetie-Pie), it comes out with an "f" sound.

Sighting No. 46

A recent Jillian sighting! This one is compliments of Grannie Woodruff a short time ago, when Jillian had some braids ("pretties") put into her hair.

New Jeep

For a little Christmas fun, here's a video of Jillian in her new Jeep that she got for Christmas. Cousin Brock is giving her a ride. Jillian says that he goes "fast".

Christmas No. 2

Jillian's second Christmas was quite a day. She made trips to 4 different locations throughout the day, and held up really well. For sure, she has a better handle on opening presents, but her favorite part of the whole day was seeing all the family and friends again.

The day started off at 7:30 am, when Mommy and Daddy woke her up. She was still pretty tired after an exciting Christmas Eve, but she got right up when we said that she could open presents. The first thing she saw was the Strider balance bike (from Santa Daddy). Then, she opened up a big present to find a Radio Flyer tricycle (from Santa Mommy). Mommy and Daddy had wanted to buy separate Santa gifts for Jillian as a surprise, but we might have to change how we do that. After a few more presents and stockings, we got dressed and ready to go.

Our next stop was at Scott & Cindy's, where we also saw Dany & Jason, Mckenna & Lindsey, Helen and Brandon. There were lots of gifts going around, and Jillian was getting warmed up on the opening side of things. One of the gifts she received was a stepping stool from Scott & Cindy. Now she'll be able to see what's happening on top of the counters. Through the flurry, Jillian did slow down for about 30 seconds to read a page or two from "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with Scott.

We then took off for Castle Rock to see Grannie & Papa and all of the aunts, uncles and cousins in the Woodruff family. The present opening started right off with some Dora stuff, so that got Jillian all worked up. Then, she opened the big present from Grannie & Papa ... an electric Jeep. The fact that it had a carrying capacity of up to 130 lbs meant that Ty and Brock were also very excited. They both took Jillian outside to play in the Jeep, and Jillian was perfectly content to go along for a "fast" ride.

We went back to Longview in the afternoon, going to Uncle Clark & Auntie Greta's house, where we saw all of the aunts, uncles and cousins in the Peterson family. It was a whirlwind of present opening, and we worked hard to keep the room clear of all the wrapping paper so we wouldn't get swamped. Jillian got tons of new clothes, and was very excited about it all. She also liked to check out all the toys that Adam and Andy got. By the end of this round, both Jillian and Adam were very tired, and they laid down on the floor together to catch their breath.

The final stop was Uncle Dave & Auntie Charolette's house for a Christmas dinner, where we also saw Jim & Michelle. There was lots of good food, and we enjoyed a relaxing end to the evening. The kids kept on going, though, right to the very end. Believe it or not, we had a hard time getting Jillian down to sleep that night, maybe because she was still on an adrenaline rush. But, she ended up sleeping in the next day until 10:00 am!

Night Before Christmas

We spent this year's Christmas Eve at the Piercy family party in Castle Rock. It was hosted by Aunt Julie and Uncle Kevin this time around. Lots and lots of Jillian's relatives showed up. And Santa made an appearance, too!

Jillian wore her pretty Christmas dress to the party, though it wasn't long before the sweater came off. She was working up a sweat running around with Rielee and others. While playing downstairs, we heard a knock at the door and all of the kids screaming. We ran upstairs to find that Santa had arrived. Just like the first two encounters, Jillian didn't want to get anywhere close to Santa. She preferred to watch him from a distance. But, she did get a present from Santa ... in fact, she got a candy cane from him, so maybe she thought that he wasn't all that bad?

Then it came time to open presents from under the Christmas tree. One of the things that got Jillian really excited was a big box of princess stuff from Cousin Rielee, which included several pretty princess dresses. Jillian immediately stripped her clothes off, and started yelling for us to put her into one of the dresses. Even later after we put jam-jams on her, she still wanted to wear one of the dress-bottoms over the top of her pants.

Jillian received many cool presents, and she really got into tearing the wrapping paper off each one. She's old enough now that she gets pretty excited when opening presents, knowing that there's something new inside. All that excitement wore her out, because she was deliriously tired at the end of the evening.

Santa-phobia (again)

We were visiting at Uncle Clark and Auntie Greta's house, and Jillian was running around with Cousins Adam and Andy. Later in the evening, the three of them went to the front window and stared outside, looking and listening for Santa. All of the sudden, Santa went running by! Adam was jumping for joy, while Jillian and Andy ran for cover. Then, Santa knocked at the door and came in, and that's when Jillian freaked out. She was shaking and crying in Mommy's arms, and saying "I want back!" (meaning, she wanted to go to the back room away from Santa). She calmed down a little bit when she saw Adam sitting on Santa's lap, but she still wanted nothing to do with him.

After Santa left and we went home, Jillian ended up saying "I want to see Santa", which we figure means that she only wanted to see pictures of Santa, and not the real thing.

Sighting No. 45

Here's a photo of Jillian, relaxing in her crib. It's almost Christmas time, and she's ready to start opening some presents!

Elf Movie Night

It was time for the annual Elf Movie Night with the kids. Cousins Ainsley, Tierney, Meagan, Cale, Ty and Brock (and suprise guest Will) came to our house on Monday night. Jillian was so excited to see everyone come visit at her place! We had pizza for dinner, then watched the Elf movie, and Jillian even watched a little bit, particularly the parts with Santa in them. Then, we played Uno Attack on the floor, and Jillian thought it was great fun to be right in the middle. She had her own 2 cards to play with, but she had more fun rolling around and trying grab everyone else's cards. Eventually, it got to be a little chaotic, so we had to end the game early. The night kept on going, and so did Jillian right up to about 11:00 pm. Eventually, Daddy got her down nigh-nigh. The rest of the kids stayed up and played some more games and hung out until Mommy showed up at midnight from work.

Scaling Kitchen Heights

The handles on the drawers in the kitchen make for good holds for Jillian's climbing expeditions. She can now use them to get up high where she can see what's on top of the counters, and even reach the stuff that used to be too far away.

New Stuff XVIII

Just in time for Christmas, here's the lastest on Jillian stuff:

1. Caution to All Shoppers : If you happen to take Jillian to a department store (especially one that has clothes on racks), watch out! Jillian will take off running and disappear from sight pretty quickly ... and then she'll climb into the middle of a clothing rack (the circular kind). If you didn't happen to see her do it, she's next to impossible to find. When you call out to her, she'll stay quiet because it's just like a hiding-game.

2. "Ummmmm" : When Jillian ask us to "come" and we respond with "where?", she'll give us this little thinking-sound while she tries to think of something.

3. Polite Girl : Jillian has gotten good at saying "thank you", and now she says it on her own (without prompting) whenever someone gives her something or does something for her.

4. Stepping on Toes : Standing on people's feet is how Jillian gets a few inches higher. If Mommy or Daddy are standing at a countertop in the kitchen, Jillian squeezes in between and steps on our toes to get a better look at what's on the counter (or to grab things there).

5. Confusing Demands : Jillian likes to play in her crib, but then she says "I want out". As soon as she's taken out, she starts crying and says "I want in". Then, when she's in, she starts crying and says "I want out".

Change in Routine

Grannie: I decided to move all Jillian's toys from the living room to the computer room that has shelves for the toys. Of course, she has her routines and the first is to run to the fireplace hearth and color so now she is confused. I told her to go to the computer room, which I had to rearrange and toys and stuff were piled everywhere, and her first comment was, "What happened?". The she looks around and says, "This is messy." She talks too well now and then she proceeded to make it messier.

Christmas Dress

Jillian really liked her pretty Christmas dress. She wore it to church on Sunday morning, and then to the mall when she went to see Santa. As always, it's not easy taking a photo of Jillian, since she's always on the run ... but here's a pic in front of the lighted tree in the front yard.

Santa-phobia

We've been reading lots of books about Santa Claus, and how he's nice and brings presents. Jillian likes to read about him. We were hoping that it would help make Jillian a little more comfortable about seeing Santa in person.

On Saturday night, Jillian stayed with the night with Uncle Clark and Auntie Greta, since Mommy and Daddy went to see the Nutcracker in Portland. They went to the Catt Family Christmas party at Art's house that night. Santa made an appearance, and from the stories we've been told, Jillian was terrified. She was shaking from fear, and saying "no" the whole time. So, her first meeting with Santa wasn't so hot.

On Sunday, we went to the mall with Cousins Andy, Adam and Meagan to have a big family group photo with Santa. When Jillian first saw Santa, she stopped and pointed at him. Then, she ran to Daddy and said "hold me". She wanted nothing to do with Santa, and refused to look at him. Eventually, we managed to get her close to Santa, thanks to Meagan holding her, and got a quick photo.

Even now, if we mention "Santa", Jillian says "no".

Getting Creative

Today I decided that Jillian needed more cover-up as she is getting to be bolder in her finger painting, so I dug up an old shirt to use as a paint shirt. But today what she really got into was the modeling clay. She got a napkin and put all her creations-some I made like a banana-on it. I wasn't sure what all her creations were but she would pretend to taste it so it was obviously food. It amazed me how long she did this activity with total concentration.

Every time Jillian is here we work on learning to pedal her trike. But what this photo shows is how she's excited about her braids. Her hair is getting long enough now to pull up or braid.

Busy Girl

This happens almost every time Jillian comes for the day to Grannie's home. She must do everything right away. First: She grabs the crayons and we color for perhaps 5 minutes. Then she's on to the Magnadoodle for another 5 minutes (She'll do this later for quite awhile.) Then on to the kitchen to play with clay for another 5 minutes. That usually consists of her getting all three colors out of their containers and tearing them into pieces. Then she wants to fingerpaint and that takes awhile to set up-longer than the actual fingerpaint time-10 minutes total. Then she grabs a shopping bag, plus she needs her baby, keys, and backpack so she can go shop downstairs. But once there she is distracted and needs to write on the chalkboard. Then after playing with everything there and leaving her backpack, keys, and baby there she is off back upstairs to get the doll house out and we play babies. This gets boring in about 5 minutes and then she bugs Papa into playing Starfall on the computer. So far this is how the first hour goes!!! Thank goodness that by now she has calmed down and will then sit and play with her toys for much longer-usually repeating what we have already done in more depth or wanting to read.

Sighting No. 44

Here's a new photo of Jillian, standing by the Christmas tree. She was a good little helper.

Decorating the Tree

We had a free evening (one of the few anymore), so we decorated the Christmas tree with ornaments. Mommy set some ornaments aside for Jillian to put on the tree, and Jillian really got into it. She operated very quickly, grabbing an ornament and throwing it onto a branch. When she was all done, it wasn't hard to see where she put the decorations ... most were all on a single branch. She continued to help Mommy, breaking a few ornaments here and there, knocking off the lights and falling into the tree a couple times. The decorating was capped off when Jillian helped Daddy put the star on top of the tree.

Little Advent Books

Jillian received a little Christmas gift from the Paul family last year ... "The Story of Christmas" advent books. It sits on our mantle at home, and contains tiny Jillian-sized books about the Christmas story.

Jillian is always wanting to read them, but Mommy has to remind her that she can only read one-a-day. Here's a picture of Jillian holding one of the books, while Mommy reads to her.

Cold Seattle Trip

It was still cold, though not as cold as earlier in the week, when we made a Christmas-season trip to Seattle. We met up with Laura at her house, and headed right out to the park that was a few blocks away. It had lots of cool things for Jillian to play on, including slides, swings and a zip-line, which she thought was really fun. But one of her favorites was the merry-go-round; it's something she hasn't gotten to ride on much, so she spent a lot of time spinning. We stayed for quite a while at the park, until Jillian got too cold, so we headed back.

Jillian then went down for a nap, so she missed the holiday light show at Green Lake, but when she woke up, we headed to Nikki and John's new house for some dinner and visiting. Jillian loved seeing all of the dogs (there were 4 of them there), but eventually the late evening caught up to her and she went into destructo-mode ... so we headed to Laura's for nigh-nigh. After a nice night's sleep, we had a little breakfast together, then headed home.

Chillin' in the Crib

It was one of those times that Jillian wanted to get into the crib. So, Daddy put her in it, then threw all of her babies and stuffed animals in with her, along with her little pillow and blanket (from her doll crib). She made herself comfortable, putting her babies and animals next to her, pulling up the blanket and then telling Daddy "books!". She took the book (Sammy the Seal) and read it to her babies.

New Stuff XVII

It's new stuff about Jillian, the early Christmas season edition:

1. "My lights" : We put up some red, green and white lights around Jillian's bedroom window. She really likes them, and calls them "my lights". And whenever she sees Christmas lights elsewhere, she reminds us about hers, saying "my lights".

2. Mine Sign : Jillian not only says "mine", but she also wraps one arm around her tummy, holding it with the other hand while saying it.

3. The New "I Love You" : If Jillian is drawing (usually on her Etch-a-Sketch at Grannie's), she'll say "I love you". In this case, it means she wants a drawing of a heart.

4. Defiant Girl : In the past week of so, Jillian has become even more of an independent spirit. In other words, she's not doing what Mommy and Daddy tell her to do. In fact, she usually does just the opposite. It's gotten her into a bit more trouble lately, including more time-outs.

5. "Sorry" : With the increased time-outs, we've told Jillian that she has to say "sorry". So, when her time-out is over, she'll run to Mommy or Daddy and say "sorry".

6. The Voice of Mommy : In those times that Jillian is upset about being put in her crib for bedtime (which is almost always), she stands up and wails and cries out to Mama and Dada. This can go on for a while. But when Mommy finally yells "Jillian! Lay down! It's time for nigh-nigh!", Jillian immediately lays down, and we don't hear a peep from her the rest of the night.

7. Happy Girl : We've found that if we want Jillian to be happy, and somewhat under-control, then it's important that she get enough sleep during her nap(s). If she gets woken up before she's ready, watch out. She'll be very crabby when she's awake, and that crabbiness will continue on until bedtime.

8. "Open Present" : Jillian has read enough Christmas books to know what presents are. The Rec Association at Daddy's work gave Jillian a wrapped present, and we put it under the tree. When Jillian saw it, she picked it up and yelled "open present". We are always telling her that it's not Christmas yet.

Grannie's post

I was just around the corner putting on makeup and Jillian was looking in these drawers, which don't hold much except linens and scrapbooks, when I checked on her and found her and "baby" reading in the drawer. She is certainly trying to find new and novel ways to read to her dolls. The scary part will be when she tries to get to a higher drawer. No wonder I have to color that gray. Other than that she was in wonderful humor after sleeping in until 9:30 AM.

Our Christmas Tree

To make our Christmas memorable, we chose one of the coldest days of the year to get our Christmas tree. It might have been as high as 20 F. So, we bundled up in our warmest clothes and headed up to the tree farm by Silver Lake. It was cold, and Jillian told us so. She didn't want to get down and walk in the snow/ice, so we had to carry her everywhere. We walked a long ways, but Mommy found the perfect tree on the far side of the tree farm (as shown in this photo). By then, Jillian was very cold, so we got her back into Grandpa Peterson's truck and warmed her up ("nice and warm", as she likes to say). We loaded up the tree and headed home.

P.S. (12/10/09) Grannie and Papa Woodruff took Jillian to the same Christmas tree farm. When they started walking towards the trees, Jillian recognized where she was, and turned around and started yelling "car!".

Closet Play

Jillian has gotten tired of just playing in the usual places, so now she's climbing into our closets and playing inside there amongst our clothes. She must like having her own little space to play in, though it makes quite a mess out of our folded clothes.

Christmas ABC Book

Last Christmas, our neighbor Susan gave Jillian a gift ... a big Christmas ABC Book made of cloth. This Christmas season, it's one of her favorite books to read. We've been reading it to her most nights, saying "A ... angel, B ... bear, C ... candy", etcetera. The other night, Mommy decided to just say the letters, and then we found out that Jillian knew almost all the words in the book. The most surprising part was that she even knew words like "or-ment" (ornament), "ice skates", "underwear" and "violin". The only word she couldn't quite get was "nativity".

P.S. (12/09/09) Apparently, Jillian doesn't even need the book to repeat all of the ABC words. If we're in the car, or anywhere else without the book, and we say the alphabet, Jillian will follow each letter with the Christmas word from the book.

Christmas Stuff

Back in early December, Mommy started putting up the Christmas decorations in the house. A lot of those decorations were on the floor or on a table ... in places where Jillian can reach them. So, right away we had to teach her "no touch" to all of those things. For certain things, that has continued to be a challenge since she really likes to touch (or grab them), and we've had to remind her over and over. When Grannie came to pick her up one day, Jillian made sure to lead her around the house and point out the Christmas stuff and say "no touch". But, there are a few things that are OK to touch, including the snowmen that sit on the floor. Jillian likes to grab all 3 of them and throw them into her shopping cart and push them around. And, she also likes to read to them (like this photo shows).

Snow Day No. 1

We got our first snow of the season last night, when some big flakes came down at 10 pm. Unfortunately, Sweetie Pie was already snoozing in her crib, so she didn't get to see the snowfall. But, when we were leaving for church in the morning, there was still some snow on the ground. When Jillian saw it, she didn't want to touch it because it was "cold". Here's a picture of her showing her "cold"-look ... (shoulders up and hands in a fist).

Big Stacks

When Jillian wants to play blocks, she'll yell out "I play blocks", followed by "come, Dada". But once in a while, Jillian will play with the blocks on her own, and stack them up. This photo shows one of those stacks that she built all by herself. It lasted a little while, until she knocked it down.

Reading with Rielee

One of the highlights of Jillian's day at Grannie Woodruff's house is when her Cousin Rielee comes to visit. Jillian loves to run around and play with Rielee, and they even have some quieter moments together, like this photo shows. Jillian is holding her Dora book, while Rielee reads the "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book to her. One other thing to note is that Jillian is wearing a Disney Princess dress that Rielee gave to her.

Coffee for Mama

One of Jillian's routines on the weekends is to go to Fred Meyer in the early morning to pick up some coffee for Mama from the Starbucks there. She's usually dressed in her jam-jams, though we'll throw on a coat, too, if it's cold. When we get there, she says two things: "I want coffee cake" and "I want my coffee". So, we order Mama and Dada their drinks, as well as a piece of coffee cake. We also ask the barista for Jillian's coffee ... a small sample cup filled with whipped cream and a straw. Jillian sucks down her "coffee" (like this photo shows), and has a piece of coffee cake, while we wait for the coffee. Then, we take everything home to Mama.

Big Family Hug

If Mommy and Daddy give each other a hug, Jillian immediately runs over and squeezes in between us, and says "hug". So, we pick her up and we all have a big family hug together. Jillian likes the big squeezes, but hides herself when Daddy gives the crazy kisses all around.