Bridget's Walker

The entertainment center got converted into Bridget's little walker. She pushes it around, so that she can stay on her feet and get to somewhere she wants to go (usually the bouncer).

Jillian's Robot

This is Jillian's latest creative expression. She makes a robot out of her blocks. She calls it a "roll-o-bot", and we're not sure why. But, she has made this several times now, and she's pretty proud of it. You can see the white eyes, and the arm on one side. When we asked about the other side, the one with all the colored blocks -- she said it's the roll-o-bot's "skin". Maybe it's some abstract art thing?

Party Central

The bouncer is where the action is! The present from Grannie and Papa is still a hit for both girls. Jillian loves to bounce on it and sing the "Go, go, go" song from the Backyardigans show. Bridget loves to be anywhere near it where she can watch her big sister bounce.

Freestyle

Bridget loves the entertainment center! It's one of her favorite places to be, not just because of the music and lights, but mostly because she loves to stand up. She's also pretty bold, using only 1 hand to hold herself up. This was taken over a week ago, and she's gotten better at it. Now, she likes to reach out to something else and try to move her feet over there. There's been a few crashes, but she shakes them off pretty quick, much like her big sister used to.

Funtime with Aunt Julie

Aunt Julie came down to play with the girls and since it was raining outside, Jillian proceeded to get one thing out after another to show Julie and play.  I especially enjoyed the dialogue from the shopping at the store.  It was great entertainment for Jillian.  And also for Bridget who would try to destroy anything that was out.  If you sit on the floor with those two you will be entertained also.

Picnic

Jillian talked all day about having a picnic with Brock when he got home from school.  She was so excited that she went downstairs herself to get a blanket and spread it out on the deck.  (I thought she might go on the grass but she picked the spot.)  Then I gave her suggestions for food and she decided what she wanted.  She thought it all was great fun even though they had to keep yelling at the dogs.

She has developed such a big vocabulary that she surprises me at times.  All morning she spent a lot of time making a chocolate something in her water area with everything she could find outside-sand, dirt, etc.  Later that morning she saw Tucker drinking her chocolate something and she said, "That's disgusting!" (And it was!)

Girls and Cars

Sister Dianne sent these two cars down for Bridget since the twins had outgrown them, one for me and the other to take to Rick and Heather's house.  Well, Jillian had other ideas.  She wanted to ride in one so she had me push her when I was pushing Bridget up and down the driveway.  It actually worked pretty well since the cars don't really have steering so they go pretty straight.  They loved the cars.  That was the main attraction today.  Bridget also got her first mower ride today, and as with everything, she was happy and excited.  They both got lots of outdoor time and never fussed at all.  Love this nice weather!

Sisters

Jillian doesn't mind having her picture taken if it's with Bridget. Jillian always wants to hold her, like the photo shows. For this sitting, Bridget did pretty good, since she's usually such a wiggle-worm. Both of them are wearing their Sunday dresses for church.

Fun with Little Sister?

Bridget crawled clear across the living room to get to the puzzle Jillian had put together earlier. You can see how thrilled she was to get right in the middle and start pulling up pieces. When she sees something she wants she can crawl pretty fast and far now to get to it. After her nap Jillian saw that Bridget had messed up her puzzle and now she trying to put the pieces back and Bridget is fighting to get to it. Jillian is going to have a lot of fun now with little sister so mobile.

More Teeth

Mommy was a bit surprised to find out that Bridget has 2 new teeth already (in addition to the 2 bottom teeth she already has). She was feeling around her top gums, and then took a look inside, and found that one of her incisors was already fully in, while a second incisor had just broken through. This would explain the heavy drooling lately. We are being careful these days not to let Bridget bite our fingers or anywhere else, as she chomps down very hard ... it's painful.

Jillian and Friend

During the first game of Tierney's double-header softball game, Jillian played with Rielee. They played dolls, made moon dough dogs, and planted sunflower seeds. She had a great time with Rielee. During the second game she found a friend and spent all of the second game holding hands with her friend and walking around between the softball fields, talking all the time. She had never seen this girl before (She was from Toledo I think) but immediately made friends. Jillian is definitely not socially shy. I'm not sure she ever learned the girls name and when I would ask her what her friend's name was, she would say, "She's my friend."

Crawling Video

Here's a short snippet of video of Bridget crawling on the family room floor, while Jillian wanders around talking to Mommy. Bridget tends to do better at crawling when she's got bare knees, so that she doesn't slide around.

One of the other things that has now developed is that Bridget is climbing everything she can get close to. Yikes!

First Crawl

Bridget crawled for the first time on Friday evening! She was sitting on the floor, while Mommy and Jillian were playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos. The attraction of the action, noise and all the marbles bouncing around was enough that Bridget wanted to get much closer ... so she moved both her hands and knees a couple times and made some movement forward, before making her lunge onto her tummy at the end like she always does. We all cheered, and Bridget had big smiles. We got her back up again, and she crawled again, but twice was enough ... she got crabby when we kept trying.

We did manage to get it on the miniDV camcorder, but couldn't quite capture it on the digital camera. We'll try again soon.

Easy Entertainment & Monkey See, Monkey Do

For easy entertainment, just put Bridget by the window to look out. Papa and Jillian were on the back deck with Mocha, Tucker, and Holly-the dogs who were play fighting and running in circles. This lasted quite awhile and I'm sure Bridget was thinking, I want to be out there too.

Bridget is getting very observant of everything and will imitate what you are doing. I just finished my coffee and she grabbed the cup and immediately tipped it up to drink some coffee too. Earlier I pounded on the peg set and then gave her the little wooden hammer and she started swinging that hammer wildly toward the peg set. Not real good at that yet. Once she hit herself in the head and then didn't like that game.

Jillian just stepped out the back door and rang the doorbell and I think I surprised her by opening the back door and saying, "Well, hello, and who are you?". She answered Jillian and then went along with the game of being a stranger come to visit. I would ask her where she came from and the answer would vary from a house way across the valley to a home in the woods. When I asked her how she got here she would say by sled. Then eventually she would leave and ring the doorbell again and we would go through the same routine. It was fun until about the 10th time.

New Stuff XLIII

It's a short list of new stuff ...

1. "Guh" : This is Bridget's first sound / word. It was quickly followed by "Buh" and "Duh".

2. Friend at the Park : Jillian and Cousin Andy went to the "tunnel park" a couple weeks ago with Mommy and Daddy. It didn't take long before Jillian spied a little girl, close to her age, across the park. She pointed at her and told us "She's my friend." We had never seen her before, and we were certain that Jillian hadn't either. Jillian took off after the girl, and before we knew it, they were holding hands and playing together.

3. The Stiff Arm : Holding Bridget has become quite a chore, because she has gotten into the habit of pushing away from us, trying to get down to the floor (where the action always is).

4. "I told you ..." : This is how Jillian likes to remind us of things.

5. Swim Lessons : Jillian had her first swim lesson at the YMCA on Monday. She was mostly excited that she got to wear her new butterfly swimsuit. Daddy took her to the pool, and had her join her class, which consisted of a swim teacher and two other girls, both of whom were a little older than Jillian. The kids all sat on the side of the pool while the teacher explained some basic rules, like "no splashing". Apparently, Jillian must have not heard this, because she spent much of the class splashing the teacher and the other kids. The lessons involved pretty simple stuff, mostly to get the kids comfortable in the water. This is something that Jillian will need, because she either had white knuckles holding onto the side of the pool or the teacher's neck, or she was stiff as a board when in the water. She did manage to loosen up a bit as the class went on. Towards the end of the lesson, the teacher had Jillian jump to her from the side of the pool ... and the teacher let her go under! Needless to say, Jillian was not pleased about getting water in her eyes, but she shook it off shortly after when they had play time with the noodles. The whole first-time swim class experience must not have been too traumatic, because Jillian was ready to go back for the next class.

Bear Crawler

Bridget is getting her workout by pushing herself up on her hands and feet into the bear-crawl position. She doesn't go anywhere from there, but she sure is working her arm muscles. She's still working on trying to crawl.