Get Up and Go

Almost as soon as Bridget could walk, she figured out how to get up off the floor (without grabbing onto anything) and stand up. As this video shows, she can motor around pretty good, now.

Busy Days

Rielee got to come play which thrilled Jillian.  It is so cute because now they have a baby for their pretend play and Bridget is also thrilled because she loves to be right in the middle of all the doings.  Sometimes Bridget gets in their way too much so I have to rescue her.  They always get all dressed up for their activities too.  After that Tierney went to watch swimming lessons with us.  Jillian was excited to show Tierney all she could do.  Since Jillian slept on the way home there wasn't a nap.

Jillian wanted Papa to help her make her worm cakes by getting some live worms.  He found two worms that she put in a little pan and added dirt and water.  She also wanted rocks but Papa convinced her that worms don't like rocks.  At one point she even picked up a worm to move it.  Later when she moved on to something else, we gave the worms their freedom.

Sunday Dresses

Both Jillian and Bridget wore purple dresses this past Sunday for church. Now that Bridget is walking, it's up to Jillian to hold her hand during picture-taking, to keep her from scooting away. If it was tough at times trying to take pictures of just Jillian, now it's twice as difficult with both of them.

Bunch-o-steps

Bridget is working her way up to several steps. She can string 5 or 6 steps together before losing her balance. Typically, she takes a bunch of steps that get faster and faster, then falls forward. Sometimes she falls to the floor, and sometimes she falls into someone's arms.

Pirate Princess

Like Grannie mentioned, Jillian dressed up as a "pirate princess" for Brock's birthday, complete with fancy hat, glass slippers and a pirate eye-patch. She was very excited for the party, and couldn't wait to show Brock how she dressed up.

Umbrella

We were outside, just starting grilling, when big raindrops started falling.  Jillian immediately wanted her umbrella to stand in the rain and even agreed to a picture with a smile.  Of course she didn't want to come inside.  She has just started getting dressed up for Brock's party.  I didn't get a picture of the final outfit after dinner but she was a Pirate Princess. 

New Stuff XLV

A bunch of stuff accumulated over the weeks ...

1. "You're welcome, sir" : This is how Jillian likes to respond to a thank-you, even to Mommy.

2. "You're kidding me!" : There's really no particular time that Jillian likes to use this phrase. The funny thing is, she knows how to emphasize the "kidding" part just right.

3. "Bridgy" : Jillian calls Bridget by her actual name much of the time, but sometimes she likes to use this, especially when she's the coddling big sister.

4. "Big Sister" : If you say this to Bridget, she immediately starts looking for Jillian.

5. The Growler : It's one of those low growly sounds that Bridget makes, when she's not happy or wants something and is not getting it.

6. The Climber : A while back, Bridget figured out how to climb onto Jillian's bouncer. After Mommy and Daddy pulled her off of it many times (since she's had a few falls from it), she now thinks it's pretty exciting to make a mad dash for the bouncer, laughing all the way while Mommy and Daddy are saying "no, Bridget" and chasing her.

7. Turning into a "Puff" : Bridget routinely eats rice puffs at the dinner table, since it keeps her pretty occupied while everyone else eats their dinner. Jillian likes to say that, because Bridget eats so many puffs, that she's going to turn into a puff ... and of course, she laughs at her joke.

8. Chores : Setting the table is one of the first chores that's been given to Jillian. She does pretty good at it, putting the placemats in the right spots, along with napkins and silverware. Staying focused and finishing the job is always the hard part.

9. Stair Climber : Bridget likes Auntie Greta's house, not just for all the fun things to do there, but also because there are stairs. Bridget likes to climb them all the way up, and if she's taken back down, go right back up again.

10. "Disgusting" : For a while, this was Jillian's favorite word. It usually went like this: "You know what I call dirt? ... I call it disgusting."

11. Circles : Jillian really got into identifying circles, and on one trip to Seattle, it was a non-stop circle hunt. Jillian would say "I just remembered, a (blank) is a circle". You can insert anything that resembles a circle into the (blank), such as a wheel, hole, ring and on and on ... even a circle itself.

12. "Can Ainsley eat ... ?" : This is one of those repetitive question games that Jillian likes to play, asking the same question with different endings over and over. Most of them were silly, like "Can Ainsley eat a car?", but she'd change it up once in a while with something reasonable to keep us guessing.

13. "Libarium" : Jillian likes to pretend to be a librarian with all of her books, giving them to us to check out.

14. Ballet Lessons : Jillian just got done with ballet lessons that were given by the City of Longview Parks and Recreation. They were a week long, and followed her swim lessons at Briarcliff, so she was usually a little loopy and ready for a nap by that time. But, she did a good job, learning a couple ballet moves that she's shown to us.

15. Three and Four Steps : Bridget is now up to at least 3 or 4 steps, though she takes them very quickly and ends up diving forward at the end. But, she's pretty stable, and can step once and stay up.

16. Hiding : Jillian does not like scary things, so when she sees something that scares her (cartoons, people, etc), she'll cover her eyes or duck her head behind something.

Swim Lessons #3

In this picture you can see how comfortable Jillian is in the water now.  They have a great program at Briarcliff as the kids are in the water the whole time.  Today she swam on her back alone twice, for the first time.  Usually the instructors have held her head the whole time. 

Also today was a big milestone:  She went with the boy instructors willingly and had a great time.  This other picture shows her favorite boy instructor.  He is very patient with her and nudges her gently to do more each lesson.  He wouldn't help her jump in the pool so after the first time she did that willingly too.

Cruising

Bridget can go almost everywhere now by hanging on to something as she walks along.  This seems to be her preferred mode of travel now so it won't be long before she just takes off walking.  She gets so far then reaches for something else to grab and will continue on her journey as far as possible.  

Messy Room

Bridget decided to get into all the stuff on the changing table, and throw it onto the floor. Her room ended as a great big mess. Jillian thought it was fun stuff, being able to lay around on all the blankets on the floor, and Bridget just enjoyed having lots of stuff everywhere. Since they both liked it so much, they both were pretty willing to pose for a photo together.

Playtime

Jillian had a great play day today.  First Rielee came and they played so well together as Rielee got to be the Mommy and Jillian was the obedient child.  I don't know about their choice of outfits from the dress up box, but Rielee had on the Rapunzel wig and a cowboy skirt and Jillian had on the cowboy vest.  Here they are playing with Play-Doh. 

Next Brock and Ty came down and Brock played with Jillian for quite awhile.  Finally there was a visit with Tierney who let her borrow her Ladybug stuffed animal.  A treasure.

Pool Time

It was the first pool time of the summer.  The water was a little cool yet even though it was in the mid 80's so Jillian was a little slow getting wet but she eventually did.  Not Bridget.  As soon as she was close enough to splash she was soaking wet.  Papa is staying close to Bridget because we think she would go in headfirst given the chance.  

Cousins' Day at the Beach

It was a busy last couple of days for the girls, as they spent it at the beach cabin playing with their cousins Ainsley, Ty, Brock, James, Parker, Auna and Rielee, along with Papa Woodruff, Grannie, Mocha, Mommy and Daddy. It was Bridget's first kids' day at the beach, so she was pretty excited about all the new stuff she got to do. Plus, it was beautifully sunny and warm, so the girls got to spend a lot of time at the beach in their swimsuits.

We started off at the Astoria Pool. Jillian's swim lessons have made her a lot bolder about getting in the water, so she was all over the place with Ainsley watching over her. She managed to find a life jacket, and then slipped into a life ring, so she could swim in the deep end. Bridget spent all her time playing in the wading pool with Daddy, and it was warmer water which was appreciated. After that, we headed to Custard King for ice cream. Then, both girls konked out on the ride home ... they were exhausted.

On Saturday, Jillian was first up in the morning, and after she and Rielee had pancakes, they went upstairs and jumped on all the kids trying to wake them up. Brock and Ty especially loved having Jillian put her knees into their heads. After everyone ate, we went to the beach. Rielee and Jillian dug in the sand and played in the water, while Bridget sat and looked around. Bridget tried eating sand a couple times and ended up not liking it, so she spent most of her time crawling around to the beach toys. Once the tide came in, we went to the dry sand for wiffle ball and football, and Rielee and Bridget enjoyed the warmer sand while Bridget caught a snooze. We finally made our way out to Full Circle Cafe for some ice cream.

That evening, we ate hot dogs and s'mores, then watched the "Cool Dog" movie. Jillian spent most of movie hiding behind Daddy, because there was a scary mean lady in it. After "See Spot Run", all the kids went to sleep pretty quickly.

On Sunday, it was another nice day, so Jillian got to spend almost all her time in the ocean. A very big sand castle was built with help from all the kids, but Jillian didn't really want to be on it. She wanted to spend all her time jumping the waves. We did that for at least an hour or more, and even after the water came up pretty high, Jillian still wanted to stay out there. She cried for awhile when we told her it was too deep and brought her in. There was another wiffle ball game and football game, where Rielee and Jillian played in the warm sand and Bridget slept, followed by more ice cream.

We finished up at the park / school playground. At Funland, Jillian played lots of games, and got some fun prizes. Then, both girls slept all the way home.