Sleepover

The girls were staying overnight while Rick and Heather went out for their 5th Anniversary.  We took them first to see the haunted yard on 16th Ave and Jillian got out with Papa to walk around since Bridget had fallen asleep.  Jillian wasn't frightened.  In fact, she thought it was all pretty neat.  When we got home she got her evening treat of not just ice cream but ice cream piled high with whip cream.  Jillian's plan was to sleep in Bridget's portable crib with Sophie which I thought was a clever idea so Sophie couldn't run around.  About 5 minutes into that plan Jillian came out and announced that she had put Sophie in her kennel.  Obviously, Sophie wasn't settling down or maybe it was Jillian because Sophie is usually out for the night by that time.

Today I heard Bridget yelling in the living room so went to see what the problem was.  There was a beetle crawling toward her and she was frozen in that spot pointing at the beetle as it got closer and closer.  I worked to convince her that it was harmless and touched it, so pretty soon she touched it too.  Then she got down and was OK.

Bridget-Outside Girl

     Bridget got to spend a lot of time outdoors today while Jillian was napping since Bridget already had a long morning nap.  When someone went out, she was at the door yelling to go out also.  She'd run to get her shoes and jacket on.  She walked all around the many driveways and spend time picking up rocks from one side of the driveway and throwing them over the bank on the other side.  She sets her own course of direction so sometimes I have to pack her where she should go.  She ended up at the apple tree demanding an apple as I will always pick her one.  She gnaws on it for quite awhile and then throws a mini-fit when she drops it and I throw it away.  She came in for awhile to eat and then was outside again, this time kicking a ball around the driveway.  Surprising how good she can control the ball. 
     When Jillian was outside before her nap her main interest was in riding her bike.  It's surprising how fast she can go now and raise both feet off the ground and coast.

Sighting No. 60

Been a loooong time since one of these was posted, and it's not like there aren't any nice pics of the girls. Daddy just needs to get with it and put these on. So, here's Bridget on a Sunday morning ...

Pumpkin Patch

(This is a little late, but ...) Last week, Jillian's pre-school class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch at Willow Grove. Mommy also got to go along. The whole class wore yellow jerseys, and got to do all sorts of fun things like go for ride on a tractor-trailer and pet some farm animals. And of course, they got to pick out pumpkins. This picture shows the pumpkin that Jillian chose.

Cutie

Sometimes you put a picture on because it is so darn cute plus shows Bridget's dimples.  She is holding a tiny doll bed and she put a doll in it to rock.

A Fairy and a Reader

Jillian wasn't in the door for 2 minutes and she was stripping off her clothes to get on her dress up clothes.  She then rode her bike around singing "I'm a fairy", plus more that I couldn't always understand.  Since I wanted a picture I'd hide behind a wall until she saw me and then she would ride the other way.  I'd trick her by going around the other way so I got several shots of her since she turned it into a game. 

Bridget always wants to do what you're doing so when Papa sat down on the hearth to read, Bridget climbed right up there too, with her book to sit and read.

Colorful Painting

We got this driveway paint set so Jillian couldn't wait to try it out.  It had a roller and paint brush, so Papa and her had a good time making the driveway colorful.  When they finished up here they went down to Tierney's and painted a Hi Tierney on her driveway.  After painting Jillian would ride her bike through all the paint and around the track that Daddy drew the day before. 

Lynne's Birthday

The family came to help Lynne celebrate her birthday.  Bridget seems to like these celebrations and Jillian did most of the blowing out of candles.  It was funny later as Lynne was opening her presents and everyone was seated around, that Bridget realized she could be the center of attention.  She would laugh and then roll on the floor, get up and run  partly out of the room and come back laughing hysterically and fall down again and do it again.  I think partly that it was due to a short nap, so that when everyone left she fell right asleep.

1-year Check-up

Bridget went into the doctor's office today for her 1-year well child check. She was accompanied by Mommy and Jillian, who wanted to see her get her shots. The doctor this time around was Dr. O'Neal, who delivered Jillian. She was amazed at how much both girls were grown. Bridget's checkup showed that she was doing great. Bridget wasn't so happy with the 3 shots, getting pretty mad at the world, but she got over it pretty quick and was back to her happy self.

The nurse measured Bridget, and found that she was 31 inches long (93rd percentile), she weighed 21 lbs 12 oz (56th percentile), and her head size was off the charts.

The Rocking Chair Adventure

 Bridget has discovered the rocking chair so I brought it upstairs.  She climbs on, rocks for awhile, gets off for a couple of minutes, and then gets back on.  It is now her main source of entertainment.

I had to include this picture as it will freak out Rick and Heather.  Normally she crawls on and then turns around to sit.  As I was taking her picture she decided to stand.  As soon as I yelled "sit", she sat back down.  Not long after the picture taking I saw her standing again and this time not holding on to anything.  Thankfully she grabbed on quickly as it started to rock.  If she can get on something she is going to climb it.  Fearless!

Preschool

Now that Jillian is going to preschool she has taken an interest in the little play schoolhouse.  It's one way to find out what happens in her preschool because she has one doll be the teacher and she instructs the other children just like her preschool teacher does.  She lines the other dolls up and tells them to sit quietly and listen.  When they go out to play she tells them they have to play nice on the playground.  One day she picked out a man teacher like Daddy. Since it is hard to get information from her about what happens at real preschool, this is very informative and fun.

New Stuff XLVI

The October 2011 version of the New Stuff:

1. Straw Drinker : Without even thinking about it, we gave Bridget a cup of water with a straw in it, and she immediately started sipping it right up. That didn't take long to figure out ...

2. The Screamer : Bridget must feel like screaming is the way to be heard (above her big sister), because her volume has gone up and up. Sometimes at the dinner table, it's a big scream-fest.

3. Milk Drinker : Daddy failed to mention this a couple weeks ago, but Bridget has made the transition from formula to whole milk. There wasn't much of a transition ... when we gave a bottle of milk to her just before her 1st birthday, she drank the entire thing without batting an eye. That was easy ...

4. Long Hair Girl : Pretty much the first thing people notice about Bridget (other than her smiley face) is her really long hair, which tends to just hang down in front of her eyes most of the time. We're thinking that those cute curls are temporary, so we have yet to ever cut her hair.

5. "I'm texting" : Jillian has this little blue toy that looks like a phone. She wanted to take it to bed with her, but when Daddy objected, she said "But Dad, I'm texting".

6. The Little Chef : Mommy gets lots of help from Jillian in the kitchen. Jillian is always asking if she can help out, and she can get up high enough with help from her stool. Her favorite thing to help with is the chocolate chip cookies.

7. "I can't talk to you right now" : This is a once-in-a-while response from Jillian, typically when she's busy doing something.

8. Baby Memories : Seeing Bridget do a lot of things, Jillian has a lot of questions about what she was like when she was a baby. She'll ask us "Did I ___ when I was a baby?", and when we tell her what she used to do, she laughs.

9. Talking on the Phone : Just like her big sister, Bridget loves to pick up real and play phones, hold them up to her ear, and pretend to talk.

10. The Sick House : This also didn't get mentioned, but almost the entire month of September saw our entire household laid low by colds, or something like it. It was a pretty miserable time, and there was a severe lack of sleep. It was probably the sickest that Bridget's ever been, and it lasted the longest for her.

11. Big People Food : Bridget seems convinced that any food that we eat, she should also be eating. So, she'll run right up to us, and start yelling at us to have a bite. We have yet to find anything she doesn't like. Her first favorite was a banana, but now if she sees her big sister eating Cheerios in milk, she comes running ... she could eat those all day. Oh, and she likes ice cream, too.

12. Lotsa Sounds : Bridget is working on talking, and she has in her repertoire "ma-ma-ma", "da-da-da", "na-na-na", and so on.

13. The Stomper : When Bridget gets really excited about something, she has a tendency to stomp her right foot.

14. Stryder : All of a sudden, Jillian is lifting up her feet when riding her little Stryder gliding bike, so she's starting to figure out how to balance and steer.

Halloween Decorating

As soon as we got out the Halloween decorations, Bridget latched onto this large pumpkin to carry around all over.  Luckily it's a plastic one that is fairly light.  So far we have put up all the Halloween decorations pretty high up.

After all the decorations were up, it was time to read Halloween books.  At first Jillian didn't want me to read any books with witches, which limited the number available.  Bridget just wanted to sit there for a couple of minutes, and of course Jillian wanted Sophie there too.  We got to read about 5 books which is pretty good considering.