Skamokowa Photo Shoot

All of the Peterson grankids made a trip to Papa's Skamokowa property this past Sunday for a photo shoot. Cousins Meagan, Adam, Andy and Karlie joined Jillian and Bridget for this picture with Papa, taken by Missy. They did a pretty good job posing and saying "cheese" the entire time.

Before everyone got there, Jillian explored around, wanting to see everything, while Bridget snoozed in the car. When Bridget woke up, she and Jillian spent most of their time gathering up rocks and sticks, and then chucking them into the river. They managed to grab a bite of lunch in between all the running around.

When everyone showed up, the kids had a great time running around the property. A lot of the time was spent playing "Three Little Pigs" in the little house there. The kids also liked playing on the tractor and getting their turn to drive it. Bridget got a chance to play, too, with Mommy's help.

Keeping Up with the Big Kids

The last time Rielee was here, Jillian and her played with the money and cash register while Bridget just watched intently.  Since then Bridget always gets out the cash register and wants to play store.  She says "sit" to us and we give her money to buy things.  If I ask how much it costs she will say "money" very clearly.  She also knows how to swipe the credit cards.  Bridget is not about to be left behind by the bigger kids.

Today Bridget heard me say "bad dog" to Sophie as she was chewing up something.  Later in the day Mocha was trying to lick her face and she said "Bad dog MoMo!"  She is attempting to repeat everything you say.



Pool Time?

The girls couldn't wait to get out the pool, and since it was going to hit 80 degrees, I agreed.  I filled it with a trickle from the hose so it would be somewhat warm.  Bridget wasn't sure about the "cold" as she kept saying it-not like a bath, so she never sat down, just got in and out a lot.  Jillian spent a lot of time filling up the watering can and watering every plant.  When the pool had some grass clippings and dirt in it they thought it was "yucky"so I got a net and Jillian kept it clean.  I'm sure it will be July before the pool has a chance to come out again.

Serious Look

This picture of Bridget shows her little pouty lower lip when I said I wanted to take a picture of her kitten.  When she's on the back deck she likes to carry around this stone kitten, cover it in a blanket, and sit it in it's home.  It is really heavy but she doesn't seem to mind.  I won't let her bring it in because if she drops it, it could do some damage.  So far her toes have escaped too.  She has dropped it several times but it must be a really tough kitten.  This was the best picture I could get of the kitten as she was trying to hide it.

New Stuff XLIX

The newest, coolest, most awesome things that the girls are doing these days ...

1. Bride-To-Be : Jillian has often talked about getting married. Her biggest question is always who she is getting married to. She'll ask us this, and we won't have any good answers, so Jillian comes up with her own ideas. She has already talked about getting married to Adam, and we remind her that she can't marry her cousin. Then, she mentioned getting married to Uncle Dan, because "he's so silly".

2. Knock-Knock Jokes : Bridget has learned a lot from her big sister, and one of those things is how to tell knock-knock jokes (the silly Jillian-way). If you're lucky enough, you might hear Bridget say "knock, knock", and when you answer "who's there?", she'll respond "aaa-pl" (or something like that, meaning apple) and then laugh at her funny joke.

3. Sentence Starters : Jillian's vocabulary includes lots of interesting ways to begin her sentences, such as "to tell the truth", "actually", "you know ..." and many others that leave us wondering where she heard them.

4. Multi-Syllable Words : It didn't take long for Bridget to begin working multi-syllable words into her vocabulary. She attempts to repeat a lot of long words, but of those that are understandable, the most-often used one is "out-side", and recently she started saying "o-pen".

5. Stringing Words Together : Well, this just happened as of this writing. Jillian was snuggling with Mommy on the sofa, and Bridget came up to them and started crying. Mommy asked Bridget what was wrong, and Bridget said "Jill, down!" while pointing at the floor.

6. Independent Girl : Bridget is very much a do-it-herself girl. It's getting harder and harder to do things for her anymore (which means things take a lot longer to do). She's been wanting to feed herself for some time now, and rarely lets us help her. Now, she wants to dress herself, including pulling on her own pants. If we don't let her do it, we can count on a big screaming fit.

Rock Collector

Bridget wanted to be outside all morning while Jillian was at pre-school.  She can say "outside" very clearly now to let you know.  She had her cup and spoon and lots and lots of rocks to choose from.  Sometimes she will come to the door and I will ask her if she wants to come in and she takes off running the opposite direction.  I think she just wants to touch base to make sure I'm watching.  We did cover up the fountain so all the rocks wouldn't end up there or she wouldn't get soaking wet.  After her nap she wanted her boots and coat on to go outside again.

Nice Days

Since it was so nice Jillian wanted to have another tea party, this time inviting her new chick (or duckling) that she got for Easter.  They were content with water which is less messy.

They had a great time outdoors.  Bridget is stuck in the backyard since we fenced in Sophie, which is alright with her since all little kids love rocks.  I gave her a cup and a spoon and she would scoop up rocks, move them to a new spot and dump them out and start all over.  Everything was decorated with rocks.


The girls were having pudding for their late snack.  I sat by Jillian and was watching a pretty good cartoon with her and looked back at Bridget (who normally eats well with her spoon) deciding to get every last drop out of the pudding and using it for finger paint.  This didn't end up being the end of it as she also finger painted her arms and the whole tray.

"No" and "Mine"

We're pretty sure Bridget is only 1-1/2 years old, but she sure is talking like a 2-year old. Bridget's new favorite word is "no", and she uses it a lot. Sometimes it's like a polite "no" in response to a question. But other times (or most of the time), it's a loud "NO!" with a shaking of the head. Her next favorite word is "mine", and she usually says it when she's with Jillian. Bridget has a pretty good idea of what's hers and what's Jillian's, and she's not afraid to vocalize it.

The Tea Set Adventure

It started yesterday.  Jillian wanted a real glass tea set so we stopped at Ross before taking the girls home.  She found the perfect set with hearts and she insisted on carrying it up to the check stand.  We were next to get checked out.  You guessed it, she dropped the box and broke the tea pot.  We took it up and they were nice about it and said to just pick out another.  But they didn't have the same thing!  So after much searching we found a smaller breakable one and we both held on to the box as we carried it up to the check stand.

So today I said she had to wash the set before we drank out of it, so she was very careful and washed the set.  We had Gatorade instead of tea out on the deck for our tea party.  Once while drinking my tea Jillian reminded me that I must keep my "pinkie" out.  Not part of a tea party I'm sure, but we had to clink cups a couple of times too, like a toast. Bridget joined us and was very careful with her tea cup which she insisted be on a saucer just like ours were. Afterwards it was back to the sink to wash dishes again.  Remarkable but nothing broken yet. 

FUN-Rielee's Here

Jillian was so happy to have Rielee come play and for awhile they played store.  Rielee had the cash register and Jillian had the money to buy.  They even had a old Starbucks card for Jillian to get her "hot chocolate, no whip".  The whole time Rielee was here, Bridget just followed them around taking it all in and not saying much.  Later there was a brief stint of sunshine so they went outside and rode bikes and the jeep and then it started to rain so I got out umbrellas for them to stay outside awhile longer.

On the car ride home Jillian was teaching Bridget new words.  Jillian would say, "Say cat, c-c-cat." and Bridget would say ca... and Jillian would tell her good job.  Then Jillian would say a-a-alligator and Bridget would say a or al and Jillian would give her lots of praise.  They did this most of the way to Longview and one of the last words Jillian gave Bridget was m-m-magazine (like Bridget even knows what that is) but Bridget says ma and Jillian keeps up the positive feedback.  It was so cute and impressive by Jillian.  

Bridget's Vocabulary

It's reached that time, when the number of words that Bridget speaks on her own has exploded! Here's the short list of words that Daddy could remember:

• Baby : Any little kid, in real-life or in picture books. Bridget gets very excited at the same time.
• Hold : When Bridget says this, she points at her hand. A lot of times, she says it when she sees a baby.
• Up / Down : She's been saying these for awhile, but it's a lot more clear and demanding now.
• Names such as Jill, Mama, Dada, Papa, Ty, Momo (Mocha) and So (Sophie)
• Bath : One of Bridget's favorite activities.
• Uh-oh : She says this whenever there's an oopsie or if something breaks.
• Pretty : This is Bridget's word for her hair clips. She'll pull at her hair and ask us for a "pretty".
• Hi / bye-bye : Everyone coming or going gets to hear this.
• Sit : This is a command by Bridget, usually accompanied by her pointing at the floor.
• Help : Bridget doesn't want help very often, but sometimes we get to hear this.
• Hot : She knows that anything by the oven is "hot", and she lets us know.
• Owie : The only "owies" she tells us about are the ones on her fingers.
• Shoe : Bridget is already obsessed with her shoes, pulling them out of her closet and trying them on.
• Nay-nay : This is her word for "naked", as in when she gets ready for a bath.
• Nigh-nigh : We hear this when it gets dark, or when it's time to go to bed.

18-month Appointment

Bridget made a trip to the doctor about a week ago or so, for her 18-month well-child check-up. She got to see Dr. O'Neal this time around. Thankfully, there were no shots scheduled, so it ended up being a pretty happy visit. The staff did the usual checks, finding that Bridget is now 34 inches long (97th percentile!) and she weighs 26 lbs 13 ounces (82nd percentile). Also, they're pretty sure the previous head circumference readings were wrong, as she is now back on the charts at 19 inches (96th percentile).