1.5

Jillian officially hit the halfway mark of her second year today! We celebrated the occasion with a half-birthday cake (literally).

She seemed to enjoy the homemade chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting, and thought it was fun to sing "happy" (happy half-birthday, of course!) with, yep, you guessed it, 1 1/2 candles.



In honor of the occasion, I will do my best to provide a synopsis of what our wild child is up to these days.....she is tough to keep up with!

-Jillian is quite the story teller. She combines a couple of words, and then repeats them until you figure out what she is trying to say and correctly repeat it back to her. Her most favorites go like this:
"Meow, meow, meow. Fa fa." (translation: Sophia has a cat!)
"Daddy yerk" (translation: Daddy is at work)
"Poop. Poop. Pee-shoo!" (translation: I pooped and it really stinks!)
"Wimming, wimming Ra ra" (translation: I go swimming with my friend Malea)

-Jillian knows her numbers and shapes. I cannot take credit for this, really, but I wish I could. A friend told me about the Preschool Prep DVD's that are designed to teach such concepts to toddlers, and I checked a couple out from the library in curiosity. I am not big into TV for wee ones, but a mom does need to figure out a way to make dinner at times...so, enter "Meet the Shapes" and "Meet the Numbers" (or as Jillian says "Mumersh"). Jillian quickly began to identify her shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, octagon and star) on the video, but I was skeptical that she would be able to transfer that skill into everyday life. I was quite wrong. A couple of weeks ago I was getting her out of her carseat to transfer to the stroller and she started shouting, "Star! Star!". I finally figured out what she was pointing to, and sure enough, it was a star-shaped groove in the jam of the car door. A similar incident occurred at Target last week when we were checking out. Jillian started pointing and shouting, "Eight! Eight!" Yep, we were in lane #8. As for colors? Well, let's just say that she is passionate about yellow. She calls everything yellow, except for anything that is actually yellow. It's quite humorous. We'll get to working on that ASAP!

-Jillian has an excellent memory. I recently started telling her about her day in those few minutes I rock her before putting her to bed. I just go over what we did that day, and tell her our plans for tomorrow. She caught on quickly to the idea, and therefore always reminds me to do this by requesting "Day day" after Matt reads her stories. I can no sooner get finished telling her about today and she is asking for details about "Morro" (tomorrow). Wouldn't you know it, the little stinker remembers what I tell her. For example, if I tell her we are going to see Jayson at music tomorrow, she greets me the next day by asking for "Jay-seh!".

-Jillian is working very hard at using her utensils, specifically her "fook" (fork). She does a pretty good job, but her lack of patience gets the best of her most of the time, and she reverts to using her hands. Social imitation is a powerful motivator, so she got in a bit of practice while lunching at Jayson's today.

She also thinks it is fun to dip in sauces (sour cream, ranch dressing, ketchup, and tonight she tried the unusual combination of garlic bread in applesauce!), but I wish I could report that the strategy was improving her vegetable consumption. We'll keep trying.

-Jillian is working to master throwing a ball and jumping. She is having some difficulty figuring out the concept of actually throwing the ball forward, and often just drops it behind her when she raises it overhead. As for jumping, she does that very cute toddler jump where you can see she desperately tries to get both feet off the ground at the same time, but just can't make it happen. I really do need to capture it on video.

-Jillian is very into labeling objects by function and possession. For example, she picks up a box of Kleenex and says "nose", and sees a tube of toothpaste and exclaims "teeth!". She points to Matt's shoes, toothbrush, cup, keys, etc and labels as "Daddy's", and does the same for things that are mine by saying "Mommy's".

-Jillian has a fierce streak of independence and wants to do everything as a big girl would. She insists on walking to the car, down the street to the park, and up the stairs. I must praise her by saying that she does an excellent job of holding hands while doing so. She understands the rule that if she lets go even once, I will pick her up and carry her. She also loves to explore the playground by herself, and has absolutely no fear. I have to say that I will be glad when her cognition catches up with her curiosity--she makes me a nervous wreck with her thrill-seeking quests! Thankfully, some things are safe for independent exploration. Our neighbors passed on their small slide to Jillian recently, and she loves to "dide" all by herself.


-Jillian is finally growing some hair! It is very blonde and fine. She often asks me for a bow, so we do play beauty shop every now and then. Here is a shot of the progress--look carefully and you will see some hair sticking out of that bow!


-Jillian is getting the hang of some basic manners. She usually says "peez" while signing for 'please' and then says "may-moo" (thank you). She sometimes does this without prompting. Last week she melted my heart when she said "meh-moo" (bless you) after I sneezed.

-Jillian is absolutely enamored with her dad, and who could blame her? He is a pretty fun guy, and they have lots of fun "dates". Most recently, they went to Oxbow Zoo to see the animals (I am told the turkeys were her favorite--a.k.a. "turks!"), and to the mall to do a bit of shopping. They go on a wagon ride and trip to the park most every evening, and have lots of giggles during bath time. She lights up at the mere mention of his name, and is so excited to see him come home every night. It is so wonderful to watch the two of them together as they develop their own special relationship that is markedly different than ours as mother and daughter. Daddy also thinks of fun activities that Mommy does not. While we were all outside tonight, Matt put Jillian in his car to explore the interior (do not panic--it was parked and in the garage). She had a grand time pretending to be a big girl driving to "hy-bee" (Hy-Vee)

Life with Jillian at this stage is full of adventure, close calls, and laughter. She is a ball of energy who happily explores the world around her. We are just glad when she slows down long enough to gift us with sweet snuggles and wet kisses...she is growing and changing so quickly.