Walk of Life

Jane is walking! For real this time... not in a walker, or holding our hands, or pushing a toy lion (which did eventually work, once she became more stable). Now she is so confident and proud of her new ability, that she chooses walking over crawling, even when she is sitting on the floor and wants an object that is also on the floor about ten feet away. Instead of quickly crawling over to it, she takes the time to stand up (quite a balancing feat at this point) and walk over to it, then sit down again (also a bit of an effort if she wants to land softly). It's pretty cute.
So, here she is on two legs!

One of my favorite things about Jane's new independence is the way she can choose her own activities instead of me saying, "Hey, here's a ball. Can you roll the ball?" Now I can just open a cabinet and see what happens... Well, I just had to take a picture of this discovery I made after Jane had been unpacking the lazy suzan.

It may not look like much, but it just struck me as so cool and funny and cute that Jane decided to turn the big bowl upside down, set a funnel on it, then top it off with a little cup. I don't know... it was just cute.

Ok, last tid bit for today: The Evolution of "Mommy." When Jane first started referring to me it was "ma ma ma ma ma" times infinity. Then it became "mam mam" then "Mama" and finally the most common "Mommy." Needless to say, I was pretty thrilled. Although, after about five hundred times a day it can get a little tiresome. To get an idea of what it is like to be Jane's mommy, watch this:

Last Sunday, after all those progressions and finally landing on the word we all say when referring to me (Mommy), Jane decided to take it one more step. So for some unknown reason, I am now "Mommy-o."  Go figure.

Huckleberry Finn

I just had to share these happy springtime photos. I promise I did not plan this photo shoot. When I saw the combination of overalls and daffodils, I had to grab the camera. (I do not promise, however, that these are the only two photos I took.)

I also thought some of you might get a kick out of this repurposed stroller:

Notice the seat so beautifully cut away?

As my back was aching from hours of stooping to support a two foot tall human, I thought, there has to be a better way! With all the crazy parental gadgets out there, hasn't anyone invented a way to help your child walk without breaking your back? Well, actually, the answer is yes, but would you put your child in this? After passing on the baby reins, we were left with the push toy option.

Jane LOVES this lion, but it is not very good at helping her walk because as soon as she puts any weight on it, it flies out in front of her and she lands on her face. She needed something she could hold on to and push, but that I could control while standing up relatively straight. Enter the modified umbrella stroller. It's perfect! Jane can hold the bars in the back, and with the seat cut away, she can see over it as she is walking. I can either hold onto the handles and help steer, or put the brakes on, which adds just enough friction to let her push by herself. Can you tell I am proud of this?
Disclaimer: I was quite torn about the prospect of cutting up a perfectly good stroller, but it was a ten year old hand-me-down, so I decided it was worth the sacrifice. I think I've already made up for the cost of it in Advil saved.

Spring fever

Wow, I can't believe it has been a month since my last post! Jane is down to just one nap a day, so I guess that has something to do with it. So what are we doing with all those extra hours of "wake time"? Going outside as much as possible!

Jane, Nickel, Maggie and I were all getting pretty sick of being limited to indoor activities. See how much happiness a little fresh air can bring?

Also, note that our little army crawler finally picked her tummy up off the floor. That's right! At fourteen months, Jane has mastered the traditional crawl. We have hardly recognized this milestone, however, because she is also cruising, standing on her own, and even taking her FIRST STEPS!

Look, Ma, no hands! 

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers

Ok, time to back up a couple weeks to our first attempt at going outside this spring (winter). I may have jumped the gun because it was not exactly warm on February 15, but I think the hooded jacket and bib combo worked quite nicely for our picnic in the park.  

Last Friday we discovered another fun outdoor activity: feeding the birds! This is such a classic kid thing. I am so excited that Jane is old enough to enjoy going to see the ducks, geese, and pigeons at Centennial Park. She doesn't quite understand who the bread is for yet.

Jane loves to hear and then spot airplanes/helicopters.
I never knew there were so many until she started noticing them all the time.

Most recently, we have enjoyed going to this nearby playground. (It's at the far end of this picture, past the gazebo.)

I am embarrassed to admit that it is only three blocks from our house and I just discovered it last week. It's in this little dead end street pocket in a direction we rarely walk, so I didn't even think to go there. But thanks to a walk one afternoon with Richard, we happened upon it and are so grateful. There is never more than one other person there, so I let Maggie run loose and chase tennis balls to her heart's content. Meanwhile, Jane goes down the slide... head first!  

I never intended for her to plummet towards the ground head first, but she insists. It was definitely a surprise, coming from a baby who is just now taking a few independent steps. Who knew she had a daredevil streak?! So here's the routine... See how there is another slide coming out the other side of the platform to the right? As soon as Jane gets to the bottom of one slide, she turns around and crawls back up (with us pushing her), then as long as she is facing the other slide, she just dives on into the hole head first. She is thrilled and can't get enough!  

So, here's to going outside! Right now, I am typing at my desk with the back door open, so I feel like I'm outside, and Maggie feels like she's inside. We are both happier.

Bird watching

Nickel and Jane used to be best friends... when all Jane did was lie around and occasionally bat at things. (See this old post.) Recently it has been a little harder to find common ground. For example, Nickel likes sleeping peacefully. Jane likes hitting things to see if they make noise and pulling tails. So, you see our dilemma.

Yesterday, however, I managed to capture this rare moment of tranquil cohabitation. I owe it to their common interest of bird watching.

Well, it was nice while it lasted...

Watch it, kid.

While we're on the topic of Jane and cats, I have to share this video. We have been trying to teach Jane a sign for cat where we brush our fingers across our cheeks, as if tracing whiskers, and we say "meow meow." Here is Jane's interpretation:

She's got legs

...and she knows how to use them!

Jane is all about being up on her feet these days. I think that has prevented me from posting recently because 1) I don't sit down as often and 2) it's harder to take pictures of a moving target! For about a month now Jane has been entertaining all of us in her walker. She runs around the house chasing Daddy, or being chased by Daddy, or ramming into Maggie. Her favorite thing is to walk around holding onto our hands, but the walker gives our backs (and Maggie) a little time to recover between adventures.

I just thought this picture was funny and sort of related to walking.

Jane's most recent accomplishment is pulling up on things... anything, that is.  It's funny how her interests have determined when she reaches various milestones. For example, I posted a few months ago about her learning to commando crawl because she wanted to knock down towers of blocks. With pulling up, it has been progressive around the house depending on what she wants. The first time she pulled up was on the bathtub because she LOVES taking baths right now and couldn't wait to get in! Then it was the dishwasher because she really wanted to help Mommy do some chores (har har). This weekend she pulled up in her crib, and then she pretty much dominated everything she could reach after that. Here she is with her old friend Clown Dog. When she first met him she could barely hold herself up inside the exersaucer... my how time flies.

Gotta love the ruffle pants

Goodbye Renesme

When Jane's upper teeth first started coming in, we were surprised to discover that they were not the middle ones, but the two next to them. Our little vampire baby, or Renesme* as we liked to call her, had a nice set of fangs for a few months!

But alas, her front teeth have broken ground, and they're pretty huge! In fact, she got them for Christmas. I almost titled this post "All Jane got for Christmas..." then intro "...was her two front teeth." But I had to pay homage to Renesme since the two previous posts were about Christmas, and I don't think I've done any Twilight posts yet. It's only fair.
So here are those big pearly whites! I must say she was a trooper cutting those backaroos. Ouch!

*Twilight spoiler alert: Renesme is a baby vampire from the Twilight saga... book four, part three to be exact.  

Christmas/Birthday in Nashville

As I mentioned in the previous post, it is impossible to separate Jane's birthday from Christmas, so we have come to embrace the phrase "Christmas slash birthday." It pretty much described any celebratory event or gift that involved Jane this week. Oh well...

Anyway, here are a few fun pics and memories from Jane's Christmas/birthday in Nashville! The best part was a visit from her uncle William and his friend Eve. They were great sports as we bounced between Christmas and birthday, regardless of the actual calendar date.

The gents in their new sweaters. Yay, Christmas!

Yay, birthday!

A Christmas/birthday family shot.
Jane is wearing another one of Aunt Noel's dresses!
(I don't mean to sound like a fashion magazine...
I just think it's cool that they can be reworn 30ish years later.)

The table complete with a ginger bread house and a birthday cake.

Thanks for wearing the hats, guys!

It's my birthday!

Cake...

...icing...

...sugar!!!