Popsicle

Best thing about summer so far: POPSICLES!  Especially the creamy strawberry banana from Las Paletas. Yum! Check out this video to see the frozen goodness and hear Jane's version of the word popsicle.

The funniest thing about her made up words is that she never forgets them. She says "bobido" every time she sees/wants a popsicle. Raisins are always "noo noo's"; a bed is always a "b dub a duh"; and for grape she always makes an explosion sound....? It's pretty awesome except when she tries to communicate with anyone besides me and Richard.

Look-a-likes

Fancy's comment on the last post has inspired me to add this comparison. Can you tell Jane is her daddy's daughter? I think she needs a few months to catch up on the tan, though.

Pool and pets

Although Jane is wearing socks and a sweatshirt today, last week was warm and sunny, so I decided to break out her swimsuit and baby pool. It was pretty fun sitting and splashing in the cool water, but I didn't expect the pool to be such a popular watering hole. Apparently everyone was really thirsty...

Jane's relationship with Maggie has been really interesting now that Jane is walking. She still loves to be around Maggie, but now there is peril. With Jane's balance still a little quaky, even the slightest bump tends to knock her over. Poor Maggie is just so big and her favorite thing to do is walk around in circles, especially around Jane while she is trying to walk. So, whether it is a wagging tail or a swaying stomach or a bobbing head, Jane gets knocked down a lot. Sometimes she gets this look on her face like, "Hey, what was that for?" and has been known to cry a little. But when she is able to brace herself, she has quite a good time getting a lick or two from ole Maggie. I think it is character building.

And now it's time to strike a pose.

Click here to see how much Jane has changed from her first time in the baby pool last summer!

Bunnies and Eggs

Happy Easter! To kick off our long weekend, we got to visit some real little bunnies at Phllips Toy Mart here in Nashville.

Aren't they cute?!

I basically grew up right around the corner and never even knew about this annual tradition. You can even hold the bunnies! I think I was more excited than Jane.

My favorite part was when Jane looked at the bunnies and did her "hug" sign. Precious.

From there we headed west to Memphis. On Saturday we went to the botanical gardens where Jane got to participate in her first Easter egg "hunt." You will see that the eggs are actually just scattered on the ground, so it was more of an Easter egg gathering race.

You may also observe that all the other kids are quite a bit older (and faster) than Jane. That is because we missed the "two and under" hunt so we had to sneak in the "six to nine year old" hunt; I mean race.

But Jane was quite happy with her single egg, so I don't think anyone minded.

When Jane finished opening and closing her egg a few dozen times, we wandered over to a pond to see the ducks. There were even five little ducklings! It was pretty cute to watch them plop in the water and line up behind the mom as they paddled away.

On Sunday Jane participated in her second ever Easter egg hunt at Fancy and Papoo's house. This time she got three eggs set aside in a patch of grass just for her. The other children (cousins and neighbors) were surprisingly respectful of her eggs. No one attempted to swipe them, even though they were tantalizingly sitting in plain sight.

Token family photo.

Finally, the singing bunny. You can always count on Fancy to have a holiday character who plays music, sings, and/or dances. In this case, the bunny's ears flop around while it plays a bunny themed version of "Rockin' Robin." Jane thought it was so funny and just wanted to hug him while he was playing.

Do you remember the dancing penguins from Christmas? If not, click here and scroll down to the second video. Jane still does a little wiggle dance every time she sees a penguin. Ha!

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.