Christmas and after...

JoJo celebrated two Christmases this year. On Christmas Eve, she and I went to my parent's house to see all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins on our side. We had a surprise visit from Santa Claus, which scared JoJo - she wouldn't go near him and just cried the whole time he was there. I snuck a picture with the 3 of us although once she figured out what was going on, she panicked.

Her favorite gift that day was a toy stroller from Aunt Tina that I put one of her bears in. She walked that thing around all day and would not let it go for anything. She wasn't too excited about the other gifts, although she got a lot of cool clothes, a few more books, and a big chocolate bar from Nana.

That night she saw her Geldreich grandparents, who had driven up from California to see us. They came over again Christmas day, and we spent the entire day indoors, opening presents, playing games, and eating a big meal. She received a few more toys and clothes, but the stroller still reigned supreme, even beating out the ride-and-spin zebra that I bought her.

She seems to be doing much better with people; except for Santa, she went to everybody, especially females, on both days, and she even read a book (willingly!) with each grandpa.

We also noticed that she has gotten really cranky when she eats chocolate, so we're keeping her away from it - is it the chocolate or the sugar? Or the sugar from the chocolate? Who knows, but when she gets cranky, watch out! The other night she woke up in her crib, and she violently wrung herself out of Sheryl's arms as we tried to give her a bottle. She flailed about for a minute or two until she finally took it; after sucking down 8 oz. in nothing flat, she rolled on her side, cuddled with dad and was fast asleep. This high intensity crying has happenned a few times in the last few days - it's a little disconcerting to see. She keeps saying "cheese" but we don't normally have cheese in the house, so we can't figure out what she is saying. She can say "choc" for chocolate, and she knows we have some in the house. I'll have to eat it all - one of the many sacrifices I'm willing to make for my child.

On a positive note, she did stay all night in the crib last night. We decided to start requiring it, as having her roll around the bed and keep us up is not so fun anymore. We figured it'd be easier to do this over break when we didn't need the sleep. She took the bottle easily, but cried for about 15 minutes expecting to be rescued and cuddled for the rest of the night. It's a little hard because I enjoy having her close like that, but we did sleep better, so it'll be worth it.

We also have a little argument about what her first sentence is. This morning, I had some gas, and following the old joke, said, "quack, quack, I'm a duck." JoJo repeated, "I duck quack quack." I thought that was her first sentence, but Sheryl and Cedar think that a few months ago she said, "Daddy PPBTH," in response to another one of my very rare gas episodes. I did manage to get her to repeat the quack quack most of the day, but without the "I duck" part. Either way, it's good to see my gas playing such an important role in her speech development. I'm working on getting her to say "poop" when she's ... you know... dirty, but it's a work-in-progress.

JoJo seems to have a fascination with her strollers of late. She asks to go on a walk almost every day, and at grandma's house, she climbs into the stroller and wants to be pushed around the house. I think that's why the new toy was such a big hit. Grandma Kareen bought her a baby doll and tried to put it in her toy stroller but JoJo took the thing by it's head dumped it on the ground and replaced the bear. She seems pretty particular about only having the bear in there. She also tries to put a blanket over the bear, but never quite gets it on, so that half the blanket is on the floor, but it's fun to see that she knows a baby should be warm in the strolller.

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Various pics from December events...


With Aunt Sue at Grandma's house. JoJo loves just sitting in the stroller and being pushed around the house.


JoJo has also taken up the habit recently of picking out lint and dirt from between her toes. I think she learned it from Grandpa.



Two pics with her new hat.


Despite her many toys, the salad spinner is still JoJo's favorite plaything.

JoJo has been coming to my Friday afternoon photography classes. All of the pics below were taken by my students.

We took the official Christmas pictures this week, and I can say it's the only reason I went to the mall on "Black Friday"! Otherwise, I would have been home sleeping in. Well, not exactly. Seems that JoJo didn't get the memo about days off and doesn't realize that if Daddy doesn't have to work that day, he doesn't have to get out of bed at 6 am to read to her and try to feed her breakfast (whether she eats it is a hit or miss proposition). Wanna see our pics? Ask me, and I'll tell you the password and where they are posted.

But, except for the day I snuck out to play ball at 8 am, I was up at 6 every day of my "break" reading to JoJo. Her favorite book has changed. It is no longer If I Were a Moose, which I have practically memorized. In fact, she seems to be out of her Eric Carle phase as well. She only listens to select pages from those books - the final page of Brown Bear and the long food page of Hungry Caterpillar. Otherwise, she skips through him pretty quickly. She currently enjoys Elemenopeo, When Mama Comes Home Tonight, Where the Wild Things Are, War and Peace and Dr. Seuss's Foot Book (all of which get read at least 5 times a day!). The foot book confused her at first because she is convinced that feet, socks, and shoes, are all called "shoes," but I think she's coming around. She has taken to playing with her toes while I read the book, so maybe there's a connection being made there.

She is also getting to that talking stage where she repeats words. She has said "cupcake" (in Hungry Caterpillar), "turkey," "chair," "stars" (when she sees them in a book), "dream" (last page of Elemenopeo), "green", and actually said "nana" for banana, while pointing at the fruit bowl.

She tries to say "drink" (dink) and says "dingding" for any meat. "Ice" is still "dice," even though she says it 20 times a day and we correct her each time.

She is getting better at sleeping through the night and actually has spent a few nights in her crib all night, which is very nice for mommy and daddy!

I think she is also becoming more aware of when she is included in things or not. She had a hard time on Sunday when Sheryl, Cedar and I played Monopoly with Zoe. Although we gave her toys, food, bottles, etc. she seemed to realize she was missing out on the action, and she kept trying to get involved any way she could - which usually resulted in her chewing on a game piece, us taking it away and her crying again.

JoJo with sunglasses.

Two new videos:


Mommy brought out the keyboard, showed JoJo how to play, and the legend is born!


JoJo playing keyboard with her feet.

Yesterday was a best of times, worst of times day.

It started off with a cute little episode at Jeanie's house. When JoJo and I arrived, Ashley was at the top of the stairs. Ashley doesn't talk much, but she has waved at us before. When JoJo sees her, she crawls from Jeanie's arms and heads up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs turn right, and JoJo stops. Jeanie goes and gets her and brings her back down. Ashley is still watching. JoJo tries again. She gets the the halfway mark and stops again. She looks at us, then up at Ashley. And here's the cute part: Ashley is standing there, beckoning her to come up the stairs, and JoJo smiles and heads up to her. When she gets to the top step she stops because she still doesn't know what to do when there's not another step to hold on to, so Jeanie rescues her again. She smiles at Ashley when she finally reaches the top. JoJo has her first friend.

And here's the worst... Ever since JoJo started wanting to stand on the dining room chairs, I have had this fear of her falling off. She doesn't watch the edge well, and although she's getting good at sitting down and sliding off, if someone is next to her, she just reaches over and expects to be caught. And therein lies the scare. She was facing the table, pen in hand, doodling on a piece of paper and I took my eyes off of her to look at my computer, to see if it was my turn on a chess game I was playing. Out of the corner of my eye I see her reaching toward me, and I grab at her, but I miss, and she goes SPLAT! face down on the ground. What's worse is that she doesn't cry - she just lies there. I reach for her, and she finally starts crying. Then she stops again, and I yell for Sheryl to come over, because I am fearing the worst, and I feel more horrible than I've ever felt in my life. She finally starts crying again after 5-6 seconds, and Sheryl takes her. I sit at the table, numb, cursing myself for being so stupid, scared that she is really hurt. The rest of the night, I check her face for bruises, look up baby concussion info on the net, and worry, worry, worry.

JoJo goes to sleep at 9 and wakes up at 11:30, crying. Sheryl takes her and I go back to sleep; at 1:30, Sheryl hands her to me, and says that she hasn't had any sleep, and goes back to the couch. I sit up and hold her and pat her back, and try to calm her down until about 2:30 am. While holding her, I go online and call in sick. I have been coughing, losing my voice, and compounded with no sleep and JoJo's cough, there is no way I am facing 80 kindergartners and 3 other classes!

Now at the end of the next day, I can say JoJo is OK - no sign that she has fallen at all. I almost feel better, but it was really nice to hang out and relax with JoJo. My voice didn't get much rest because she insisted I read If I Were a Moose and her Eric Carle books over and over again. Her favorite new word is "rea," which means, "I have a book in my hand, and I don't care what you're doing, we're reading it right now." And, in this case, she gets what she wants, because I love reading!

JoJo loves standing on chairs and on the couch.

Mommy encouraged her to bother Cedar while she was reading - something JoJo is very good at.

Another sunglasses shot.

Cool jacket with pointy hood

Halloween outfit... our Sheriff JoJo with Mommy in a witch outfit.

Sheriff JoJo loves to stand up on her rocker chair. She's getting pretty good at climbing on it.

The sheriff with Daddy the cowboy.

Posing with a pumpkin lantern at Jan's house, where we started our trick-or-treating.

For Halloween we went to the Felida neighborhood and walked around with a girl scout troop. It was fun seeing kids from my school there, and of course, everyone thought JoJo was adorable (they are SO observant).

JoJo tried walking around a little bit, but all of the people confused her. She ended up falling asleep about halfway through, and Mommy and I had to take turns carrying her back to the car.

Another fun thing has been seeing JoJo's reaction as daddy goes to the chiropractor. She's fine until the doctor walks into the room. She knows he is going to push on daddy's back, and she gets scared. She doesn't understand that it's OK; he and I both try to console her, but it's so cute...

It's so hard being a celebrity! Sometimes JoJo gets tired of all the paparazzi chasing her - can't a baby have some privacy!








All these are from JoJo's visit to the local pumpkin patch with Cedar, mom, and Zoe.

JoJo's latest new thing is sucking on ice cubes, a habit she learned from mom. She points at the freezer and (sometimes) says "ice" or tries to, but mostly she points and grunts and gets all excited if I say "ice" to her. She also reacts the same way to "hungry," "bottle," and "food" when she wants those. Today she called out Zoe's name, but most things are still "daeee" even Mommy, although sometimes, if prompted enough, she'll say "momma."

Her latest trick is climbing. She can climb on and off her white rocker, and it scares me sometimes to see her standing on it while it's wobbling, but she hasn't fallen yet. She also has overcome her fear of the garage door threshold, which lead to the only set of stairs in the house. I helped her down the stairs and turned my back on her, only to find her at the top of the stairs (only 3 of them) reaching for the doorframe because she didn't know how to do the top one. I'm afraid she's just going to go running off the stairs onto the cement floor, so hopefully she'll continue to be hesitant at the threshold. She slides off the couch pretty well, although she enjoys standing on it and jumping around.

This week also brought another bed-time first: JoJo went from 7 pm until 6 am without a bottle, for the first time in 15 months! At 6 she downed a whole cup of apple sauce and 8 oz. of milk, but I was happy. I had hoped it was a trend, but sure enough, at 1:30 last night, she refused to go back to sleep without a few ounces of milk. Now that she's broken the habit of sleeping on my chest, hopefully we can break the comfort feeding in the middle of the night. The only thing left will be staying in the crib (currently she stays between us once she wakes up for a bottle), and I MAY actually get good sleep two nights in a row - here's hoping!

I hope to have some videos to put up tomorrow.

JoJo is slowing learning to speak, and it's fun trying to teach her new words. The one word (besides "NO!") that she uses is "shoes." She has mimicked other words, but she doesn't reuse them.

JoJo has also decided to pay-it-forward when it comes to food: When she doesn't want to eat, she puts the food into my mouth. She also does the same with Buster, who is very willing to eat whatever she offers.

Grandma gave JoJo an alphabet pull-toy that plays music. JoJo loves playing with the little legs that play different songs.

I was hoping to have some pics from last weekend's visit to Forest Grove, but we'll have to wait until next weekend.

JoJo in one of Grandpa Dale's rocking chairs!

It's been a month! A lot has happened, and JoJo is starting to show some real personality.

Highlights:

- School has started again for Daddy, and with Mommy's new job in Portland, JoJo has been going to Jeanie's house 5 days a week. On Friday afternoons, she gets picked up by grandma and spends the afternoon and evening with her. Daddy picks her up after work.

- JoJo continues to turn her head sideways with the "aren't I cute?" look. She does it more often after she eats something.

- JoJo has a new car seat, which faces forward. I love turning down the rear view mirror to see her and talk to her. I also cannot eat in the car without her noticing. I tried with a candy bar, and she caught me - she complained until she got a piece, then, of course, turned her said sideways, as if to say, "I'm cute enough to get what I want."

- JoJo loves disorganizing things. She will walk up to the TV and remove all of the videos and leave them in a pile. Then she'll go to work on my wallet. Bookshelves, the dish washer, laundry baskets, puzzles, nothing is safe.

- Luckily, she has also started re-organizing things: She took all of the percussion instruments out of the "family band" box, then put them (and everything around them) back in. It's cute to see. She is trying to put pieces back into her puzzles, but she hasn't quite caught on about the shapes yet.

- JoJo really loves her board books. Although she'll sit still for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, she usually plays with There Was An Old Lady because it has holes on each page. For reading, she seems to favor Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She brought it to me and sat still for an entire reading. Then she brought the book over to Sheryl and read it with her. Then she brought it back to me. Pretty soon it was back and forth, line by line, daddy reads one, then a short walk to mommy and she reads one, then back to daddy. It went on for about 5 minutes, until we went to get the camera, which of course stopped everything. She knows what the camera is, so she stopped and posed.

JoJo attended Grandpa's 65th birthday on Saturday. She also got to meet her Great-Aunt Pauline, who came all the way from New York for the party.

JoJo is a very confident walker, but she has also become more clingy lately, and she will not walk in a place with too many strangers or in a new place. At church, she refuses to be put down in the nursery, although this week she did allow it for a few seconds, until another toddler started to cry; then she was back in the arms for the rest of service. She also loves to tilt her head very far (see pic below) when someone is talking to her. At home, she'll put her head down on the ground and look backwards between her legs.

The best way to get a giggle out of her lately is to plop down on a bed or blanket - it's a game she learned down in California. Lately, it's the only way I can get a big laugh out of her.

She has been sleeping most of the night, although if she starts out in her crib, I will have to get her half-way through the night. I never thought I'd consider an uninterrupted night of sleep a luxury, but I do enjoy them when they happen.


Grandma surprised Grandpa with a big party.



JoJo grabbed a 4-square piece of my dark chocolate bar. This is the result!


With Great-Aunt Pauline. Notice the sideways head. I don't know where she learned that from.

Now that I'm back to work, JoJo spends most of her time with Sheryl. Jeanie has re-opened the daycare for the fall, but we're not using her yet.

JoJo spent another Tuesday will the cousins at Chuck E. Cheese, and this time she was willing to play on the toddler games, AND this time, the camera worked! Looks like she'll be going back to grandma's tomorrow for a few hours as well.

She did visit me at work this morning. After playing shy-girl for the first 45 minutes or so, she relaxed and walked around with daddy's pens, pulled books off the shelves, and even "talked" to some of the teachers that were walking around. Of course, I got nothing done work-wise, but it was a fun time nonetheless.

Another week has gone by... and we officially have a Walker! She has gotten more confident and more bold. She opened the cereal drawer tonight, grabbed a box (thankfully it was closed well), and walked up and down the halls shaking it proudly. It's the first time she has walked away from us - usually she only walks to get to a person. Her favorite toy is now the salad spinner, which she takes apart and pushes all over the kitchen floor. That and the fridge magnets almost allow me to make breakfast without interruption.

Other events this last week -

Thursday I took JoJo to the zoo for the first time. She nearly screamed when an otter approached her from the other side of the glass. After a while she got used to it, and at each display she wanted to kiss the glass. She liked the petting zoo, touching the sheep and goats, but she wasn't too impressed with the bears - I think they were too far away for her to care. The sea lions were fun because they kept coming up to the glass to show off, so she could anticipate them. The floor of the sea lion area was also wet, so her pants were soaked - something I noticed only after I had picked her up again!

She went with Grandma and I to see Jeanie, her daycare provider, on Friday then spent the rest of the day at Grandma's house.

On Sunday she was "promoted" from the infants room at church to the Walkers room! She still insisted on being carried by someone the entire time she was there, but I think she will stay in that room.

The pictures below are from an impromptu trip to Mt. St. Helens on Monday. We walked the trail at Silver Lake and Seaquest State Park.

Today she went to Chuck E. Cheeses and McDonalds with her nephews, grandma, and me. She did not want to sit on the kiddie toys. Instead, she ran between grandma and me, laughing and clinging to our hands and/or legs.

Today we went to the Salmon Creek trail and to the Ridgefield Preserve. At Ridgefield we saw some herons and some rabbits. JoJo is so observant - we'd stop on the trail and I'd say, "listen to the birds" (without pointing), and she'd immediately turn and point to the trees where the singing was coming from. After she grew tired of walking (the trail was too rough for the stroller), she sat down on the trail and started playing with clumps of grass, just pulling on them and laughing out loud. She also seems to know where blackberries come from because every time we passed a patch of blackberry bushes, she'd ask for some ("num, num"). I can tell she is full of berries when she starts playing with them, but then of course it's too late and her hands and clothes get all purple. Then she wants me to pick her up, so my shirt gets purple stains, too.

She also took a ride on my shoulders and seemed to like it. She leans down so she can see my face, then climbs back up.

Since I have only one week before I have to go back to work, I'm trying to spend as much time with her outside of the house as possible. It also frees Dr. Mom up to study for her exciting tests next week.

Here's another pic from the vacation. This is JoJo's cousin Kareena from North Carolina.

She's been a little cranky and clingy the last few days. I thought it was a separation anxiety or something like that. She wouldn't let me put her down and sit even two feet without crying, crawling over and clinging.

Last night we gave her some baby Tylenol, guessing that maybe her upper teeth were bothering her, as the 2nd one up there is just coming in. Within an hour, she was her old happy self again.

So was it missing Daddy, or was it her teeth? I'll let you decide; I know what I want to believe...

Below are pictures, as promised, from her California vacation, courtesy of Dr. Mom and one from Grandpa Dale. Enjoy!


She really can hold her own bottle, but she probably figures, "why?"


She's working on her poker face (and on learning how to shuffle)

JoJo returned today from California! She spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa Geldreich's house, with her aunts and cousins from mom's side of the family.

It's the first time since Christmas I've been away from her for a week, so she looked a little different when I saw her. Her hair had grown, so there's no more cute bald girl pictures! She has a tooth that's almost completely in on top and a second one that's starting to show.

When I picked her, mom, and Cedar up at the airport, she wouldn't stop turning around in her seat looking at and talking to me. I couldn't wait to get her home and hug her.

The number one question I was asked while she was gone was whether she'd be walking when she returned. Turns out she still prefers holding both hands, although if she has a toy she will walk with one. She can, and has, walked on her own. I tried making her walk with one hand today, and she cried, even after I took her second one. Then I had to ask myself, "why am I pushing her?" So I figured she'll walk on her own when she feels like it. That's fine with me because it gives me more time to babyproof the cabinets.

We took our usual walk to Gaiser Park, played on the swings and slide, and as is becoming the habit, she fell asleep just before we got home, so daddy had some reading time out on the porch while she slept in the stroller. It's amazing how quickly we get back into old routines....

Hopefully some pics will be available tomorrow!

Can you believe it's been a year already???




JoJo's birthday was a wonderful and LONG day.

She got a cold the day before, and we were all up until 4 am trying to help her fall (and stay) asleep. She awoke for good at 9, and we sang Happy Birthday to her. We spent the morning at home with mom.

Around 1 we set out for grandma's house to set up for the party. Since JoJo had not had a nap yet, she fell asleep in the car, and since I didn't want to wake her, I took out my book. A hour later, grandma came home and found us both sleeping in the car!

My whole family was there except Robert D. (at work) and Nana (sick). Joining us also was Phyllis Taylor and her granddaughter Briyanna. Bri is one month older than JoJo.

The party was fun, from JoJo covering her face with frosting to Nathan attacking the camera whenever I tried to shoot him to JoJo and Briyanna "trying" to play together - that is a work-in-progress. JoJo loves her presents, especially the little basketballs from the bath set given by Aunt Tina: She carried the red one with her all the way to the health club today and played a little basketball with mom this evening.

I received the pics from Dorothy today - I forgot my camera, but she brought hers.