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.