Jackie's World

On the verge of turning two, Jackie is definitely having "two moments." They are not horrible but she seems to time them at the most inopportune times, so I perceive them as worse then they are. Usually her meltdowns occur at the Hallmark store where looking at every card by herself is not an option, or sometimes at Target when walking is not an option (because I have not evolved enough to have that second set of arms and hands that every parent of a young child really does need), or just when she can sense I am tired and stressed.

Aside from these moments of toddlerhood there are many sweet things Jackie is doing these days. Most recently it has been to kiss everything in sight. She might kiss the little spider hiding in NaNa's laundry room or the spot where the bunny and kitty have previously been spotted but are not currently residing, like our neighbor's yard. We also blow kisses to things we especially like such as the ceiling fans and the slide.  Occasionally Jackie will even have a kiss for Don or myself. She is still a very sweet and loving child especially when not having a toddler moment. 

I think Jackie grows and changes on a daily basis. Each new day brings new words and more smiles and joy to her face. She is learning that if she tells us with her words what she wants that we will get it for her quicker than when we had to guess about what she needed. Because of this we are having a vocabulary explosion out of her little mouth. It is exciting to hear her name things and point to something telling us what it is. She is asking up and down and for juice, milk, or cup. She brings us books and says "read," and will say it again when we finish the book to have us read it again. And if asked  Jackie will even say please and thank you, all in this cute little Jackie voice. We are working on saying Ben because we recently realized she is calling him "boy" which is a little cute but not his name. 

As for how she is with Ben, she is still very loving and mostly gentle towards him. Jackie is still trying to share her milk and food with Ben, and she will occasionally ask to hold him still, although it is getting hard for her to hold him as he grows closer to her own size. Jackie has also started dancing with Ben; she will hold his hands and do a little wiggle and it doesn't matter if he is upright or laying down. On a regular basis, especially in the car, Jackie will share her blanket and baby with Ben. She just sort of plops the doll down on Ben's chest, sometimes a little harder than Ben would like. Ben will then hold onto the baby or sometimes gnaw on it. 

Jackie appears to be adjusting to the move fairly well. I think some of her toddler moments lately have been related to the stress of the move and a little less attention than she normally receives. This past Saturday (July 18) we finally got Jackie's big girl bed set up. We don't have the bed frame we wanted, instead it is just a metal frame, but it works for now until we can figure out how to fix the other. Jackie helped to straighten the bed skirt and tried to help get the bed put together so it would be ready for her to use that night.  So Saturday night was her first night to sleep in her new room, in her new bed. She was so excited about it that I wasn't sure she would be able to sleep. But she did sleep and she slept well. Now if only her naps would go as smoothly. You see there is a door to the attic crawl space at the foot of Jackie's bed. We placed the bed there so her curious nature wouldn't urge her to open the door and explore the attic. Instead while she is supposed to be sleeping she will sometimes crawl to the end of the bed and play with the latch on the door or the trim around the door. I guess it isn't too bad, she could get herself into real trouble and probably will once she learns how to get off of the bed by herself. Then enforcing nap time on days she doesn't agree with my assessment of her need for a nap will become quite a challenge. But I have a video monitor on my side and a quick yell up the stairs is still effective in getting her to mind at least for a few moments.

I can't think of any other cute Jackie stories at the moment. I will post again about her birthday party in just about a week and after that about her 24 month well Jackie visit at the doctor. Until then I will try to post about Ben and the rest of the family.

~Tiffany