Itsy, Bitsy, Spider

Julia continues to amaze with her bright blue eyes and super smile. It is fun to watch her develop on a daily basis. Right now, her favorite thing in the world is to sing "Itsy, Bitsy, Spider," which she sings - well- incessantly. When she is not signing the song, she will often blurt out profound observations, like "Out comes the sun!" or "Down comes the rain!" it is actually fun and very cute. Here is a video I took this evening of her singing. Hope you enjoy it!

A quick Update

We have been rather neglectful of you, our friends. It has been almost six months since we have posted anything on our blog. Needless to say, Julia continues to grow and to amaze. She has developed a very sweet disposition, which endears her to all she meets; yet, she is also very shy. Often we arrive to get her from daycare only to find her away from the other children, or events find her quiet and clinging to daddy like mad. But, she is a good girl. Julia is developing very quickly. Her vocabulary expands each day, and we see the wheels a turnin'. She is a smart one! Her big thing is to get on a chair and shout, "comin' on down," when she wants us to help her. She is also into trains, whether watching them on the i-Pad, or playing with toy train we got her. I am sure we'll have more soon. Until then, know we are growing and doing well!

Julia is TWO!

How time has flown! And now Julia is two years old! It seems like yesterday . . .
So, you may be asking - What is Julia doing now? She can count (it depends on the day how far she wants to go, but we know she can go to at least ten), she knows her letters and can sing the alphabet song (some parts are still pretty slurred, but she knows what she's singing), she can climb up into her high chair by herself (that was an interesting event when it first happened, let me tell you - I am making her dinner, come around the corner to put her in it, and boom - she's already sitting there waiting, pleased as punch), and being a big helper - she enjoys making messes and then helping to clean them up (she really does help with cleaning). At school, she's known as the sweet girl - it is true, she is sweet, but she also has a puckish devilishness that she displays quite frequently with us, whether it's tackling Sissy, or that look in her eyes before she does something silly, she definitely has something going on in there.
Julia's birthday was pretty low-key - it had been a really hectic week for everyone, so the actual day was family time and going out to Red Robin - this is one of the few restaurants where we can actually get her to eat something substantial, so it was the logical choice; besides, the burgers are awesome :-) Saturday was her party, which was a pretty good time, as far a the guests were concerned, but Julia is going through a phase of being very shy when very many people are around, so despite seeing Nana, she was very much Daddy's girl (and Mommy's, when Mommy could take a break from hostessing). This phase, too, shall pass - it's just a little tough on us parents who want Julia to feel connected to her extended family. She spent a lot of time sitting with Daddy playing with his iPad (P-Pad, in her words), but finally started warming up a bit towards the end, when she asked to see "The Lion King" - this and "Kung Fu Panda" are her favorite films and we see both of them at least 3-5 times a week. Oh yeah - that's another thing: she's very much into certain programs and movies now, so the phase of our television viewing being dominated by the youngster has begun in earnest!
So, that's the update for January and photos from her 2nd birthday - stay tuned for more from our toddler! She's growing faster that we know how to comprehend!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Look Who's (Soon) to be 23 Months!

Ho! Ho! Ho! As we rush headlong into the holidays, we wanted to take a moment to catch you up on Julia's adventures! I kind of skipped her 22nd month update, seeing as how Thanksgiving was right in the middle there, so for the last month and a half, she's been a barrel of fun! For Thanksgiving, we did two family gatherings, both involving some travel - on Turkey Day proper to Steven's uncle's to dine with a whole herd of Smisecks (this was a first for Julia as well as me). It was a little overwhelming at first, but she settled in and played a bit with her second cousins and charmed her great aunts and uncles as well as her great grandma! It was a really nice time! The next day, we took off for Indiana to get our turkey on again with my family and got to play around out in the woods a bit with the soon to be arctic cold starting to rear its ugly head. BRRRRRRR. But, of course, Julia and her daddy love the cold and the wind in their faces, so it was all smiles from the Baby Bear!
Things started moving pretty fast in December - she went on her first trip to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo, which was a pretty cool trip for all of us! She loves the zoo, but specifically remembered riding a stationary bench on the carousel and said very clearly, "horsies" as we walked towards it, indicating that she was interested in a ride. Well, guess what she got - a ride on one of the horses!
This year she is really catching on to the whole Christmas thing - when we (finally) got the tree and decorations out, she was all excited, running around and playing with the noisy things and saying "tree!" once the lights were on. She has been relatively respectful of the presents and ornaments, which is good; we think this has more to do with the fact that she's afraid of the Lionel train we have set up surrounding the tree - and we thought she'd love it because she loves the real train that goes by her school! Oh, well. Keeps her out of trouble.
It's harder to shop for her this year, as opposed to last year when we could do all of her Christmas shopping with her in the cart - this year she has been throwing fits when she can't have what she clearly saw go into the cart. Next year, Santa will have to hire an elf! Still, it's going to be fun to watch her on Christmas morning. She's got one heck of a memory, though - she's all about a dancing Mickey Mouse that she's seen all of twice in the stores (and threw fits over); Daddy Claus ordered one online and was in the room next to the bathroom where Julia was getting her bath, trying it out to make sure it worked. Well, somebody heard it, got a funny look on her face and said, "Mickey!" She'll be thrilled on Saturday!
Julia is a talking fool - she will "parrot" thing quite often, but has also become quite adept at saying things (and oftentimes things we haven't taught her, so it takes a minute to figure out what she's talking about). She'll talk non-stop . . . until someone wants her to talk. Then she just looks at them. She's in a very shy stage of her life, but we're hoping that goes away soon! She's also in a very sweet and loving stage - she will give kisses freely to mama, daddy, and sissy (and gives them when requested to others in the family), but the most poignant one was last week, when she had a 24 hour stomach bug; after several hours of discomfort and hourly vomiting, she looked up at me after her latest event and turned her face up to give me a kiss as if to thank me for taking care of her (daddy was nearby helping, too, but missed out on the gesture because he was collecting the latest batch of items needing laundering) - it was sweet, and definitely a thing that only a parent would truly appreciate and understand.
So that's about it until Christmas, at which point I hope to get a few photos up. In the meantime, enjoy these last few days until Santa arrives!!

Twenty One Months

Ok, for the record, I know I've been a bit lax about updates. I apologize and will do my best to keep you up to date on what's going on with Julia. So, it seems I have about 3 months to catch up on! Let's see . . .

Well, because she doesn't have to do doctor visits as often, I can't tell you how much she weighs or how tall she is in comparison to her 18 month checkup, but I CAN tell you that she definitely weighs more (especially when asleep and we're carrying her to bed) and is much taller - for example, when we bought her Halloween costume in August we got it big and thought that it would probably still be a bit big on her when Trick or Treat time came around - WRONG! It just about didn't fit, she had grown that much! Although on the plus side, she was a little uncertain about her costume when we first got it; last night (Beggar's Night in Columbus) she was all about being a bear. She got the biggest smile when she put it on and growled and took a swipe with her paws - it was adorable!


She was moved up into the toddler class about six weeks ago. This has been a matter for concern for dad and I because her former class was small and we had seen a lot of development there - the new class has a ton of little guys who are very rowdy, so we were worried that she would be overwhelmed; we have seen a definite upsurge in separation anxiety at drop off (as well as a very enthusiastic greeting when we do pick up), but otherwise, she seems to be fine. The teachers report that she is very smart - she knows her animals and their noises (we do this a lot at home) and is very big on reading. Many times, at pick up, we'll see her sitting in her little area quietly reading a book, even though the other kids are going ape bananas all around her - she's pretty much our kid alright. Below is a photo of her with one of her favorite "toys", daddy's iPad (or mommy's, depending on which is available at the moment) - there are a number of programs that teach alphabet and have read aloud books which she uses constantly (along with the other more fun diversions of Pocket God and fishing - go figure).

At last post she was starting to get into walking more. Well, that's old news. She's walking very confidently, including making the transition between sidewalk and uneven ground. Oh, and running, especially when I say, "You come here!" She loves to be chased :-) She doesn't mind being carried around, but will definitely let you know when she's ready to get moving on her own (which is most of the time).




Julia is big into talking as well - she's good at repeating things (thanks, Big Sissy, for teaching her the word "crap" last week) but is very adept at saying words on her own. she is constantly saying things as a way of reinforcing her knowledge - for example, several times a day she will point to her blanket (which is a constant companion) and say "blankie". But also "daddy", "mama", "sissy" and a host of other words - animals, things of interest, you name it. She's also pretty good at "no", "done" and "down". She can sing, too - "Baa Baa Black Sheep" is a particular favorite and adorable to hear (and see), but unfortunately I haven't caught it on video. Yet.
So, that's the update - Steven and I will do better at keeping it up to date. In fact, I may ask him to fill in what I've forgotten, which is probably a lot considering how much she's done in the last three months!

18 Months - It Seems Such a Short Time Ago That She Was Just a Little Baby!

I wanted to wait until today to post so that some vital stats could be included! At the official 18 month checkup, Julia weighed in at a Tinkerbell-ish 22.6 pounds, which is actually a significant increase considering how sick she was in the last month (more on that in a minute). Her height is now 31 1/2 " long and her noggin is 17 3/4 " in diameter - this is good because she was on the low side in the last round, which was cause for concern (although dad and I think there was a measurement error that the nurse will not admit to). Overall, she is in good health and on-track developmentally, according to Dr. "Let's Wait and See".
In the last month, Julia had her first bout with urinary tract infections, which is no picnic for people with a vocabulary and especially not fun for little people who can't tell you what's wrong. The kicker is that once we took her in to find out what the problem might be, we were told to wait a few more days, which wasn't very much fun for anyone involved. Once diagnosed (which involved catheterization - another "not fun" activity), the doctor was concerned that this might be a bigger issue, which lead to a trip to the hospital for testing, which Julia did not like at all. Even the ultrasound was detested. The news came back as good and we did find out why cathetering her is difficult.
As you saw in the last post, Julia is now walking which means she's getting into everything. It's actually very cute to have her follow us around and "help" with whatever we're doing - laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc. Right now she's big into helping. She helps us get her in and out of her highchair and car seats (this includes buckling). And just yesterday she was standing in the doorway as I was trying to get in and out of the porch area to grill some chow and when I said, "Excuse me" she stepped aside to let me out and then went back to her post as door guard. or whatever it was she was doing. She's also very big with taking the kitchen towel off of the oven door and wiping the floor. Apparently she does this at school because they asked if she helped clean at home. I said, "Well, sort of - if you mean "does she wipe things with towels" then yes. If you mean actual cleaning, I will refer to the DVD pile she leaves daily in the living room after she pulls them all from the shelf and say no." Along with this new mobile independence comes an impishness - she likes to try to push our buttons and see how far she can get with what she knows she shouldn't do. I have yet to capture the look she gives us, but it is precious in its naughtiness.
It may seem that we're a bit biased, but Julia is also sharp as a tack. On a daily basis she picks up daddy's iPad and requests certain games to be played or books read on it. If this is not done immediately, she either whines until it IS done immediately or, more recently, has figured out how to get the iPad to work and is now doing it herself. It is a little scary to watch an 18 month old comprehensively using a piece of technology that some adults have a hard time getting to work. On a less technological note, she can make several animal noises (mum is so proud), continues to have a wickedly funny sense of humor, and now doles out real kisses when asked (and sometimes spontaneously, like when she's home from school). And apparently everything good is called "daddy" - daddy very much likes that.

And So It Begins . . . Upright Mobility!

You've been asking if Julia is walking yet and the answer has been - well, she takes a step or two, but it doesn't really count. Well, now it counts. Last Thursday (6/10/10) she took six steps in a row before deciding to sit down; two days later, she took nine, but would not repeat what she had done no matter what we said or tempted her with. Today, however, Julia decided that it was time to walk and she has been walking about all night (with a few crawling stints in between). The following are some photos and a video of our little zero to 60 girl, doing her thing!

Sweet 16

Dad unit here. Julia just turned 16 months last week, and we are having so very much fun. Julia has begun to say a few words, although nothing consistent. We tend to play a game where I swear she'll say something to one of us but she'll not repeat it to the other. Words we "think" she is saying include" light, hat, down and fan. I also maintain that Julia said "Addy," meaning "daddy" the other day, but Wendy says it doesn't count!

Julia is developing a very sweet personality. She loves to gently put her nose to your nose and then sometimes give a kiss. Very tender. Of course, she also has been exerting her independence, and our quiet baby has her moments of making herself known. But that comes with the territory.

As for this daddy, I couldn't be happier. We have a wonderful little girl!

Quick Update

The last post said something about Julia not talking - well, that's MOSTLY true, but there is an update.  See, she babbles a lot and had things she "says" that are super close to what she's pointing at, but not quite there.  She knows what we're talking about when we ask her where, say, the clock, fan, light, or whatever is - she'll look right at it, but won't say it.  She also likes to fool with us.  The other night she stood straight up on the bed while playing with Kennedy and I, pointed at the light overhead and said, very clearly, "light".  Now, do you think she'll do it again?  Nope.  And not in front of her dad, either.  She does the same thing with her Nana - they'll spend the whole day playing and naming things; when we pick Julia up, Nana will swear that Julia has been saying all manner of things, but she simply will not do it in front of us (and the same story visa versa).  Here's what I think: she is just trailing us along until some undetermined point - let's say a few months or so down the road - when we think she hasn't been paying attention or whatever, and we're standing in front of someone we would lilke to behave in front of (can't think of any good examples . . .) and she'll either come out with a doozy of a word we would rather she not say, or she'll rattle off a full sentence.
Anyway, to date she can say "uh-oh", which Steven doesn't count as a word, and she will say "hi" on occasion, but never consistantly which seems to be par for the course.  :-)

15 Months!

Fifteen months is a big deal - especially when you're on the receiving end of some more shots (this is what Julia tells me anyway). Though not as many as at the one year checkup, she was not a happy camper about the three she received (and one hurt her quite a bit, I am sad to report). On the brighter side, she is now nearly 31 inches long. She's still on the light side (19 pounds), but that's not a big concern considering that she's had a continual ear infection since February - she finally beat it by the end of April after the third round of antibiotics, and guess what?? We discovered as a result that she has an allergy to some types of antibiotic - it involved a lot of vomiting, which we erroneously attributed to her having tried a new food - no dice; it was the drug. In other medical news, the nurse mis-measured Julia's head so the doctor now thinks she has a little bean - he was talking with us about "small computer running super well compared to a big computer" - whatever. She is a "peanut", but at this point, we don't see any issues with her development - she's achieving all the normal stages and shows no signs of lagging, so we're not worried in the least. As you will notice, in the above photo, she is figuring out how her highchair belts buckle - honestly, she does know and helps get in and out of her seats.


Is she walking or talking? No. Could she if she wanted to? Yep. Julia is babbling a lot. She "says" things that are awfully close to the word we think she's saying, but we have yet to actually call her official first word. We think we've heard "da-da", "ma-ma", "that", "hi", "clock", and a variation of "sissy" but since she won't repeat it when we say the word, it's a tough call. I think she's being elusive on purpose, just to keep us going. Which leads me to the walking part - she has taken a step, but it's always when she's preoccupied with something she's carrying and seems to forget that she's not holding on to the couch or whatever. She prefers tearing around the house on all fours (or a variation of all fours), cruising the furniture, or (more likely) fussing to be picked up. Spoiled - you bet.


Julia has a tremendous sense of humor - she laughs easily at things that are genuinely funny. Like farts. And super fun games of "where's mommy?" and hide-and-seek where mommy or sissy jump out at her. She is also a fan of roughhousing a bit and still enjoys "baby hat". What has really picked up in the last month or so is her enjoyment of reading - or more specifically, us reading to her. Steven, Kennedy and I have read some of her favorite books hundreds of times; those titles would be: "Green Eggs and Ham", "Bears on Wheels", "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb", "Dr. Seuss' ABC's", "Old Hat, New Hat", "Curious George's Flap Book (or whatever it's called - actually a good flap book)", "My First Animal Board Book" and "Peter Rabbit's Sleep Book". These books are on a list of "do not read ever again" when she outgrows them . . . LOL!!! Actually, it's great that she loves reading so much - Kennedy was a lot the same way (as were Steven and I), so it's good to have another reader in the family.



So, there you go - another month, another update; hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be more on the ball with updating!!

Almost 14 Months

Julia has had a few more milestones in the last two months - the two videos above show you a little of what she's up to right about now. The first video is of her mastering stair climbing, which this particular video is her fourth trip up (the first two had pauses and a stop, the third trip was about 30 seconds before this one and she went straight to the top - no pauses). Coming down . . .we're not to that point yet, but that is ok. You will notice that at the top of the stairs she stretches out and peeks around the corner, very cautiously, This has a lot to do with Kennedy and I playing chase and hide and seek with her and jumping out when she rounds the corner - of course, she thinks it's funny as all get out, but is still prepared for the surprise.
The second video is of Julia doing what she's been doing for awhile - walking with her hand on something. In this particular shot, she's being very cavalier about it, nonchalantly stepping around the exesaucer and talking to herself. You will also note that she gets close a few times to taking a step without holding on to anything, but (as usual) she then drops down and takes off in a crawl. The final thing to notice is that she completely ignores me when I ask her what she is doing while tearing apart the DVDs; this is not an accident - she has already learned to tune me out! :-)
Otherwise, Julia's fighting a double ear infection that she's had for three weeks now; the first round of antibiotics didn't work, so we're onto round two. She's holding on ok, but it's tough to see her have to deal with it. In other news, she now has at least three more teeth, including her third molar, that I discovered last night when she allowed me to examine her gum and then bit me (ha ha - I guess I should have known). She's a toothy one! She also is very funny, finding humor in many things (oh, like farting, weird screeching, people pretending to fall down - stuff like that); she has wonderful laughs, including the evil little laugh she uses when she splashes me with bath water.

A Trip to the Zoo

Yes, I've been a bit behind in making the updates - so to placate those of you who are coming back frequently to check, here is a video from yesterday of Julia at the brown bear exhibit. She was having more fun chattering (or singing) than watching the bears fight (which was pretty cool, actually).

More to follow soon!

One Year Old - Birthday, Checkup and Party!

Julia hit the big YEAR ONE on January 28th . . . believe me, I was remembering what was going on one year ago - on our way to the hospital at 3 in the morning during an ice storm! Fun times. But seriously, the year has gone by so fast; it seems like only yesterday and yet she's grown and learned so much in that amount of time. It's been a wonderful time for us (and hopefully her as well)!
The birthday proper was on a school night (ok, work night - geez, picky), so the festivities were low key. Steven had to work late that night, but Kennedy and I spent the late afternoon picking Julia up early from daycare, where she had a great day and shared her birthday treat with those who could share - mini Nilla Wafers (awesome stuff!), then made cupcakes and pizza. Pizza is a food item that Julia mooches from us, so we figured, why not? Somewhere on the site, you will see that she was enjoying it (actually, she was sucking on it, but she got some in there, I guess). Cupcake was a new venture. I can't say that it went over well, which had me a bit nervous about her birthday party. She would have rather had her Nilla Wafers. I didn't think my cooking was that bad! He he
The next day was a trip to the ol' doctors for the one year check up. Boy, what a day . . . five shots!!! Julia was not especially happy about the shots and neither was I, seeing as how she was staring at me the whole time with this "why?" look on her face as she squalled. But, while she was busy screaming and I was trying to hold her down and comfort her at the same time (awkward) I noticed she had sprouted another tooth - a cuspid! The five shots were a combo of seven inoculations, including her second H1N1 and the seasonal flu. She is still sporting the teeny holes and bruises from where they went in - I feel so bad. Size-wise, Julia is 29 inches long (50% percentile) but is only 17.7 pounds (5% percentile); she had lost a little weight over the last few weeks with the most recent virus she'd caught - it seemed to take away her appetite (Steven had it, too, and he wasn't much into eating, either). Overall, the doctor was not concerned; developmentally, she is doing great, so he said to ramp up the table food and we'll see where she is in the 15th month. Right now she's into pointing (a lot) and can point to things that she's really interested in when we ask (or when she's in the mood - at the very least, she'll look at what we're asking about); she will point to the clock, the fan, the light, and maybe mommy, daddy and sissy, if the mood strikes; she is very, very close to saying her first word - we thin kit will be clock.
Julia's birthday party was today - it was a day brought to you by the letters C and H put together. Hee hee She loves her Cookie Monster stuffed toy, so we had a little fun with that - couldn't find Cookie Monster stuff by itself, so instead we had food that she likes and thematically around the letters' "CH" - Cheesy Poofs (Cheetos), which are her favorite, chips, chili and cheesecake. In attendance were Steven, Kennedy and I (of course), her gramps and nana, uncle Eric, aunts Kim, Renee and Deidre, and cousins Andrew and Nathan. My parents were in attendance via Skype, which Julia thought was the bees' knees (mostly because she likes to play with daddy's computer). Everyone seemed to have a good time, most importantly the birthday girl, who scored clothes and toys, cheesy poofs whenever she pointed to them, and seemed to thoroughly like her cheesecake (YAY!). She is now tired but very hyped up on the attention, the sugar, and the iced tea she drank. We are hopeful that she goes down at a decent hour tonight!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Today is Julia's first birthday! It was pretty much a day like most others: get up, go to school, etc., but today mommy and Sissy picked her up early from school and made cupcakes and pizza for her birthday (for the record, cupcakes were new and not received overly well, but pizza is something she mooches from us all the time, so it only made sense to have it on her birthday!).
Tomorrow, Julia goes in for her one year checkup and her birthday party with family is on Sunday, so please stay tuned for more info and PICTURES!!!!

Eleven Months Old and Her First Christmas

Yesterday Julia hit the 11 month mark, just 31 days away from her first birthday!! In the last month, she's experienced a lot:

• She now sports two teeth - both bottom incisors, of course. They are sharp. Ow.
• Julia received her H1N1 shot. The significance of this was that she now knows what's about to happen when they swab her thigh with rubbing alcohol and gets right upset about it. Never the less, she gets over it pretty quickly and with no ill effects.
• She also had her second significant illness - the croup, which is a royal pain in the kiester when you have to give breathing treatments to help with the coughing at night.
• As you can see from the photo above, she is very adept at standing up, even on things that aren't the most stable, which leads to her balancing on her own two feet - the precursor to walking! She does 'cruise' a bit along the couch, coffee table, or in her crib, so we don't think it will be long before she tries to take a step on her own.
• She now is a little shadow, following us all around the house with maddening crawling speed; sometimes it's on all fours, and other times it's with her one foot in an almost walking pose.
• Eating - she has recently expressed a real interest in what we're eating, so with a few exceptions, she gets to at least try it. To date she's tried: bagels and lox, pizza (especially pepperoni and sausage), fried plantains, gryos, turkey, pulled pork, pancakes, gingerbread waffles, French toast, bacon, french fries, tandoori bread, cheese balls, Cheetos, sweet red peppers, lemon wedges, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dried cranberries . . .there's more, but that's been in the last week or so!
  
• Julia seemed to enjoy the holidays - lights were very cool, wrapping paper was fun, and 'Jingle Bells' seems to one of her favorites. She got into opening presents pretty quickly, but mostly to play with the ribbons and paper! She scored some pretty cool gifts - learning toys, stuffed animals, books, and clothes! YAY!

Now for the final few weeks until Julia turns one . . .what will she do?

For those of you on FaceBook, friend Steven or I to see more photos of Christmas (or ask one of us to e-mail you a link, if you aren't on FB)!
See you next month!!! And have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!