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· Jess is really trying to repeat any words she
hears. Both of us were very impressed
with her attempt to say “avocado”. What she says sounds like “ah-voca”, with
the emphasis on the first syllable. It’s
turned out to be one of her favorite foods.
· Rather than simply copying our words, Jessica likes to
string hers out a little. Book is
“book-a-book-a”, and ducks are better known as ‘duck-a-duck-a”, where the
number of repetitions depends upon how excited she is. · We just heard that Nuala and Howard have had a baby
boy, Jake! Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing the photos. · Jess graduated to the walkers’ class at Gymboree. · 5/17: Jessica and Paul were present at the unveiling
of the Peace Officers’ Monument, dedicated to the members of all the law
enforcement agencies in Contra Costa.
The Air Force band was there, so Jessica enjoyed that. She likes music. Stacey, the manager of the monument
project, gave Jessica an official program, and a souvenir medal. Well actually she gave them to Dad, so he
could put them in her collection of things for the future. · Jess has begun to assert herself a little more. There are little protests if things don’t
go exactly as she had planned. Mom and
Dad are on hand to help her manage her emotions more effectively. · 5/26: The Brackens went for a swim at Pleasant Hill
Park pool. This was Jessica’s first
time in a swimming pool, and she seemed to enjoy it. There were lots of smiles, and splashing
around. ·
Congratulations to
Chris and Brid! They’re expecting a
young one in November! ·
05/31: The World Cup got off to a good start today
with Senegal beating France! Jess
hasn’t shown the slightest interest so far.
·
We were singing
Sesame Street’s “Rubber Duckie” song today, and Jessica began to laugh like
Ernie. It was very funny! If you’re familiar with Sesame Street,
you’ll know that Ernie has a very distinctive laugh. June
2002 ·
06/02: Jessica took her first steps without
holding onto anything. She stood by
herself, balancing for a while, and then walked to Mommy. ·
Jess gets very
excited about going out. She points to
the car and shouts “Kaah! Kaah!” We’re not sure whether the New England
accent has anything to do with her heritage.
·
Ireland is through
to the second round of the World Cup!! ·
06/11: Today, Jessica climbed the stairs by
herself for the first time – all 14 of them.
She stopped to inspect each of the steps, and any bits of fluff she
found were handed back to Dad, who was kneeling behind her in case she lost
her balance. ·
06/12: Jess had pineapple for the first time. Not sure whether she liked it. She ate it, but there was no reaction
either way. ·
It looks like
pineapple is another success story. We
gave her two slices today, and when she was done she asked for more, by
pointing and shouting ‘Pia-Pa!” When
she eats it she smiles and makes a ‘mmmm’ sound, which is always a good
sign. Strawberries are another
favorite. ·
Jess is getting
steadier on her feet. She can get
halfway across the living room before toppling over. ·
06/23: Today was Jessica’s first time on a
swing. We brought her up to Hidden
Lakes park and let her try out the swings in the playground. She looked very cool in her cap and
sunglasses. Then she played in the
sand for a while, with another little girl named Christine. This was the first time she felt sand
between her toes, and she seemed to like it.
She kept picking up handfuls of it, and offering it to Mom and
Dad. ·
Jessica now seems
to have switched from crawling to walking as the default. She is much more confident on her feet and
really enjoys being able to walk around. ·
06/25: This evening, Jessica took her first walk
in the grass. She held her Mommy’s
hand and walked all around the garden, with a big smile on her face, and lots
of little screams of delight. She
cannot say the word ‘flowers’ yet, but instead she makes a ‘sniff-sniff’
sound when she points to them. In
fact, the sound does not only apply to flowering plants, but to any number of
species, including trees and bushes. ·
06/27: Today Jessica got her first pair of walking
shoes. We brought her to Howard’s
Shoes for Children in Walnut Creek, and bought her a pair of Preschoolians, size 20
(White-Pastel). The first time she
tried walking in them she took a tumble, but after a while she learnt to lift
her feet a little more and before long she was back up to full speed (which
admittedly is pretty slow).
Afterwards, Jess practiced her walking at Whole Foods market. Judging by the smile on her face, she
seemed to like the new shoes. Each
time Dad picked her up, she immediately tried to jump out of his arms to get
back down to the floor, so she could walk. July
2002 ·
07/03: Congratulations to Kris and Peter on the
birth of their new baby daughter, Megan Elizabeth! ·
We brought Jessica
to Habitot, a kids’ museum in
Berkeley. I was amazed that there was
a place like this catering for tots!
It was funny to watch Jessica at the Outer Space exhibit. She enjoyed standing behind the control
panel and pushing all the buttons and levers to see what would happen. The Waterworks exhibit also generated much
excitement! We dressed her in a little
apron and then watched her race over to the pumping station and soak
herself. ·
Jessica’s absolute
favorite show on TV is ‘The Wiggles’! She asks for it every morning by shouting
“Wiggaaa!” at the top of her voice.
Ever since we visited the web site and listened to the music samples,
she also shouts “Wiggaaaa!” at the computer.
We downloaded one of their pictures and colored it in with Jess’s
crayons. Now it’s up on the door next
to her crib, so the first thing she shouts when she wakes up in the morning
is…(can you guess?)…”Wiggaaaa!” ·
Jess has started
to climb. She can stand up with both
feet on the bar of the safety gate. We
bought her a little plastic chair, and she likes to climb up onto that. She’s fallen off a few times, but that just
seems to make her more determined to climb back up. ·
Now she can stack
her cups, instead of just knocking them down.
She’s still not quite sure of the stacking order, but when she manages
to stack them successfully, she looks very pleased with herself. ·
For some reason,
she has now started to try walking backwards.
She seems pleased that she can do it. ·
It looks like
we’re going through a hat phase. Each
morning she goes and gets one of her little hats and puts it on – and keeps
it on for most of the morning. She
gets upset if anyone tries to remove it.
August
2002 ·
Who would have
expected that Jess would turn out to be a big Andy Griffith fan? But it appears that it is so. Whenever she sees the show, or hears the
theme music, she gets very excited and shouts “Adin-da” over and over again
(which means “Andy Griffith”). ·
Unfortunately it
looks like we’re in a book-eating phase.
·
We were out
walking in the park the other evening, and Jessica saw a very bright moon in
the sky. The funny part is that when
she says ‘moon’ it almost sounds like she’s putting on a Scottish
accent. Her term for our nearest
celestial neighbor sounds like an abrupt “muin!” ·
She’s getting more
into the dancing. Now when she’s
watching the Wiggles, she tries to copy all the actions, turning in circles
and flapping her arms like a duck, etc.
·
Remember I said we
were in a hat phase? Well now it looks
like we’re in an anti-hat phase. ·
08/18: Today Jessica had her first ride on a
Merry-go-Round. We visited the one at Tilden
Park. Jessica sat on one of the
little horses that didn’t go up and down like the others. She was very excited about the whole thing,
and seemed to really enjoy it. ·
08/25: Today Jess had her first haircut. We went to Cool Tops in Lafayette, who
specialize in kids haircuts. Jess
loved it! They had a little play area
which was fun, with an undersea mural on the wall. She just had a little trim to keep the hair
out of her eyes. During the hair cut
the hair lady played a Peter Pan video to keep her amused, and then she added
some green sparkle to Jessica’s hair when she was finished. Jess was delighted! She sat on Mommy’s lap smiling the whole
time. Since it was her first haircut,
we got a little certificate with a piece of Jessica’s hair and a photograph. September
2002 ·
Some of Jessica’s
words sound very similar to their English equivalents. For example, one of her favorite Wiggles
characters is Henry the Octopus; she says ‘Enya’ for Henry, and ‘Opoca’ for
Octopus. But some other words are not
as obvious. Like the Jess word for
‘keys’, which is ‘Gilar’. ·
Commonly used
words include: ‘Mama’, ‘Dada’, ‘Wigga’
(Wiggles), ‘ka-ka’ (car), ‘pak’ (park), ‘betta’ (better), ‘gaw-gaw’ (all
gone), ‘da’ (dance), ‘brecca’ (breakfast), ‘brecca’ (while shaking head = “I
don’t want any more breakfast”), ‘whature’ (water), ‘ba’ (bath), ‘shake-a, shake-a’
(shake, or shaking), ‘hug’ (hug), ‘wuh-wuh’ (dog), <sniffing sound>
(flowers), ‘grah’ (grass), ‘baw’ (ball), ‘muin’ (moon), ‘tah’ (star), ‘tuk’
(truck), ‘circa’ (circle), ‘pi-pi’ (pineapple), ‘appa’ (apple), ‘na-na’
(banana), ‘new-new’ (no, no), ‘shheh’ (shoes), ‘pah’ (pants), ‘pasteh’
(pasta), ‘ma’ (milk), <uhum-uhum sound, with mouth closed and chewing
motion> (food), ‘wok’ (walk), and her most popular command – ‘up!’ ·
She has lots of
other words as well. In fact, she now
tries to repeat most of the words and sounds she hears. She even copies the noises of airplanes and
trucks. ·
Her dancing is
getting more elaborate. Lots of
jumping, twisting and hip wiggling. ·
09/07: Jessica has a little Humpty Dumpty on
wheels, and when it moves it makes music.
Today was the first time we noticed her walking around holding the
string, and pulling it along behind her.
·
Today Mommy was
delighted to see Jessica actually putting books on the shelf. ·
Jessica now likes to
drape her blanket on her shoulders, like a cape, and she then strolls around
the house like a little queen. October
2002 ·
10/05: Jessica kept everyone entertained at the
Lawrence Berkeley Labs Open House.
There was a band playing, and Jessica spent most of the day doing her
dance routine, hips swaying from side to side, feet stomping and hands
swaying in the air in time to the music.
She is easily the best dancer in the family! She looked particularly cute in her little
blue and white dress. ·
Our girl surprised
us all last week with a new phrase.
When you ask her a question for which she doesn’t know the answer,
like “where’s your frog?”, when the frog is nowhere to be seen, Jessica
responds with “I don’t know.”
Actually, it’s more like how it would sound if you said it with
blocked sinuses: “I doh doh.” But the syllables are quite distinct, so I
guess this qualifies as her first sentence.
·
10/17: Jessica and Daddy visited the Lindsay Wildlife Museum
today. The duck and the squirrel held
her attention for a while, but she spent the rest of the time just running
about and shouting with glee! ·
Congratulations to
Mridula and Yogesh on the birth of their beautiful son, Yuvraj. ·
10/25: Jessica, Mommy and Daddy paid a visit to
Oakland Zoo. This was Jessica’s first
visit to a zoo, and she thoroughly enjoyed it, despite falling over a few
times as she charged about the place.
She was especially fascinated with the little train; probably the most
exciting part of the day, although she was a little apprehensive every time
it blew its whistle, looking around at Mom and Dad for reassurance. ·
10/26: Jessica’s first Halloween party, and her
first time to go trick-or-treating. It
was a special party arranged by Gymboree, and all the little kids went in
costume. Jessica was dressed as Murray
Wiggle. November
2002 ·
Climbing is now
the name of the game. Jess has finally
figured out that she can reach new heights if she carries her little chair
around the room with her. ·
11/09: Today we went to see Clifford – the Big Red
Dog. Jessica was thrilled! She kept running up to him excitedly and
patting him on the knees! It was also
time to buy a new pair of shoes. She
has outgrown her first pair. ·
It must be the
season for colds and flu. Jess has
already had a couple of colds, with lots of sneezing, runny nose and
coughs. We think she might be picking
up some bugs from other kids at Gymboree. ·
We decided to turn
Jessica’s car seat around so that it is now forward facing. Her legs were getting a little too long for
her to remain rear facing, and she seems more comfortable now that she can
see what’s going on. December
2002 ·
We had a battle on
our hands at the doctor’s today, when she tried to examine Jessica. It seems that our little one is now much
more apprehensive about things like this, maybe because of a more developed
imagination and an ability to anticipate that something is going to
happen. We got the same reaction when
she went for her second haircut. Lots
of kicking and screaming, pointing at the door and shouting “Go, Go,…Car,
Car…Go!” ·
12/06: Today we all went to see Thomas the Tank
Engine, in Sacramento. This was
Jessica’s first time on a real train, and she was delighted to see
Thomas. She was especially thrilled to
meet the special guest on the train – none other than Santa Claus himself! ·
Now Jess is
getting better at stringing words together to make little phrases. One commonly used phrase at the moment is
“Careful DaDa!” Maybe she is telling
Dad to be careful, or perhaps letting him know that she is being careful, or
that she understands the need to be careful.
The latter seems more likely, because it is usually said while she
embarks on some precarious undertaking.
·
Jess now seems to
understand some of the behaviors and moods of other people. She points out when someone is happy or
sad, asleep or awake, etc. ·
She is still a
very big fan of The Wiggles. That
doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon.
·
The Jess girl is a
little more wary of other little ones, especially when they grab things from
her, which seems to happen every now and then. She never seems to know quite what to do
when this happens, and usually reacts with bemusement. January
2003 ·
Jessica can now
tell us when she needs a diaper change, which is useful. ·
She calls herself
Decca. ·
Her favorite fruit
now appears to be oranges. ·
Jessica’s
conversation has gotten more complicated.
She can read to herself, and her words are clearer. She knows all the animals, and the sounds
they make, and she can recognize some of the letters of the alphabet. She knows many of the Wiggles’ shows by
heart, and can predict what is going to happen with accuracy. ·
For bedtime, Jess
has a favorite doll, named Annie. ·
Jessica sometimes
shows remarkable inventiveness in coming up with new words and phrases. For example, she has a book called Hand Rhymes, with various
illustrations of how to use hand movements to illustrate actions in nursery
rhymes. Jess, for reasons of her own,
decided to call the book Finger Dance,
which I think is a lovely alternative. ·
Whenever we visit
the park, Jess likes to make sand angels.
This was something she decided on her own, without any encouragement
from us. ·
01/18: Today we went to Madison’s birthday party
in San Francisco. After the party, we
went down to the beach, as the sun was low over the horizon. This was Jessica’s first time to walk
barefoot in the sand, and feel the ocean waves on her feet, so we wondered if
she would be afraid. But she loved
it! As the waves rolled in against her
legs, a big smile appeared on her face, and she watched as her feet sank into
the wet sand. She was fascinated by
the ocean, and it was fun to see her little face, in the glare of the setting
sun, staring out at the waves as they tumbled toward the shore. When she got used to the water, we let her
run up and down for a while, but we were careful to stop her from running
toward the ocean, which is what she wanted to do. ·
Jess is now able
to throw and catch a ball, although she has not yet mastered these skills. ·
She is starting to
pronounce her words more carefully now, including the ‘t’ sound, for example,
on the ends of words like ‘fast’ and ‘best’.
She also seems to pay attention to the more detailed descriptions of
things; like bottle-nosed dolphins, for example. And she’s getting more conversational,
saying things like “Dada, come - look!”, while pointing at something. Actually, she is still not good on ‘l
sounds, so it is more like “Dada, come - uck!” February
2003 ·
02/06: Today Jessica surprised us all by counting
from 1 to 9. She had some difficulty
pronouncing 7, but otherwise it was a perfect recital. It was very impressive, and totally
spontaneous! We don’t know how she
learned to do this. Her LeapPad may
have helped her to recognize the numbers, and Mommy noticed that she had been
pointing out the numbers on her little telephone as well. However, it seems likely that she was first
inspired by the Wiggles. They always
count to three before shouting “Wake up Jeff!” ·
Jess is hooked on
Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have
Fun, and she just wants to listen to it over and over. She asks for this song to be played by shouting
either “Girls! Fun!” or “Funny
Girls!” She seems to especially enjoy
the phrase “walk in the sun”, and likes to repeats it to herself – “walk in
sun!” ·
Jessica was not
feeling well for a few days. She had a
runny nose (which she calls a “silly nose”) and her new teeth have been
giving her trouble as well. As a
result, we’ve been letting her sleep in the big bed with us. Now she won’t sleep in her crib anymore. ·
Mommy may have
solved the sleeping problem by using the Wiggles. She installed a CD player in Jessica’s
room, so that the Wiggles can softly sing to her while she goes to
sleep. This seems to be the only way
she can be encouraged to stay in her crib.
·
02/15: Jessica went on another visit to Oakland
Zoo, this time with her friend Dylan.
·
Jess likes to draw
with her crayons. She always chooses
the same colors: green, yellow, and brown.
Unfortunately she’s begun moving toward frescoes, like her recent work
next to the fireplace. ·
Now Jess is
practicing subterfuge. She calls
Da-Da, and asks for “hug…kiss.” But
when Da-Da arrives, she invariably switches from the ‘hug-kiss’ request, to
instead ask for what she really wants – like the Wiggles, or her
LeapPad. ·
She is fixated on
the concept of parties. Anytime she
sees a party, either in one of her books, or on TV, she immediately demands
cake, a party hat, and balloons – obviously the three essential
requirements. The Wiggles were having
a birthday party for Dorothy during the week, and Jess walked over to Dad and
said “Party.” “Yes,” said Dad. “The Wiggles are having a party for
Dorothy.” “No” she said, shaking her
head. “Party Decca.” ·
Jessica’s nose was
blocked again today. She woke from her
nap in distress, because she was having difficulty breathing. When I was lifting her out of her crib, she
said “sad.” “Who’s sad?” I asked. “Decca.” ·
02/23: Today was a big day for all of us. We went to see the Wiggles perform at the
Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco.
We were in Section 4, Row M, seats 2, 4, and 6. As we entered the auditorium, Jessica was
already excited by the Wiggles music, and of course she immediately
recognized the logo above the door.
She was a little shocked when they actually ran out on stage –
obviously she is not used to seeing her favorite characters appear as real,
live human beings dancing about in front of her. But very soon, a smile emerged on her face,
and she began dancing and waving her hands around to the music. It was a great show, and we had such a
marvelous time that we booked tickets for the extra show on the following
day. March
2003 ·
Jessica’s first
visit to Ireland to meet with her grandparents. She arrived on St. Patrick’s Day. Her first transatlantic flight went quite
well. June
2003 ·
Fairyland was a
big success. Jess was particularly
attracted to the little boats, and was very happy to have the opportunity to
drive away in one. “Bye-bye Dada”, she
waved as her boat motored away from us, with a big smile on her face. Mom was a little worried at first that Jess
might jump in the water, so Dad was prepared to dive into the pool if
necessary. Jessica’s other favorite
was the crooked house. She spent what
seemed like at least 30 minutes hanging out inside, preparing make-believe
meals etc. July
2003 ·
We all spent a
long weekend in San Diego, and our visit to LegoLand was the high point of
the trip. Jessica has been talking
about it ever since we got back. She
watched her first ever fireworks show on July 4th, at SeaWorld,
and was very impressed, joining the crowds with ‘oooh’s, and ‘aaaah’s where
appropriate. The evening whale show
was very enjoyable as well, with lots of dancing from Jessica, and we had a
lovely meal next to the whale pool, while the trainers worked with the
whales. Before we left for home on
Sunday, we spent a few hours at the San Diego zoo, and we all decided that a
return visit sometime would be a great idea.
August
2003 ·
Our first time in
Houston, Texas, and we took advantage of a second opportunity to see Jessica’s
Wiggly friends who were performing at the Reliant stadium. We were late arriving, because we took the
wrong exit on the freeway and got lost.
Jess was delighted to see the Wiggles again, and did some serious
dancing. ·
Dad also finally
got a chance to see the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, and we paid a visit
to the Children’s museum in Houston, which was a truly wonderful place for
kids. ·
Jessica counts the
steps as she walks downstairs, but what is really impressive is that if you
ask her to start counting when she is already on say, step 3, she will
invariably look behind to see how many steps she has taken, and then begin
the count with “four, five…” etc. I
first noticed this when we were halfway down the stairs, and I began counting
“one, two..” Jessica pointed at the
step we were on and said “that’s six, actually”. And it was.
October
2003 ·
Jessica and Mommy
went to visit a farm on a big yellow school bus. Jess got to pick her own tomatoes and
pumpkin, and she fed the chickens – with corn. And she went on a hayride! ·
For Halloween,
Jessica decided she wanted to dress up as Captain Feathersword, the friendly
pirate. November
2003 ·
Jessica’s second
trip to Ireland. Unfortunately, a few
days before the trip she fell on her arm, and got a small fracture in her
elbow. So she ended up wearing a cast
for a few weeks. February
2004 ·
02/08: Today, Jessica picked up a diaper and
pretended to read it like a book. She
said “this is like a magazine, but it doesn’t have many pages.” |
Last updated:
02/08/04, 21:46 PST.