January, 2010

I've been a bit slack this month, sleeping lots, having babies and not taking enough photos. I only have a couple from January, and most of them seem to be of Byron and Jasmine together. I didn't even write down (or pay much attention to) the funny things they said, but I'll be better next month ;)

Summer in the sandpit

Carding wool for Mummy

Visiting new baby brother, Zachary

Getting a cuddle from Byron

Sitting under the kitchen table.

December, 2009

Chocolate pudding...
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Nappy cream... yum?
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Christmas "stocking" full of little toys.

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"In the Night Garden" inflatable chair, from Byron.

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Woolly winter hat by Mummy.

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Jasmine this month:

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Vocab up to about 200 words.

Started walking around on toes, sometimes.
Learned to jump.

November, 2009

What's the cheeky chick up to this month? Well, she's up and dancing with Playschool a lot more, copying the actions and dancing much more than her big brother does even now. She especially loves "In the Night Garden" and a You Tube video of Beaker (from the Muppets) singing "Ode to Joy".
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She can entertain herself for ages playing with somebody's boots or her hairclip, and if you take her to MacDonalds she'll go up and down the slide. She's up to 120-odd words, and is stringing a few together, like "More Grapes!" or "read a book".
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She still loves all the soft toys, and cuddles and kisses them all day, and sleeps with Pluto or Lion or Roo. She can click her fingers and "High Five". She'll tap on the kitchen table, calling for "Tea?" (in a "where are you?" sort of voice). She also likes to sit on my knee and push her hand into mine, so I'll hold it Ü
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Blue eyes and pigtails...

Hey, it's good yogurt. Want some?

Keeping her hair out of her eyes is a bit tricky. Pigtails work well for a while.

The back of her head; she's sitting on my knee reading a book. When it's wet in the bath it reaches the middle of her shoulderblades... for a few seconds Ü

She likes to "read", though it doesn't make much difference if the book is upside down.

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October 2009

Playing with Poppy (the doll Mummy knitted her)

Climbing up onto the window ledge now... anything to get closer to those fascinating flies!



Birthday present (rocking horse) that she's finally mastered her fear of, now that she can climb on and off without falling over Ü

After a faceplant in her brother's mudpit.

I can climb up onto the kitchen chairs... um... but help me down!

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It's vocabulary time! Now that Jasmine's a few days off being 16 months old, her list of words is well over 70 (not including animal sounds). She's figured it out, as Byron did; suddenly... AHA! Talking gets me stuff!

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She also tears around the place in Byron's old spiderman shoes, leaning forward, arms back, like a jet. She makes her toys kiss each other, and growls at Byron if he's trying to intimidate her. She climbs onto her rocking horse, but makes car sounds. She spins until she falls over, dizzy. She also did eventually learn to climb down off the kitchen chairs (and, of course, further up onto the kitchen table!)

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Sept 09

This month Jasmine is improving her climbing skills (though she fell off the stairs once) in an attempt to keep up with her big brother, vertically. Climbing into the big pot is only a little challenge...


What a bargain, for $15.50!

At the playground

Good old two minute noodles Ü Check out the plait...

Oops... the mud got me! (Mummy might have been laughing as she took this, having seen her faceplant in the "sand"pit...)

She talks all the time, but mostly babble. She seems to know what she's saying, though. She even talks in her sleep (and kisses things: mmmmmah!). Her favorite hobbies are putting things into people's shoes, kissing her toys, following Byron, and dancing to good music. (She worked out with one toy that if you open it quickly three times you can skip the "talking" and get back to the song.) She knows that if she drinks fast she can often get some of Byron's (by stealing or looking pitifully thirsty), and she's completely fascinated with babies. She gets offended if I try and hold her milk bottle (she can do it herself, thanks) and follows instructions (as it suits her Ü). She asks for things (toast, 'num', up) and has a waiting tolerance of about 2 seconds! She recognizes pictures in her books, especially animals, and knows a bunch of animal sounds (chickens, duck, cows, sheep, lions, tigers, cats, dogs...) She's getting the hang of heaps of little words (here's what I can remember in addition to what I've listed other months):

buhsh (brush, n & v)

toas (toast)

uff (up)

dow (down)

Yes! (with a nod Ü)

puss (push)

buss (bounce)

yoosh (shoes)
doe! (don't)

no (usually while she's doing something naughty, like stealing the remote)

num! (yum/let me have your food/I'm hungry!)

oh dear (when she drops something)

Dais (Daisy the sheep)

Bah (Barley the sheep)

Bay (baby)

so by the time she's 2-and-a-half she'll probably be talking as much as her big brother is now. Imagine that... two of them...!

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August, 2009

This month:

Gave up crawling. Visited Sovereign Hill; didn't think the Battery was too loud, by the way she was bopping her head to the beat. Found a way to eat the black grot that's hard to clean out of the windowsill (lick your finger and poke it in). Got two new teeth: one to the left of the top front two, and one to the right of her bottom front two.

Laughing at Daddy (he was banging on the door to give her a fright, which is, obviously, lots of fun.

Still Looooves "Baby".

Ack! Stupid shoes! (These are Byron's old 'first shoes' but she hated them for a while, and would barely move her feet.)

After an exhausting "walk" around the lake (including playing in a pen full of baby animals at the Farmer's Market).

"Wow, this reading caper is soooo easy." Loves those board books.

New words:

roh roh (roll roll)

UP! (very useful command)

hey

bess (bless, when someone sneezes)

puss (push)

baahs? (bath!!!!!?)

wa da (water)

catch (waves the ball around; you drop it less when you don't let it go.)

cugga (cuddle)

Mooooore! (more icecream, please Daddy!)

July, 2009

The hair!


We really have to tie it up each day to keep it out of her eyes. It's long enough for a fountain on top and two teeny pigtails at the back Ü

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Cutes!

This was probably her favorite present all morning... a cheap rubber ball from KMart! Her favorite a bit later was this doll from Grandma and Grandpa. It had "Jasmine" on the box, but we just call it "baby". She loves kissing its head and poking its eyelashes Ü

The next Sunday we had a party, with icecream cake, and all the usual suspects: Zara, Elanor, Josh, Scotty and Elyse, plus cousins Abby, Tim, Ben and Ezra (and parents).

This is Jasmine on my knee after a bottle. She has a night-time routine now, which is Pyjamas, Story, Bottle and Bed.

She goes to bed between 7 and 7:30pm, and hardly ever cries, now that she has a new favorite birthday present to squeeze...


Uncle Matt bought her "Pluto" and most nights when I put her in the cot, she cuddles him tight and shuts her eyes, just like that. What a little cherub! Of course, I took that picture in the middle of the day, after she had a short battle with Sleep, and that's why she collapsed sideways in her cot. Ü

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What did Jasmine get up to this month? She was promoted from the port-a-cot to the cot, started working on a range of words, and worked out that walking is better for your knees than crawling.

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Her favorite word is "Buh" (which means bath, book, ball, bounce and boo). Variations on this great word include

"buhd" (bird)

"baaaak buk buk buk" (what a chicken says)

"bup" (beep and burp)

"Baa" (Barley, one of the sheep)

"Bay" (baby)

"By" (Byron and bye)

Other words she's got in the vocabulary this month are

"eh-yoh" (hello, while waving madly or chatting into a "phone" of some sort)

"da" "deh" "di" (that, there and this, it seems, while she's pointing at something interesting)

"ah be seh" (while poking her hand, which seems to be "sing the sign language alphabet song, thanks, Mummy.")

"Day" (Daisy, the other sheep)

"aaaaaaah ticka ticka ticka" (building suspense before the tickling, just like Daddy does)

"ra ra ra" (round and round and round)

"Uh!" (up)

"woof!" (looooves dogs)

"gulla gulla gulla" (all the rest of the words we say, apparently)

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She also chats to the clock each day, in "clock". She clucks her tongue at the clock in the bathroom, and then gets all giggly and shy when it ticks back Ü

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She follows Byron around all day, and climbs all over the treadmill and up onto the couch with him. They also wrestle a bit and tickle each other, giggling madly. She went from 5 steps (on July 8) to 7 (July 17th) to 10 (July 21st) to 30 (July 25th), and now she walks everywhere. She's tried Byron's old size 6 shoes, which fit well, but she hates them (and socks). She eats almost everything we give her, and especially loves peas (weird!). She's learned to do nice (non-licking, mouth shut) kisses, which is utterly cute. She's very affectionate, and loves sitting with Byron in the rocking chair, leaning on him, and kissing all her toys with a big "mmmmmmAH". She even been seen cuddling pictures of babies in magazines

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