Park Pics

just wanted to post a few of the pics from this weekend's playdate at Barton Springs. the first two were taken by Troy or Kristin w/ their super camera.

Who's my little Terrorist?

This weekend was an outdoor weekend - now that the weather's nice, we try to spend as much time outside as possible. Yesterday morning was spent prepping an area of the yard for a new vegetable garden - Jackie enjoyed holding (and nearly crushing) her first rolly-polly bug (it was my first time holding one, too), helping us put the removed grass into the compost bin, and throwing Nathan's toys around for him to grab. Lunchtime was spent at the playscape near Barton Springs w/ some of my co-workers and their kids, and then back home for naptime and more outdoor work. It was great to spend time outside and get some exercise!

Today was similar - woke up to a hugely grinning and babbling Jackie (such cute babbling that tho Cindy was planning on sleeping a bit more, she felt the need to get out of bed and come play). Spent the morning out in the yard, getting the walls to the garden all set, and pushing the Jackster in her swing. She rewarded us with a new trick while swinging - a fist bump. High-fives are too passe' for this little one. She also says 'kerl' for squirrel, and can tell you what sound a bee makes. It blows my mind how quickly she picks things up - and how much she understands, so it's definitely time to watch what we say...

What does a Chicklet say?

Jackie woke up this morning w/ a crusty nose and a fever of 101. It hasn't affected her mood, though, and she showed us some new tricks during breakfast. In keeping w/ her recent predilection for imitating animals, she can now buck like a chicken and meow like a cat in addition to her famous Monkey Face.

Monkey Face

Jackie has recently taken to pouting out her lips to such a degree that they increase the depth of her face by half. It makes us laugh, which causes her to do it more. She likes to exaggerate the entire thing by throwing her head up as though howling, which is really the icing on the cake. We obviously find it to be hysterical, which only reinforces the monkey face (to our delight). It has gotten to the point where we can now, on command, ask for 'monkey face'. To top it off, we tap her on her 'monkey' lips, which sends her into fits of laughter. ahhhh...

Retrieval of the phone pics

Yesterday evening, Cindy had a great time taking pics of Jackie using her phone. Jackie had been waddling around the backyard and squealing in delight wearing nothing but her big 'ol diaper. Cindy sent me a few pics, but my phone was already filled to the brim w/ pics I had taken of Jackie, so in order to see Cindy's, I had to remove pics from my phone. I emailed myself the earliest pics from my phone, and then retrieved Cindy's. Here are a few, in a chronological order:

Mid-December, 2007 - ~6 wks:

March 2008 - ~5 months:

February 2009 - 15 months:

March 2009 - 16 months:

Take this for a moment, will you?

Yesterday at daycare, Jackie apparently did not remove her barrette from her hair. This is a triumph of sorts, as tightly bound pigtails had been the only assured means of keeping her hair out of her face the whole day through. She did take a break from the barrette, however. We were told that upon entering the playground, she marched up to Jill, one of her caretakers, methodically removed the barrette, handed it over, then turned around and scampered off to play. I guess she likes to take her hair down. She's that kind of girl.

a decrease in grunts and snorts

as i noted in the previous note, Jackie has recently taken to grunting and snorting. it got to a point that we got a bit concerned that she might be having trouble breathing. this lead us on a journey that resulted in aspirations to become ENTs. looking up her nose, we discovered Jackie had some giant boogies. now, this may not be the most glamorous image, and surely not one that you'd expect from a gushing father telling the world about his precious little butterball. but it is the post of a concerned father posting the very real and daily goings-on of a baby.

at first, cindy decided to extract said boogie w/ the squeezie-bulb thing they gave us at the hospital (you know - the turkey baster they use to suck junk out of the baby's nose and mouth when they're born). unfortunately, it just lodged the boogie a little better in Jackie's nose. a tenacious little crusty it was. we recognized at that point that best course of action would be to let the child blow that nugget out all on her own.

it took nearly 2 days, but our patience was rewarded yesterday evening as i was preparing to take Jackie on a walk. she was all bundled up in her quilted kimono outfit (thanks Grandma!), hat, mittens, and warm fleece blanket, strapped into her car seat (in turn attached to the bugaboo). i was about to put her pacifier back into her mouth (she spit it out) when i noticed this huge dark thing on her cheek. what what what?! it was the elusive boogie! i didn't hear the sneeze, but i saw the evidence - i heard it, too, as the snorts disappeared. we then proceeded to have a lovely walk about the neighborhood.