Should old acquaintance be forgot...

Sorry for the grainy picture.  I had to take an image from a video because the camera wasn't working right.  Anyway, my co-workers had a little get-together to ring in the new year, so Jane made an appearance.  She bid everyone a happy new year around 8:30pm (half an hour past her bedtime), but Mommy got to stay and play until the ball dropped.  Yay!

Snow Day

We got such lovely snow last night that we decided to bundle Jane up and show her what snow is all about.

She wasn't really into it.  Possibly due to a wardrobe malfunction wherein Jane's ankles were exposed directly to the cold air and/or snow.

 

But at least it's comforting to know that if she ever gets lost in the wilderness that we just need to look for the pink glow and it will lead us to Jane's incredibly vibrant snow suit.

We went back in and got warm and then played a little bit with the lights from the Christmas tree.

Much better!

Mwa ha ha!

This is the last picture I got right before Jane touched my camera right on the lens with her gooey, sticky fingers.  It must be similar to the last thing people see before Godzilla picks them up and devours them!  "Oh it is just so deliciously evil, hahaha"

Having a Ball

I forgot to mention that tooth #6 came in last week!  It's on the top on the right of her two front teeth already up there.  What's with all these teeth?!

Thanks, Uncle Adam!

Jane loves your gift!

This is her clapping along with the music:

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

Her shirt says: "Mommy's Little Deer" and has
a picture of rudolf on it!

Christmas Eve

I'll put the full Christmas Eve post on our family blog, but I thought this moment with Nikki and Jane was really cute:

I wonder if this means she's not a morning person

When Jane wakes up from her naps, she wants to be held for a few minutes.  If you try to put her down within the first five minutes she will cling for dear life and yell at you.
She's sleepy and she wants to snuggle, dang it.
Obviously, I have zero problem with this.

First Present At Home

Based on the advice of a friend, we decided to spread out Jane's gift-opening over a few days.  We thought it would be better than having her open something and be excited about it and wanting to play with it, and then pulling it out of her hands and handing her a new present.  And since my three-gifts-only rule (ha ha) didn't exactly pan out, we started with Jane's first gift a few days early.

This is a long, boring video of her playing with her first Christmas present, taken in a much-too-dark room.  But hey, it's really hard to get enough light in that room after dark, so we get what we get.  Notice how Jane can use one finger, stuck out in a pointing position to play the keys.  She does this at our big piano.  I think she saw me using one finger and so that's what she did, too.  I can actually take her hand in mine and she'll stick her finger out and we can do scales on the piano with her finger.  The girl is destined to play, I tell you. 

I just realized that today she copied my finger-usage again (the 28th of December).  She was trying to press a button on one of her toys with her index finger, and I hit it with my thumb, so then she started using the thumb on her right hand, and then the thumb on her left hand.  Copy cat!

December 19

This is Jane's first attempt at opening presents.  We were at Grandma and Grandpa's house with Great-Grandma Bonnie, who gave us this gift.

Tooth #5

Jane got her 5th tooth this week, on the lower left next to the two that are already down there.  So many teeth already, Yikes!

In which I pretend that Jane knows sign language

I've tried to teach Jane some signs.  We've watched the videos.  I'm not really hell-bent on her signing, she makes herself pretty clear most of the time.  But if there's any sign that I've really tried to teach her, it's the sign for "more."  It looks like you're clapping, except that your fingertips are pointed towards each other.  Which is the whole problem, because Jane confuses it with clapping, which means general happiness, excitement, or approval.  So when I try to teach her the sign for "more," she thinks I mean clapping/happy.  Whatever.

So the other day I was giving her little crackers and she was babbling, and I wanted to catch her baby-talk on video.  But instead it looks like she does the sign for "more."  I would really like to play this off as Jane being totally brilliant, but the truth is that I think it was sort of a fluke.  But what do I know?

Also here's a little video of some fun with Jane with a demonstration of her very accurate clapping technique:

And just because we need a photo for this post:

Jane gives herself a hickie

Today while I was feeding Jane I noticed that she kept sucking on her wrist. When I pulled her arm away it was all red and I couldn't help laughing. She gave herself a hickie!

December 15

Did I forget to mention that on December 11th, Jane took 5 steps in front of Grandma Bobbi!  Mommy and Daddy weren't there to see.  We are bummed, and she hasn't taken any steps since then, but we are pretty sure she will do it again someday.  At least by the time she's 21.

Up close & personal

Sometimes when I'm at work Michael takes the picture of the day.  But it's pretty hard to do while you're also holding her!  Pretty cute, though.

December 13

Ornaments are fun

Jane finally discovered that the tree has stuff hanging on it.

Thanks, Nikki, for those nice soft ornaments that you made us a few years ago!  They are perfect for the bottom of the tree.

Tannenbaum

Jane's first Christmas tree!

Jane loves looking at the tree and for now just tentatively touches the branches and lights with outstretched fingertips.  Time will tell if she gets more curious.

I've only gotten pictures 4 days out of the last 10 or so which makes me feel bad.  I think it's a combination of holiday business and utter exhaustion.  Does anyone else feel that way?

Beggar

 

If we sit down to eat something near Jane, she comes over and gives us puppy-dog eyes until we give her a taste. She also loves to take sips from our water cups.

Also: Mommy put pretty lights on the house!  Way to go mommy!

December 3

December 1

Can you tell what has changed?

This first picture was taken yesterday:

And this one was taken today:

 

Here's a couple more in case you missed it:

Yesterday

Today

Jane claps!

Jane clapped her hands for the first time today!  She was watching a baby video and got really excited about the music, and just started clapping her hands.  Normally when she's excited she waves her arms up and down, but today when she was eating lunch I clapped for her when she took good bites, and I think she must have picked up on it.  Michael took a video, and even though I'm embarrassed that I look like a ragamuffin, I have to share it because it was her first time clapping her hands!

I took these pictures earlier in the day, and I just can't decide which smile I love best: