Eating with a fork

There are so many things that have been going on with Jill in the last few weeks, I'm really behind on the blogging. But I've got to write this one down right now before I forget.

Jill has started eating with a fork and we keep forgetting to buy her a kiddie fork so she's using a full size fork which is a little hard to control. For the last week or two, I have been giving her the fork and asking her if she wants help getting the food on it. She holds the fork in both hands and bounces her fists up and down, sort of copying the baby sign for "help" but with a fork in the way.

Yesterday she was able to pierce some chicken with the fork all by herself. She worked really diligently at trying to line the tines up with the food, missing several times, but still trying again. I almost offered to help her but just in time she got the food on the fork herself and looked up to give me a smile that was magic. She was so proud! I hope this has taught me a lesson about jumping in to help too soon when she struggles.

Today the fork ritual got even funnier. Whenever Jill successfully stabs a piece of food she says, "Yaay!" and claps with the fork upright in her hand. About half the time, the clapping knocks the food off the fork and she puts an empty fork in her mouth. Here is a picture of Jill in her high chair.

Have I written about Barney before? Jill LOVES him! My mom first showed Jill the Barney Song and Dance video when we were on vacation at the Cape. The tape had the desired effect for Nana who had generously offered up babysitting services so Bryan and I could get away alone for a few days. Jill sat absolutely still hardly blinking for 30 minutes the first few times she saw the video. (By the way, the Cape was terrific! Maybe I'll write about that soon.)

Barney has been a major part of our family ever since. We wake up to Jill singing, "Sun, sun, blah blah blah blah blah (sounds like "Mr. Golden Sun") on the baby monitor. She also sings "We're on the way" (to Grandpa's farm) and a baby babble version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She has been relentless about going to the television and pressing buttons until she gets Barney to appear. It's been funny to watch her investigate cause and effect in this way. She'll push a button on the remote and pick her head up to see what it did to the TV.

There's a line in the Grandpa's farm song that goes, "The skunk, he always smells like this, PU!" And Jill holds her nose and says "PU! Puey!" One time last week, my mom was changing a stinky diaper and Jill said, "PU, sorry!"

Another thing that has been exciting for a couple of engineers is to hear their daughter counting. If you start Jill with a "one" she'll fill in "two, three!" You've got to give her four, then she'll do "five, six" and then together with some major hints and help we can get to ten. During nap time sometimes we'll hear her on the monitor babbling, clapping, and counting, "one, two, five six!"

My final favorite thing that Jill has been doing lately is reading her books in the car. When we sit her in her car seat we hand her a book and she flips through it like a little person for most of the ride.

Some words Jill uses: Mumma (finally!), Daddy, doggie, puppy, teddy, baby, ball, eat, cereal (this, she says constantly tilting up the end so it's a question), milk, water, more, all done, feet, shoes, Nana, banana, night night, hi, bye bye, see you, no, yes, dirty, pretty, brush, sun, outside, thank you, sorry, please, cheese, there she is! (she repeats this after we pull a shirt over her head)

Also Jill repeated "Go Bucks!" last week during the Ohio State football game. We tried yelling "O-H" at her several times, but she hasn't figured out that the appropriate response to that is "I-O." Our trip to Columbus in a couple of weeks should help with that. :)