I don’t know that I’ll necessarily continue with the monthly updates this whole year… but I do like the record that I’m leaving of Jo Jo’s progression through life. I want to update at 13 months because she’s doing so many new and funny things. So who knows, maybe I’ll end up doing monthly updates for the next year, as long as there’s something to write! It feels funny not to be writing in her baby book anymore. For so many months a lot of the items didn’t change, like “foods I tried” or “places I went”. There’s only yearly updates in that book from now on.
Since she has had walking/running/jumping/diving down pat for several months now, Jo Jo now likes to be held a lot more (especially by me). She would prefer that I carry her around the house, my 25 pound tumor! It is really hard to cook, or clean, or go to the bathroom, with a big girl like that on my hip. Sometimes when she puts her arms up and says “Uhhh!!” to get up, I just kneel down and give her a big hug and kiss, then get up and finish my task. I can’t hold her 24/7!
She did start climbing, yesterday to be exact. She figured out that she could climb the playground equipment by herself (me spotting her closely, of course), and then she was all about climbing up, up, up! She even goes down slides by herself, as long as are the tube kind. Such a big girl! I wonder if she will start climbing up the furniture now? She hasn’t climbed from floor to couch yet, although I’m sure that when it occurs to her, she will.
In addition to “Hewwo” when she’s pretending to talk on the phone, her next official word is “baw” (ball). She loves balls. She can throw them about 6 inches in front of her, haha. She also tries to say “uh. uh.” (uh oh) at times, but not all the time. Still not saying “mama”, but she calls out something like mom, but it kinda sounds like “Bob” and I don’t really want to be called Bob by my daughter, so I try to make her say “mama” instead.
Finally, my little girl is SO affectionate, and at the same time, so rough! She gives me lots of kisses and hugs. She has learned “gentle” really well, and now is automatically “gentle” with animals and babies. She pats them very softly while saying, “ooooohhhh”. Unfortunately, she is not automatically gentle with me. She prefers to smack me in the face, until I say, “be gentle!” and then she switches to soft patting and saying “ooohhh”. When she’s mad, oh boy. She will haul off and whack me hard in the face. So we continue with “gentle” reminders and so far it’s working, she immediately switches to being nice. It works when she pulls my hair (sometimes out of my head) or tries to pluck my eyeballs out, too.
It’s been super fun to watch her outside, even though we’ve only been able to go out a few times. She loves walking on grass, rocks, and leaves. It’s a whole new world for her! She gets so much attention every place we go. I still can’t walk through the grocery store without several people telling me she’s so cute, so beautiful, etc etc.
I can’t believe she’s so big already, and can do so much. And yet, in some ways, I don’t even remember what it feels like to have a little, immobile baby. I get annoyed now if I have to get up with her once in the night, I used to be excited to get sleep 5 hours straight!
Mother of All Things 