Big Girl (and cute too!)

We've always had trouble getting Julie to smile for pictures. Once she sees the camera, she gets too interested in wanting to look at it that she resists posing for a photo. Yesterday, however, we discovered that she really likes the anticipation of counting to 3 and seeing the flash go off. With our new tactic in hand, we proceeded to conduct an all-out photo shoot! After all, there's no telling when the magic will wear off and we'll be back to the usual "deer in headlights" pictures. These are some of my favorite pictures of Julie!

Milestones

Today Julie is 29 months old. I can't believe that she's only a month away from being 2 1/2! Fittingly, she has already accomplished something new today....jumping! She's been trying to jump for some time, but her right foot always remained attached to the floor at the toe. Today she managed to propel both feet off the floor as she jumped! She lost her balance a few times after landing, but that only added to the fun. It was almost as exciting as the day she began walking. I love how toddlers bring simple pleasures back into the lives of otherwise serious adults. What a blessing!

Next Time Won't You Sing With Me

Julie is learning the alphabet! It's not something I set out to teach her specifically, but we have a video about the ABC's as well as set of plastic alphabet pieces that I picked up at a garage sale. Recently I realized that the set was missing letters, so I snagged a complete set of foam letters for use in the tub. Once wet, they stick to the side of the tub or to the tile wall. Somewhere along the way, Julie has learned the names for several different letters. She can consistently sign and say A, E, I, M, O, R, and U when she sees them. She's semi-consistent with B, L, P, and Y. If I sing the ABC song slowly, she will attempt to mimic my sign and my sound for every letter. It is so exciting to see her learn! Also, this is one of the few areas where she is a bit ahead of her age-group. As we like to say, she's a smartie! Yes, we're biased, as always :)

Julie Songs

Here are the lyrics to a couple of songs I made up while attempting to soothe Julie.

"Jesus loves His Little Julie"
to the tune of Jesus Loves the Little Children

Jesus loves His little Julie,
Jesus loves His Julie girl!
She is cute and she is strong,
She’ll be His her whole life long,
Jesus loves His little sweetie Julie Girl!


"Mommy Loves Julie"
to the tune of Jesus Loves Me

Mommy loves her Julie girl
She’s the best in all the world
She is cute and she is strong
I will love her all life long

Mommy loves Julie
Mommy loves Julie
Mommy loves Julie
She is my Julie girl

More...Broccoli?!

Yes, that is correct. Julie seems to have a love for vegetables, particularly those that are green. At lunch she couldn't get enough pea pods and at dinner she kept requesting more broccoli. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be happier! I just hope it doesn't wear off once she realizes that she is "supposed" to shun veggies. She also loves fruit. Her current favorites are grapes, pears, raisins, blueberries, oranges, apples and bananas. Other foods that rank high on her list include milk, water, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheese, black olives, corn, beans, Fig Newtons, vanilla ice cream, cookies, chocolate chips and ketchup. She has already discovered the art of using french fries as vehicles for scooping ketchup into one's mouth. If a french fry isn't available, she will gladly use her finger! The only food items we've found that she doesn't really like are fruit juice, soda and applesauce. Thank you God for such a good eater!

Chicago Marathon

Here is our little sweetie after the Chicago Marathon. She ran a great race!

Testing!

Well, we are joining the ranks of all the other bloggers out there! This is a test post, just to see what happens :)