Jessica and Cocky

There is a special penguin at Build-A-Bear for the Christmas season. Jessica went to make him while we were in Indiana. His name is Cocky according to Jessica. Thanks to Aunt Jen, that is a favorite word of Jessica's at the moment. She learned it by trying to say cock-a-doodle-do for a rooster noise. Now, every time she hugs her penguin she yells Cocky or if you ask her to get Cocky, she brings her penguin. I'm sure this will thrill her when she is older.

Back to Eagle Creek Park

We took Jessica back to Eagle creek park. As soon as she saw the merry go round, she went running straight for it. Jim did the pushing this time and she loved how fast she went. There were a few times she looked like she might get sick, but she was giggling and smiling the whole time. She also loved getting pushed high and fast in the swing. The higher and faster we pushed her, the more she smiled. It seems that she loves speed and motion. When it was time to leave, she wasn't a happy camper. She really wanted to keep going on the merry go round.

Jessica meets Moose the horse

While in Indiana, Jessica got to meet her Aunt Jen's horse Moose. She really seemed to like him and the other horses. In fact, she ran around the barn running neigh neigh the entire time we were there.

Christmas comes early for Jessica (again)

When we were back in Indiana, we celebrated Christmas early. Jessica got even more presents from her grandparents. Her favorite toy by far was the tea set. It was amazing to see that she already knew how to play with it.

Thanksgiving in Indiana

We spent Thanksgiving in Indiana. Jessica got in the spirit with her turkey dress.

Jessica loves flashcards

Jessica loves playing with flashcards. She likes all the pictures and can easily identify most of the items now. She's even starting to say some of them on her own -- like apple, woof for dog, etc.

Jessica plays in the leaves

Fall is here and Jessica is having fun playing in the leaves that fall to ground. She seems to really like stomping through them and hearing them crunch.

Jessica was sick last week

Jessica was sick last week with a fever :-( . It was easy to tell that she wasn't feeling well because all she wanted to do was cuddle. This time she chose to hang out with her dad before dinner.

Jessica goes to Leilani's 2nd birthday party

A few weekends ago, Jessica went to Leilani's birthday party. It was a dress-up party, so Jessica wore her chicken costume. She had fun playing with all of Leilani's outdoor toys.

Jessica's obsessed with washing her hands

She loves to wash her hands and stops at any sink she sees. We finally got her a step stool for the bathroom at home. She runs in there randomly wanting to wash her hands now.

Christmas comes early for Jessica

Christmas is coming early for Jessica this year. Lots of presents have already started arriving via UPS. She's having lots of fun testing them all out.

Jessica learns to hammer

Jessica has a new toy that lets her practice her hammering. As long as she learns to hammer from Jim and not me she should be okay.

Jessica learns how to build IKEA furniture

Another piece of IKEA furniture has entered our house. This is the first time that Jessica helped Jim build something from there. When we unpacked the flat pack, she thought all the pieces were her personal climbing structure. That entertained her for a while as did the mallet Jim let her "borrow".

Jessica is a fairy for Halloween

By the time Halloween rolled around, Jessica was on to her third costume -- a woodland fairly. She seemed to like the wand and her sparkly shoes the best. She found that the wand was good for poking the dogs, smashing the sidewalk, and chewing. Jim and I spent most of Halloween chasing Jessica up and down the street before it got dark. And, rather than trick or treating, Jessica helped hand out candy to other kids in the neighborhood.

Jessica celebrated Halloween early in Indiana

Jessica loves to dance

Jessica starts to dance anytime she hears music and sometimes even when there isn't. Check out this video.

Jessica at Eagle Creek park

Jessica went to the park last Sunday with her grandparents. She had fun on the slides and especially liked the merry go round. She saw the big kids doing it and wanted to try. She's a real dare devil.

Jessica spends time with her family in Indiana

There was a family gathering this weekend in Indiana. This is a photo of Jessica with her great-grandmother and cousin Josh.

Jessica goes to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis

Jessica went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis a few days ago. She had fun running around and playing with lots of the exhibits. She really seemed to like the carousel music and trains. Here are some pictures.

Jessica goes to the Indianapolis Zoo

Jessica is visiting her grandparents in Indiana for a week. Today, they took her to the zoo. She evidently had a really good time and basically walked herself to exhaustion. I heard that she loved the train and carousel and also had an especially good time petting / hugging the goats. She also didn't seem to mind her "leash". For her, it seems preferable to having to hold someone's hand. It seems that she already has a mind of her own. Sigh. Anyways, here are some pictures that her grandpa took.

the best dollar I ever spent

Whole Foods sells these reusable bags to help the environment. Trying to be a good citizen, I bought a few a long time back. After unpacking groceries Sunday morning, I figured Jessica could play with the bag for a bit since she seems to have this thing for bags at the moment. I didn't really think it would occupy her for that long. She was thrilled with it however and spent lots of time filling it, emptying, and carrying/dragging it around the house. Check out this short video.

a trip to the aquarium

We took Jessica to the aquarium this weekend. This was the first time that she was really showed an interest in some of the fish tanks and kid friendly activities. Here is a video we put together of the trip.

Jessica gets cooking in the kitchen

Jessica really loves her kitchen. She's into her boiling pot (over the frying one for some reason), stirring, and even putting on her oven glove. She even does a little tasting of her imaginary cuisine or maybe that's the teething kicking in. Check out the videos.

Jessica gets goldfish

Well, this weekend we decided that we didn't have enough animals in the house and Jessica deserved her own goldfish. We are now the proud owners of one black goldfish and one orange and black goldfish, tentatively named Leo and Samson (by Jim) until Jessica can name them herself. This all stems from the goldfish at school that she stares at and shouts "sh", which in Jessica speak means fish. She does seem rather excited by the new addition in her room and spends a lot of time looking at them. Squishy seems rather interested in them too. I've caught him sitting next to the fish bowl a few times already.

a Halloween party

Today, Jessica had a Halloween party at school. Here are some photos of her dressed in her flamingo costume.

a trip to the beach

On the way to the pumpkin patch last weekend, we stopped at the beach in Half Moon Bay. Jim wanted to take some pictures and it got us over the hill before the morning rush. Here are some photos that Jim took.

rhino is back

This weekend we cleaned out some closets and I came across Mousse's favorite dog toy. Rhino didn't appear to have any damage, so I brought him back out for use. Mousse was sure happy to see him. Duke was happy to see him too unfortunately. :-( The two have been fighting over rhino non-stop.

Jessica goes to the pumpkin patch

On Sunday, we took Jessica to the pumpkin patch. She fed and pet the goats, rode a pony (at least for a bit before she wanted to be back with us), played in the water and on the rocking horses, and went on a train ride (which wasn't all that successful). Surprisingly, she didn't really show any interest in the pumpkins. I guess there were too many other things for her to play with.

it's hard to use a pull toy

Jessica has finally shown interest in her pull toy. As these videos show, learning how to use one is actually a lot harder than you would think.

Jessica has intense focus (for one night at least)

The other night, Jessica worked very hard putting her toy fish in and out of their bowl. She was extremely focused and did this for about 30 minutes. Like I said, she was very focused. She was pretty talkative during that time too. I think she was trying to tell me why her task was so important. You can make your own decision after watching the video.

Jessica goes to a gym party

Jessica had fun at the gym party tonight. She liked playing with the balls and jumping on the trampoline with her dad (of course). Plus, she had fun seeing her friend Leilani and sharing her dried peas at dinner afterwards. My guess is that many of you are going dried peas? Well, that's evidently the hot food item amongst toddlers in this area. I was evidently deficient for not providing them to Jessica before this week. Whole Foods must be making a killing.

Jessica gets in the Halloween spirit

Jessica is starting to wear all her Halloween themed clothes. She's got a lot of them, so this month is pretty much going to be orange, orange and more orange. I'm pretty sure she knows she looks cute.