Not to be outdone

With all the Luke postings as of late, I thought it was equally important to make sure that all the hilarious and wonderful (sometimes) things Jane has been up to be reported on as well. (Yes, I am a middle child). Jane is exactly 15 months old today, and it seems with each passing month, she grows and learns that much more. She continues to make us laugh, and impress us with her ability to comprehend. Here are some of the things that she's been up to:



- Showing us her affectionate side with lots of kisses for Luke, her stuffed animals, and anything(one) she can get her hands on. We are also loving that she "headlocks" her stuffed animals and carries them around. The only problem has been that she has tried to do this to Luke. He, unfortunately, is not as willing as her Teddy Bear is, to be strangled.



- Her sense of humor is second to none - the girl understands the word and concept of "silly" and plays into it big time. She will do anything for a laugh, and loves to tease an audience. She is happy 85% of the day, and uses her imagination (prompted normally by Aunt Leslie) to create crazy and silly things out of nothing - see pictures below for evidence.



- Let's talk about the other 15% of the day, when Jane has been unveiling to me a new side of her personality....a temper. With the arrival of Luke, Jane hasn't quite been able to maintain her level of attention from others, especially Mommy, and just this week, has been making it well known that she is unhappy. For instance, this morning I was feeding Luke, and unable to provide for her the requested toy that was out of reach. When she started to climb onto the table (more on this later), I sternly told her "NO". She quickly picked up Luke's burp cloth, looked me dead in the eyes and vehemently threw it on the ground. More "NO"'s throughout the morning have led to temper tantrums galore. I do have to add that she is getting 2 molars in currently and probably doesn't feel well, but she sure isn't enjoying not being in control. Clearly, she gets this from Evan....



-Now, onto climbing. Jane has always been interested in pushing the limits and boundaries, and she has taken this to new levels. Every single item in our house has now become game for being climbed on, and for those who know her, Jane is incredibly persistent. So far she has mastered our 2 couches, my mom's coffee table, Grandma's footstool, all cardboard boxes, her stroller that she can get into and out of (a stroller on wheels people!), a lego table at Grandma's, and pretty much anything else at knee height. She thinks nothing is out of the realm of possibility for climbing on, and her motivation is remarkable.



- We have one smart cookie on our hands. Jane is at the stage of mimicking everything she sees, and she is picking up on things like crazy! She has now mastered being able to open the CD player, but a CD in, close it and press play. Unbelievable. She also knows what buttons turn on my iPad and Blackberry, and would probably be able to take pictures with my digital camera if I let her. She understands words far more than I was anticipating at this age, and can understand full sentences of direction and instruction. I'm sure there are a gazillion other examples, but of course I'm forgetting all of them now.



Those are most of the things that are going on right now in our household relative to our daughter. She makes us laugh a lot and we are so thankful for her. Here are some funny pictures of life at home with Jane....

Being silly and loving this huge bow headband thingy, clearly out of season though. The story behind this picture is priceless. Jane is OBSESSED with putting her and Luke's socks on her hands. It was snacktime, and she refused to take them off to eat her goldfish; instead, she fumbled around trying to pick them up, and then proceeded to eat them (shovel-style), all the while, getting the cotton sock particles in her mouth. These white socks were tinted orange by the time she was finished.


She puts everything on her head, especially clothing. Here, she is sporting a Harley Davidson pink sockhat, size 0-6 months, and then a skirt she found in her dresser on top of that. And then strutted around the house as if this was normal. Being the awesome mom that I am, I not only let her, but then took pictures.

She loves when Evan puts his Bears hat on her. Finally, a picture where she is actually looking at the camera

Still loves putting things around her neck. An extra special treat last week when daddy shared his tie with her. Her newest thing (not pictured) is carrying around her stuffed animals in my Baby Bjorn carrier, which is 100 times too big for her, but she does it anyway.

Her passion for books hasn't faded. And yes, she did climb onto this chair herself.