Baby times flew by

 Here's a sweet trip down memory lane to the time when Jess was just a little baby. Written when she was two about the baby times that already flew by.

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It was bitter sweet a couple of days ago when Jessie said ORANGE. Why would that be sad you might ask? Well for us it is just another sign that our little baby is gone and little girl times are now here.

Jessie has known all of her colors for more then a year now but has always said AUN JOUS for Orange. We have no idea how she came up with that but there it was... so, when a few days ago she asked for "orange juice" I nearly cried. Since I haven't been blogging before this month I've missed so many of her little baby words so I thought a little trip down memory lane was in order:

When Jessie was a little little baby she babbled all the time. We had a stuffed dragon puppet hanging over the bed at our old apartment and Jessie would 'talk" to it all the time. What amused us the most was that she talked to it primarily when we were not in the room with her. We would hear her babbling and rush in to see what she was up to and she would get quiet. We tried to set up a camera to catch it but she was on to us... for whatever reason whatever she had to say to that dragon was private!

When she got bigger and started to communicate with us she would say "buh bah" all the time... long after she knew other words a musical sounding "buh bah" would usually begin the communication. It was as if she was saying, "Listen up, I'm going to say something now!" She was so known for her signature noise her friend Lillian started doing impressions of her, "Jessie say Buh Bah." Totally hilarious! By one year Jessie had a pretty good repertoire of words including sign language for "all done" and "please" which she still uses for emphasis today. Saying "Puleeeease" and plaintively signing please at the same time might improve one's chances even if mom and dad have already said no. It should also be noted that all done has morphed recently to "No way" and the accompanying all done sign (Hmm, does this bode ill for teenage times?)

A few of the other early words I can remember now were:

Da Da Dee = Daddy (for months before saying mama!!)

Mama = Mommy

Beb = any person

Bep = any animal or moving object (usually said while pointing)

Cheese = cheese (important enough to get right I guess!)

upa upa = pick me up

ah eee = monkey

raf = giraffe

Blue = color OR character from Blue's Clues

Genta = Magenta from Blue's Clues

meemoo = minnie mouse (she originally said meemee but overheard me tell Rob that her cousin Sage used to say meemoo and she never said meemee again!)

ya OR yo = yes

more =more

Once she got good at saying hello, which happened when she was very little (10-11 months) she would surprise people by say saying hello and waving (using the backwards wave most little ones employ.) We would get dozens of "Did she just say..." and "Did you hear that baby?" anytime we walked through a mall. As she has grown this innocent hello has changed to "Hi People" (her standard greeting if she doesn't know your name) and she gets louder and louder if people don't say hello back. If someone should happen to say hello to her first she'll reflexively fall into her "shy" mode -- ducking behind mom or hiding her head in the stroller. Apparently Jessie is supposed to make first contact and if you make the mistake of talking to her first she will ignore you entirely!

At this point it is really difficult to think of Jessie not talking. She is such a chatty girl now. One of her standard things to say is "nice to meet you" and she says it to everyone, buggies, doggies and even mommy, who I think she may have met once or twice before. Last night she asked a flyder (house fly) "What best part of your day?" and then let him know that the best part of hers was "Meeting new friend at Eagle Park." She greets big kids at the park by asking, "What your name? I Jessie!" and if they don't invite her to play she reminds them "At park everybody play." Both statements get mixed results but she is not deterred... if you don't engage with her she'll keep trying until someone does and she seals the deal by holding their hand and saying to me "Look mommy, friend!"

Jessie also has complete conversations with all of her stuffed animals. She'll walk around telling them what she is going to do next, in her standard third person manner, "Jessie go in lillingroom" (living room) or "Jessie eat noodles" or "Jessie draw." She also takes her "guys" to her bedroom for some serious looking talks but this is generally done just out of earshot from mommy. When I try to get close enough to hear she'll get very quiet. I guess some things are still private!