11 months and Growing

It has been exactly a year to the day since Jenny came home after 2 weeks of hospital bedrest, with all of us concerned about a tiny baby. What a difference a year makes! Now, it seems, this child is getting heavier by the DAY. With our Christmas trip behind us, and Jadyn back at school with other children close to her age for much of the day, she has been CHOWING on the solid foods available to her with her friends around. One of the teachers said she left for a break with Jadyn eating cheerios in the kitchen, and came back a half hour later and Jadyn was STILL seated in her chair, picking cheerios off the tray. !!! She wants to eat when she sees all her friends eating, and she has been eating pretty much everything the staff has put in front of her (all age-appropriate foods off the school's menu). At home she is no longer very interested being fed cereal and pureed fruits and vegetables from a bowl and spoon. She'd much rather have foods she can pick up with her own fingers. Here's Jadyn enjoying a meal of avocado bites and shredded cheese.

A few other recent photos: Jadyn waiting at the front door for Mommy to return from yoga class, Jadyn opening a gift from Ed and Marcela, Jadyn with Marcela and her new little tiger snuggly (small enough to be safe at bedtime), Jadyn in the bathtub with new floating "bugs"





Jadyn has strength enough to walk, but she hasn't shown much interest in letting go of the things she steadies herself with, and so we wait. She is quite a climber, though, and can crawl pretty fast now. She likes to crawl out of the room, and then look back to see if someone is following her; when she sees an adult in pursuit, she laughs and takes off again. Thank goodness that moving through the rooms in our house gets you right back where you started -- she can never get truly lost!

Did we just say Deja Vu?

Broken record here: more plane trips, another double-ear infection diagnosis, antibiotics, another tooth.... You probably think we're kidding, but it is no joke! Jadyn left Seattle with a cold, flying through Detroit to Cleveland for the first leg of our big Christmas vacation. The longer flight from Seattle to Detroit was more of a challenge for Jadyn's parents than Jadyn, but we managed it (being in larger seats in first class helped). The second, shorter flight into Cleveland was quieter, and Jadyn slept for much of it. On our Cleveland leg, we spent time with two sets of grandparents and many of Jenny's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Even though Jadyn was sick, her spirits and energy were almost always high. A few days into the trip she spiked the tell-tale fever and we found a pediatrician who could see her. You guessed it -- ear infections again, and more antibiotics. Within just 24 hours, she was improving dramatically, and we also noticed tooth #8 breaking though. What is it with this child enduring a cold, ear infections, and teeth emerging, all without too much fanfare?!?!?!

Here are some photos of our time in Cleveland. Jadyn enjoyed climbing up and down stairs as she did on the Thanksgiving trip, eating tissue paper, chewing on and pulling bows off presents (not necessarily hers), opening boxes and getting into those that were large enough for her person, and hugging large stuffed animals. She also liked to empty cupboards and lick tupperware. (note the sore nose!) She became noticeably more interested in eating solid food, with several meals a day at a grown-up table, often around other people eating solid food. (Side note: several weeks of this increased interest in table food has seemed to pack on the pounds -- she seems so heavy now!)










On Christmas Eve, per annual tradition, Jenny's Grandma Hall hosted the extended family for a gift exchange gala. Jadyn did very well, staying up until midnight with so much going on. We dubbed her "Ener-Jadyn" like the Energizer bunny: she kept going and going and going..... Check her out here in her party clothes!


With Grandma Jeanne


On Christmas Day morning, it was off to Maryland to visit Jeff's family. There were more presents to enjoy, and more loving folks to meet.

With Granddaddy Bruce

With Uncle Steve

With all the Maryland Kings

Grandmom Poist, Jeff's 96-year-old grandmother, had a mild MI just before Christmas and was able to come down to the hospital's lobby to meet Jadyn for a few minutes - it was a highlight of the trip to have 4 generations of the Sargent line in one place!


In Granddaddy and MomMom's kitchen, there was plenty of interesting new things to do: play with the Santa mobile, lick various kitchen utensils, climb the step ladder, and explore the dishwasher.






As you can see, Jadyn is a very busy, active girl, although occasionally she does need a nap.

Unfortunately, napping was not too appealing to her on the flight back home. The 6-hr non-stop flight from DC to Seattle was not really Jadyn's idea of a good time, and therefore Mom and Dad are no longer terribly interested in long plane rides with a 10.5-month old. But to Jadyn's credit, with all the new places and people, the East coast time change, and disrupted nap and bedtime routines, she really was a trooper and on an even keel most of the time. We feel blessed, and we hope you enjoyed your holiday season as much as we did. Happy New Year!

Deja Vu, All Over Again

Another plane trip, another ear infection, another tooth. A month since our last post -- unacceptable! We've been a little busy and out of sorts lately, as you're about to hear....

At the end of November we geared up for our Thanksgiving trip to Denver. Jadyn had a little cold, but was an angel on the plane, just as she was back in May for her very first plane trip. She had her eyes wide open for all the new sights and sounds: the shuttle bus ride from the parking lot to the airport, airport security lines (she even took a shoe off for the x-tay machine), the train between terminals, and the airplane cabin. She played peek-a-boo with the passengers in the row behind us, and she flirted with the woman in the window seat in our row. She went back and forth between Mommy and Daddy's lap for the first 1+ hour, and then slept the rest of the way to Denver. Once we arrived at Joe and Deva's house, she fought sleep for another couple of hours until she finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day brought a 24-hour flu bug to quite a few of us. Jeff and Jenny got hit, but Jadyn thankfully avoided the GI troubles. Her cold did get worse, though, and a fever kicked in, and then she started waking a lot at night. Even though she was sick, she was still active, social, and engaged much of the waking day. She loved climbing up the stairs in Joe and Deva's home. We were surprised she took to the stairs so quickly, because she doesn't have access to any in our house. It took only a couple of tries before she learned to back down them as well -- Daddy coached her well. Because we were all under the weather, we didn't take as many photos as we would have liked to. All we can post here is a shot of Jadyn riding Maxine and Enzo's rocking horse. Thanks to Joe, Deva, Maxine, and Enzo for a wonderful visit in spite of it all!

The return flight was almost as smooth; Jadyn was not feeling well, but she wasn't very fussy. We were looking forward to getting her settled into her regular routine at home and hoped she'd return to her usual sleeping pattern (soundly, through the night), but we were not so lucky. Her fever continued long enough that we made another visit to the pediatrician to find she had ear infections in both ears. At the same visit, we discovered that her 7th tooth had emerged. !!! How she was so well-behaved on the plane while teething with ear infections is an eternal mystery. We continue to be amazed by her resilience! Unfortunately, we also continue to be amazed at her nights with multiple wakings -- they are still happening. Through all of these disruptions, Jenny got her cold, and everyone in the house is tired and has shorter tempers than usual. We know this is a phase, but it's a rough one to ride out.

The photos below have been taken around the house and neighborhood over the past month. She is a very busy girl and very interested in pretty much everything. She LOVES the trackball on Mom's cell phone. She's not officially walking yet, but she cruises using furniture and walks pushing a stool around on the wood floors. She's been drinking water from a sippy cup and eating o's like a champ. We've tried a few other new foods with Jadyn -- salmon, chicken, bananas, bits of Mommy's scone while hanging at the coffee shop. She even chose to taste Cosmo's food the other day (that didn't go over very well with anyone). And she has discovered Mommy and Daddy's Sonicare toothbrushes. She's good at mimicking what she sees us do with them!









Our next posting is likely to include Christmas photos from our trip back East. Stay tuned!

Jadyn at 9 months

Jadyn turned 9 months old yesterday! We went in for her check-up today and found she is now 15 pounds, 15 ounces and 26.5 inches long. These numbers place her between the 10th and 25th percentile for weight and length. Her head is at 50th percentile, measuring 44 cm in circumference, which explains why she grows out of some of her shirts with smaller head and neck openings more quickly. She now has 4 teeth across the top, the last of these 4 dropping into place just last week. She took the opportunity to use all these teeth to bite Mommy's nose while in the doctor's office today. Ouch! We are now allowed to try her interest in grated cheese, ground meat, and small chunks of soft fruits and vegetables. Here you see her chewing a slice of apple tucked inside a mesh bag.

What does a 9-month-old do all day? Well, this one is very busy trying to experience everything and figure stuff out. When she is at school while Mom and Dad are at work, she crawls all over the place, pulls herself to standing at every opportunity, pushes on rocking chairs to feel the swinging motion, plays with balls and musical toys, and interacts with her teachers and the other children in the infant room. She rarely finds time or interest for a significant nap, so she often sleeps the entire half hour ride home. At home, she pulls herself to stand at the TV and flicks at the buttons (she did manage to turn it on once, but we're not sure she understood that she caused it), stands at the coffee table and reaches for anything she can get her hands on (newspaper, Mommy's cell phone, a remote control, Daddy's bottle of beer), tries to open the kitchen cupboards and drawers, wants to pet the cats but they are usually quicker than she is, and pretty much crawls all over the place. She is often fascinated with details: the rivets on Mommy's and Daddy's jeans, a spot of unexpected color, beady eyes on a toy or stuffed animal, a loose thread or string. She is also quite a help around the house, as you can see in the pictures below.

Petting Cosmo with Daddy (Check out the teeth! She often winces like this in anticipation of the camera's flash -- we call it her pirate face. Arrr!)

Climbing onto Cosmo and Daddy

Playing in the kitchen with a plastic cup

This is the microwave!

Learning how to use the toaster oven

Emptying the laundry basket

Eyeing the goods in the refrigerator