Awesome Conversations with Jaylee

Sunday morning Jaylee woke up (she slept in our bed for half the night) and we have a picture of the Logan Temple on the wall.  I said "Jaylee, do you see that picture?"
"Yeah," says Jaylee.
"What is it?"
"The temple."
"Yup.  Its pretty huh?"
"Yeah."
"That's where mom and dad got married.  That means that we get to be a family forever!"
"Yeah ... ... and Jaylee too!" she says.
Later on our way to church she told me again "Mom and Dad and Jaylee can go to the temple."
"Yeah," I said, "we can all go there one day."
"Yeah!"

I love Jaylee!

Also, we picked Auntie Jeri up to go to dinner at Brandy's house Sunday night and we were talking about church.  Jeri asked Jaylee how church was.  "Good," Jaylee says, "I went to nursery."
"You went to nursery?  Do you like nursery?"
"Yeah."

I hope I'm teaching her something right.

Jaylee Avner

So there are lots of things that I want to remember about Jaylee while she is 2.  So I am writing them down before I forget.

• POTTY:  She is ALMOST officially POTTY TRAINED.  Putting her in a big girl bed helped alot.  She's been in it for almost 1 week and she has only had 2 accidents.  She likes to have an audience to watch her go potty.  Mostly it is mom and dad, but sometimes we have her horsy, lamby, bear, cow, dolly, baby, ... yeah, sometimes it takes an hour to pee because she has to bring EVERYTHING in with her.  I remind her when I leave her or when we are playing "Jaylee, what do you say when you need to go pee-pees?"  She says, "I goes "(high pitched voice) MAMMA, I NEEDS TO GO POTTIES!"
• BEDTIME:  Bedtime is usually such a fun time.  We jamma's, sometimes tub (she LOVES the "baphtub"),  then we put on jamma's, and pick out books to read.  We finally figured out how to get her to only read a few books.  Before we go to pick out books I say "Jaylee, can you count to 3?" and she does, then I say "OK, that is how many books we get to read, let's count again..."  Then she only picks out 3 books with NO whining!  Woah!  If only I had figured that out 6 months ago!  After books she climbs in her big girl bed (she loves that she can climb in there - I love that she hasn't figured out that once she is in she can get out anytime she wants.  She always stays in her bed and she'll just talk or sing or something if she doesn't fall asleep - so nice that I don't have to chase her around all the time trying to get her to go to sleep.) Then we say prayers.  I love listening to Jaylee pray.  She is so innocent.  Her night time - ok, most anytime she would pray - prayers used to go like this "Heavnly-Father-thank-you-bless-me-sleep-good-name-jesus-crist-amen."  Now she throws some twists in there and she will pray for me an dad to be healthy and strong, or for Jaylee to be healthy and strong.  We say family prayers then sing songs.  We are also getting better at not having to sing ALL the songs that we know and in a specific order.  Lately she is making me make songs up.  She'll say "sing the light song" or "sing the goat song."  It's pretty cute.  I always know when she wants me to be done cause she says "sing Tra-la-la."  That's "When we're helping we're happy..." When Jordan sings songs to her she makes him lay on the floor and sing her songs...she just knows that he'll fall asleep in there so she doesn't have to be alone and fall asleep.  I usually end up going in to get him off the floor.  He loves her.
• Yes, Jordan loves Jaylee, and Jaylee LOVES LOVES LOVES her daddy.  They play ALL the time.  They'll run around and Jaylee will say "Daddy, we're going crazy!"  Jordan makes a good horsy, dinosaur, and sometimes even a great elephant.  He also flies Jaylee around on his arm.  So, I guess he makes a good airplane too.  That is what daddy's are for...to teach their cuties how to play.
• She is her daddy's daughter...she LOVES pickles!  She also loves noodles and white sauce (so she's her mommy's girl too.)  She probably loves more than anything else "chloclate" milk.  That is her prize when she wakes up from her nap or in the morning with clean and dry underwear.  Sometimes she asks if she can have "milk with chloclate milk in it."
• She just grew out of her "Plokla-lot" jacket.
• She loves to play in the snow.  She used to call it the "snowman."  Now she just likes to eat snow.
• She went iceskating on the lake this year.  She loved it.  She mostly liked sitting on the ice with Krubie and grandpa eating the snow off the ice.
• She doesn't so much like the garbage truck, or anything that makes a loud noise like the garbage truck.  When she hears the noise she tells me she is going to run hide.
• She likes to sit on the bathroom floor by the "meater" (heater).
• Sometimes she throws fits.  We're trying to break that habit.  I think she might be a little OCD.  Everything that she wants us to do has to be exactly how she imagines it (she definitely does NOT get that from her mom :) ).  If I pick something up that she wanted to pick up she has to put it back exactly where it cam from and if she can't get it exact, she has a really hard time with it.  She has gotten alot better lately.  It is still hard.
• She loves to run, and play, and have fun.
• She is in a gymnastics class.  I put her in to learn how to play with other kids and follow directions.  She takes at the same time that I teach, so I don't get to watch her, but Jordan says that she always does really good.  He said that her arms are too short for her to do a flip under the bar.  I think that's cute.  She loves her leo too.
• Jaylee still has her baby fat.  I love it.

I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family.  I love them so much.  We're excited to add another one to our family.  I hope that this one comes so that we can enjoy him/her in this lifetime and not just in the next.  Jaylee was cute when she found out.  She came to the doctor with us and she watched the ultrasound on a TV.  She didn't quite understand that, but then we gave her a picture and told her what it was, so she says "this is mine baby in my mommy's belly!"  She carries the picture around in her pocket and that is how she told her grandparents.  She is amazing and we are praying that in 8 months she will have a new brother/sister.

Private

I decided I want to make my blog private.  Send me an email (heather.avner@gmail.com) so that I can put you on my reading list.  I'm going to try to private it by next month...so let me know soon.  Thanks.

Our Night Time Routine

Here are a few things that are becoming constants in our fun night time schedule... After bath time is over, a snack has been had and jammas are on with milk in hand, we sit down to read EVERY book that is in sight.  If we miss one book, we have lots of screaming and crying! (Anyone have tips on how to get her to only read 2 or 3 books?)  After books, we say family prayers.  After family prayers, she wants in her crib.  She then says, however she says it, that it is her turn for prayers.  She folds her arms and whoever didn't say family prayers starts a prayer for Jaylee.  The other repeats her prayer.  She always opens her arms after and says "maymen."  Then she says "sing song" and I starts to sing her songs.  Lately she has pulled my hand to her face so I can tickle it while I'm singing.  When I finish with the first song, she holds up her pointer finger, looks me strait in the eyes, starts to bounce her hand and says "one more time" (her way of saying 'sing me another one please').  She will ask me to sing her lots of songs until her body can't hold her finger up anymore.  I love it.

Jaylee's New Thing:

So Jaylee has discovered something really neat...her little pointer finger fits into little holes:  olive holes, penne pasta noodle holes, oh and you can't forget nose holes!

She also knows who Minnie "Innie" and Mickey are (from books and Disney on Ice).  She knows who Elmo "Memo" is too (not sure where she learned this...we don't have TV and I'm pretty sure she has never seen Sesame Street...)

Something I love...

Jaylee loves my Dad and loves to sit on his lap, be held in his arms, or read books with him. 

And I love my Daddy too...

Sometimes Jaylee has really stinky diapers...I apologize for the smelliness, and my Dad will always say "You don't stink, do you Angel? You smell like roses. You will always smell like roses to Grandpa!"

Fun Things That Jaylee Does

I want to remember all the fun things that Jaylee does, so I'm making a list:

• She says buckle "kuckle", butter (for butter and peanut butter) "baaaaall," hat, hot (always whispered and the "t" doesn't always come out), momma, dadda "yah-ya" (she will always stand at the top of the stairs and yell to Jordan because she knows he works down there,) grandpa (ampa) and grandma (ama,) hooray "ooyay," where are you?, "oof-oof" (Doggy), "ah-ee" (donkey - ee-ah, horse, and anything that looks similar - sometimes it is froggy too), "heyo" (hello), diaper, yeah, ski, bye, no, uh huh, juice, ah oh (this one she says alot) and banana (she usually adds a few extra "ana" in there and she sticks her tongue out while saying it.
• Jaylee babbles ALL the time!  She is totally having a conversation.  I can't wait until she can tell us everything that she is trying to tell us.  I'm sure it will be profound!
• I am pretty positive that she sees angels and that they are watching over her.  The other day I was watching a movie and she was playing with her toys.  She looked the complete opposite way of me and said "bye" a whole bunch of times and waved her cute little wave.  I decided that angels came to play with her and then they had to leave.  It was really cute.
• She loves to put on clothes.  We will have her all dressed and ready to go and she will pick out a completely different outfit that she will want to put on over what she already has on; or she will pick out which coat she wants to wear; or she has a polka dot vest that she loves and she can put it on by herself.  She loves it.  The difference in Mom and Dad though:  Mom - lets her put on whatever then before we leave the house make sure that she only has on one outfit and that her hair is done; Dad - lets her wear whatever she decided to put on that morning over what he puts on her (even if she put on her dress that she wore to church the day before over her outfit or her ski bibs) and doesn't look at the pony-tail line from the day before in her hair.  I love that he has fun with her though! :)  He is a great Daddy!
• She loves her shoes.
• She loves dad's shoes.
• She loves mom's shoes.
• ... and she wears them all ... and she puts all of them (and socks) on our feet and hers!
• She has a pink and green stuffed doggy that she loves.
• She LOVES to help.  When we are cleaning up she will move stuff around like we do.  She moves all of the silverware around in the dishwasher when we are doing dishes, and she puts the soap packet in the dishwasher, closes the soap cover and the door and pushes the buttons to turn it on.
• She knows the oven is hot and when I open it she will back up a few feet.  She likes to wear the oven mit on her hand.
• She LOVES to play in the fridge.  She rearranges the food in it and puts her toys in the veggie bins in the bottom.  I will often open the fridge to find her princess wand, top, or play keys in random spots in the fridge.  
• She will get the juice out of the fridge so that she can have some.
• Jaylee likes to play the piano.  But only her!  If I start to play a song when she is playing she will push my hands away.
• Since diapers are so expensive I'm trying the potty thing (not very diligently, but getting her used to it.)  The other day after her bath I had to go into my room to get her jammas.  She followed me in (bare bum and all) and peed on the floor.  We had a talk about where we go potty and where we don't go potty (not sure if she understood, but she answered all my questions that I asked her.)  I got a rag and some cleaner and cleaned up her pee.  So a couple nights later we were getting ready to take a bath and just before she got in the tub she peed on the bathroom floor.  We hurried and got on her little potty and had the same talk that we had before.  After the talk she got up off the potty, found a rag that was on the floor in the bathroom, walked over to her pee and started cleaning it up!  Smart girl!  She is such a cutie!
• She loves to talk on the phone.
• She can turn Jordan's i-phone on.
• She likes eating with a fork and spoon (she will put stuff on the fork with her fingers and eat it.)
• She loves reading books.
• She finally got her 2 top front teeth!  She has had only her 2 bottom front teeth for 6 or 7 months.  She now has 4 and it feels like 2 molars on top are coming in!  Explains the cranky-ness.
• Jaylee gives the BEST loves in the world!
• She also has a great blank stare that says exactly what she is thinking: "are you talking to me?  why you talking to me? no I won't say what you want me to say...
• Jaylee has two kinds of kisses, depending on her mood.  Silly, crazy mood:  open mouth, big"O" kiss, and usually its right on your mouth.  Any other mood:  fish lips, and she starts the fishy face long before she kisses you.
• Jaylee loves to dance.  She will dance in circles until she falls down because she is so dizzy!
• She is good at sharing other kids toys and stuff; she is learning to share her things with other people now.
• She likes to brush her teeth.
• She likes to wash her hands.
• She loves bath time.  She likes to help wash herself and put lotion on herself.
• Nap time isn't her favorite ... but she sleeps really good once she is sleeping.  Most of the time she is good at going to bed.  She will sometimes try to find excuses not to go to bed.  She'll point out of her room, so I'll go where she wants to go.  I know she really wants something if she takes me right where we want to go.  She just doesn't want to go to bed if she points out of her room, then in the bathroom, then in the living room, then at the thing on the floor in the  hall then ...
• The other night I was putting Jaylee to bed and singing her songs.  I had my hand on her belly and started rubbing it.  I took my hand off and was just singing.  She grabbed my hand and put it back on her belly...she isn't like her mom at all!  I NEVER do that! ;) (Just kidding!  I do that all the time when Jordan is scratching my back!)
• Favorite food:  bananas
• Favorite place to play:  in her closet.  She will pull us in her closet to play with her.  I think it is funny.  She also likes to play in boxes.
• She likes grandpa's truck and say "broom" whenever she sees it or a truck that looks like grandpas.
• She loves the kitties at grandma Avner's house.  She follows Milo around and stares for hours at the FPK (the front porch kitty - its a stray that Marla feeds and it stays on the front porch.)
• We give Jordan's aunt rides to family stuff sometimes and she has a puppy that comes with her alot.  When the puppy isn't there Jaylee says "oof-oof?"
• When we say prayers she holds her hands together and when we say "amen" she swings her arms out and smiles really big.  Sometimes when we say prayers at meals we have to say lots of prayers... Jaylee will keep folding her arms so we say more.
• She still sleeps either with her hands behind her head or with her bum in the air.  She has now added sprawling out with her head in the wrong direction to her sleeping positions.
• It does not fail, though, that when Jaylee wakes up from a nap or in the morning that she has awesome bed head!
• Yesterday she tripped while she was walking.  Jordan picked her up and came to talk to me. Jaylee stuck her finger out and made me kiss it.  Then she stuck her hand out and made me kiss that. Then she leaned her head toward me and made me kiss her head.  I felt so needed at that moment!
• In church when Jaylee sees Jordan up on the stand she will get the biggest smile and either wave and yell "yah-ya" or jump off my lap and try to run up to the stand.

Pretty much we love Jaylee and she is amazing.  I still find myself looking at her and I am amazed that I have her.  That I have been trusted enough to take care of her.  I feel so lucky!  I have such an awesome husband too.  And Jaylee has an amazing Daddy!  We love you!