Teeth brushing

For the past month or two we have been teaching Jessie to brush her teeth after dinner. She sits in my lap and chews on her toothbrush with fruit flavored paste (really gel). She smiles as she does this new acquired task. Tonight was so darling as she tried numerous times to butter her own toothbrush with the tube. She definitely has been paying attention to what we do. This gives a whole new meaning to the saying "Little eyes are watching you". She also helped Mommy fold laundry tonight. She loves to puts items out of the basket and swing them around at her hips looking up at me with a huge mischievous grin. She then rolls around on the floor and hides amid the piles of laundry. What a big help she is!

Love,
Mommy

DoodleBug takes a sippie cup

Sweetpea is also being dubbed Doodlebug because of her high energy level nowdays.  She is extremely active and especially at church.  Jessie enjoys Sunday School nursery class with Mrs Denise Johnson and Mrs.Leesa Wood.  They are so great with her and the other little ones as they also teach at the Berry's Chapel preschool.  Jessie goes into the auditorium with me and Larry on Sunday nights. She always loves to walk holding onto the back of the pew and smile at everyone in the back of service.  Thre always seems to be someone that returns her smile and picks up a game of peek-a-boo.  She made her way to Mike Newton's arms and enjoyed sitting in his lap for the last half of service. I couldn't tell who had the better time of them.  Mike and Jeannie have two great Christian teenagers they adore, but aren't quite ready for grandchildren.  They had me and Larry over for dinner  a few years ago and shared alot with us about how having children was
wonderful.  They painted a very realistic picture and gave us a lot of encouragement of raising them in the world, but not of the world.  Thanks to them for talking with us.  It sure is neat to look back and see how God can work through others.
I don't know if I had mentioned before how Jessie loves the water.  (So much so that she will splash her hands in the toilet) Larry and I try to keep all the lids down and bathroom doors shut. If she does join me she is content to make a toy out of anything.  She'll pull the toilet paper and be so delighted.  She then proceeds to shred one square into hundreds of little pieces.  I don't mind as long as she doesn't try to supplement her diet.
We took her for a stroller ride last night and she just kicked back watching everything with crossed ankles.  Here bedtime seems to be getting later and later because she'll nurse in the den rocker and then get down to play.  Larry and I put her down to bed at 7:30 instead of her 9:00 chosen time.  She cried (hollered) for 15 min and then silent slumber occurred.  SMILE  Larry worked on our DVD player for the camper and I worked on her birthday party supplies.  We all rested quite well. 
Jessie is starting to get the concept of a sippie cup after 2 months of practice. YEAH!  Next Thursday she turns one and the pediatrician says that whole milk comes in a sippie cup --not a bottle. I 'll still nurse her at bedtime for a little longer, but not during the day.  Hope all goes well. She has gotten to where she does a complete 360 turn on my lapwhile trying to nurse.  She just doesn't want to miss a thing.  Hmmm---kinda sounds like someone else! 
The invitations have been sent out for her Big Birthday Party!  Larry and I are so excited that our lil' Sweetpea is turning one.  WOW !!  God has blessed us tremendously.  We thank Him everyday.  Hope everyone is as excited as we are and will attend.
Love,
Holly
(DoodleBug's Mommy)

Jessie had a ....screaming...weekend. She may have learned it on her own, but we think she picked it up at daycare. She can scream a loud, happy scream, but this weekend, she was unhappy about something. Possibly her ears. I think she's got ear infections again; I'll take her to doc (again) tomorrow. Holly is taking her to ENT next week for ear tube screening.

Anyway, she has learned a scream when she's mad, that will thump your nerves! It hurts. Holly and I had headaches and frayed nerves this weekend. I guess it isn't that bad in the whole big picture, but that doesn't help in the middle of a good scream.

Anyway, she is stumbling right along, not afraid to jump up and practically run. She even "runs", which I think is more of a little stumble, but she is good at catching up with herself to avoid falling, which makes her little legs run. She is very proud of her ability to walk. Of course, she has gotten into more stuff as a result. For instance, yesterday she got a screwdriver out of a drawer, and I thought she was going to kill/maim/blind us both before I got it away from her (Yes, you can laugh now...It is a funny image). I then had images of Holly coming home (she was at the hospital on call) and finding her hubby and daughter maimed/blinded. Guess who would have borne the brunt of that!

Good night...I am very sleepy. I took a Benadryl 2 hours ago.

--
Larry Crockett
Franklin, TN
Run with whatcha brung, and hope you brung enough

Jessie's walking!

Well, what fun we had this weekend camping! We were able to add another state to our map of "Camped-In" states. Believe it or not, it is the state closest to us....Kentucky! (other than Tennessee, of course). We found three fairly easy-to-get-to Corps of Engineers campgrounds up there.

Jessie has been toddling a little bit for a little over a week, but I think we can truly say she is walking/toddling now. She was in our camper Friday night and walked several steps to get to whatever it was she wanted, which was probably Holly. What a grand moment it was: Our little Jessie walking for the "first" time while we were camping!

She was pretty irritable this weekend, but we think it was because she is teething her upper teeth which are peeking through. She needed a lot of attention, including a 530am campground stroller ride, so that one of us could sleep. Later, the other one got a nap too.

Jessie wanted to help us in the kitchen again, so she got into the fridge and made herself at home. Enjoy that picture.

Ma, I figured you'd really like the dress picture. Although you didn't make that particular dress, it is purty, and the big butterfly shows up well!

--
Larry Crockett
Franklin, TN
Run with whatcha brung, and hope you brung enough