Jocelyn on Vacation

We recently took the kiddos on vacation to Grand Rapids.  I covered Donovan (and his champion-ness) in his 3 month post.  But I thought that Jocelyn needed her own post - separate from her upcoming 22 month post (which, let's be honest here, this might just turn into). 

As always, Jocelyn was a champ on the plane.  She played quietly, ate a few snacks and was well-behaved.  Also, as always, she had a major blow-out poop in mid-air.  Something about flying makes that poor kid have to power poop!  She fussed a tiny bit, but she was fine.  Evidently she asked for me and Donovan a bunch (we couldn't all sit in the same row, since there is only one extra mask per row). 

Jocelyn took to all of her aunts and cousins.  We got to the house and she fell in love with her Aunt Kathy.  She also had lots of fun playing with Libby (Nancy's dog).  Eventually Carrie came by with blocks.  I didn't see any of that, though.  We got Donovan down for a nap and took one ourselves.  We were very happy that she took so well to her family!

By the end of the day Jocelyn knew everybody's names.  It was so cute to hear her talk and refer to "An Kassie" (Aunt Kathy), "Ca-ee" (Carrie), "Ma-ee" (Mary), as well as Aimee, Jim and Debbie (she pretty much said those right).  She also got to meet her Great Grandpa and of course spend good quality time with "Gamma" and "Yibby". 

Jocelyn learned about 100 new words while we were there.  It was cool to watch her learn and grow.  Because Aunt Kathy has a friend with babies just older than our babies, she was able to get her hands on some gear, toys, etc.  We had car seats already installed in Grandma's car (which meant that poor Mike got to squish between two car seats on the drive home).  We had two Pack 'n' Plays with sheets and everything (we did bring our own sheets and waterproof pads, though... and good thing, too, since both babies peed through their diapers several times during the trip). 

There was a whole library of new books.  Okay, it was probably a dozen new (to her, they were borrowed) books.  But we read them all and she picked out her favorites.  There was a book of nursery rhymes that we read over and over (and over and over) again.  She's a big fan of "Diddle Diddle Dumpling."  Even still, weeks later, she says, "One shoe off, one shoe on, de de de."  That is her cue for me to recite the whole rhyme.  But when we were in MI we would start at the beginning of the book and read through each rhyme.  There were some in the back in Spanish, which Aunt Sarah was able to read to her. 

Aunt Kathy is totally Jocelyn's new best friend.  She just took Kathy around everywhere with her.  Kathy has a screensaver on her phone with different animals that come out, and Jocelyn really liked when the baby deer came out on the screen.  She still asks about Aunt Kathy and the baby deer ('baby dee-o').  And then Kathy brought a new tiny dog around, Baby Bella, or as Jocelyn says, "Baby Beyya," who she also remembers and asks about.  So cute! 

Aunt Sarah, Uncle Pat and Uncle Jeff all showed up toward the end of the week, which was also fun for Jocelyn.  I think that "Pat" is easy to say, because every time Jocelyn saw Pat she yelled his name.  It was adorable!  She also has been perfecting how she says Sarah.  It's no longer "Sessou."  Now it's more of a "Say-ah." 

It was amazing and heartwarming watching my baby spend time with her extended family.  She is at such an amazing age.  She remembers everybody right now, and she asks about them.  She looks through the pictures on my camera and says everybody's names.  They sent her a video on my phone and Jocelyn loves to watch it.  She says everybody's name there - and when Uncle Pat comes on, she asks for Aunt Sarah. She remembers her toy car - the kind you climb into and drive with your feet - and remembers how Libby takes the key out when you honk the horn ('Yibby key out').  She understands about Grandma's house, and how it's somewhere different. 

While we were there, Mike had to travel to Chicago on business.  She understood about how Daddy needed to go to work, and how it was in Chicago ("Cago" or "Chigo").  And that he went on an airplane and would be back in a few days.  And she was okay reading stories with her cousin Carrie while Mike was out of town and Mommy had to nurse or change Donovan. 

She loved climbing stairs, and understood right away that she should only go up and down stairs with a grown up.  She loved climbing into her booster seat.  She loved eating fish sticks and chicken nuggets, and would ask for them by name.  She also dazzled us all with her requests for peaches and pears.  And when she ripped a gift bag, she went up to Kathy and asked, so sweetly, "Kathy, please tape this."  Her first sentence.  All strung together.  She also had some other complete thoughts that she was able to communicate.  When she tried to open a snap clutch purse, and was unsuccessful, she declared, "hard to open!"  She also assigned seats to everybody - or at least liked people to stay in the seats that they originally sat in.  Kathy had to stay in the yellow chair.  And when I sat in Grandma's seat, Jocelyn stopped on the landing of the steps and yelled at me, 'No Mommy!  Grandma seat!"

She loved taking Libby out to potty.  When they came inside, Libby would get a treat ('Libby Teet'). She loved playing outside with Libby.  She would collect sticks and Libby would take them.  She thought that was hilarious!  Well, until she decided she wanted the sticks for herself.  So she would collect them into the trunk of her car.  She continued to love throwing the ball for Libby. 

She also had fun playing with Uncle Jeff.  They would build block towers.  And then they would knock down the block towers and yell "Kaboom!". 

Given all of the fun she had with everybody, and the relationships she built with everybody, we felt totally comfortable leaving her with her aunts and cousins while we went to the wedding.  Not that we would have been uncomfortable.  We knew that she was in good hands.  But it gave us peace of mind of her comfort level.  We knew she wouldn't miss us (and she didn't). 

My girl did great on vacation.  And, like I said already, my boy did too.  But I covered that story already :-).