18 month appointment

Jenna's 18 month appointment was yesterday morning. She was excited to go because she was going to say, 'hi doc' when we saw her doctor. It was cute. But, as they took us from the waiting room she heard a little boy start to cry and she got nervous and started to whimper. I put her on my lap when we got to the room and she felt better. The nurse had me undress Jenna and then measured and weighed her. She weighs 30lbs 6oz and is 35 inches tall with a head circumference of 19.25 inches. The height and weight are still really high for her age, but the doctor says that they are still perfectly proportional, so as long as she's continuing to eat healthy she's just fine. Her head is at the 95th% for her age.  The doctor looked her over, commented about how inquisitive and smart she is and then answered some questions. She cried a little bit during the beginning of the doctor's exam, but he gave her a small plastic green duck and she then she wasn't as nervous. She got one shot at the end of the exam and screamed and cried like crazy, but I reminded her that she had a new toy waiting in the car since she was so brave and she calmed right down. It didn't hurt that she had a new owie to tell people about.

When we got home we babysat Lexi, who just turned 1. She was a sweetie and it went really well. She went down for a nap after lunch and Kim and Jocie stopped by to play as Kim had the day off. Jenna loves Jocie so much. Jocie is full of energy and has the sweetest personality, so it is a lot of fun watching them together. Jocie's just enough older that she has lots of new tricks that Jenna hasn't even thought of. For example, Jocie stood on a 2" thick book and jumped off it (it was a big enough book that it was safe). Jenna can't actually jump yet, but she tried and now today, everytime she steps on something she has to 'jump' off it and she says 'Jocie'. So cute! Lexi woke up around the time Jocie had to go, then I gave the girls a snack and put Jenna down for a nap and I played with Lexi. I don't think she knew what to do as she has an older brother and sister and goes to daycare. She had no one to steal her toys or to boss her around. She spent about 30 minutes cruising all over the room and making silly faces at me. Then she got tired again, so I put her back down for another nap. I got her up 30 mins later when her dad was due to pick her up. I brought her downstairs and she fell asleep in my arms. It was so nice. Jenna's just not one to sleep when other people are around, so it has probably been since she was 2 or 3 months old since I got to have a baby sleep in my arms.

A Trip to the Zoo

We had a great day at the zoo! As we pulled up, I started regretting our decision to come before school was out for summer. There were no less than 10 school buses lined up and oodles and oodles of parents and kids waiting to get into the zoo.  We got in line (the school kids and parents were not in line, so we didn't have a long wait) and then entered the zoo. The first few exhibits were a bit crowded, but as we moved farther from the entrance the crowds died down.

We started in the Australian section. This exhibit was new the last time I went to the zoo (in the mid-90s) and Aaron had never seen it. It is section off from the rest of the zoo by a train station. Oddly enough it looked a lot like a train station that we visited in the Australian rainforest, so I'd say they did a good job in making it look Australian. We walked through the gates and into an aviary, then on the other side of the aviary there were a few exhibits of larger birds and a few other Australian (and New Guinean) animals, including some free roaming kangaroos. The 'roos stuck to a field and didn't cross into areas where visitors went, but they could if they wanted to. Unfortunately, unlike in Australia, we didn't get to pet the kangaroos, but we did have fun looking at them and remembering the fun time we had petting them in Australia. Hopefully someday we'll be able to take Jenna to Australia so she can pet them, too!

After Australia, we headed to Africa and got sidetracked by the elephants. I don't think Jenna realized how big elephants are, so it was cute to see her face when she first saw one.

Along the way we got to pet a sheep (which Aaron kept calling a goat - drove me almost as crazy as the lady at the petting zoo that kept calling the shetland pony a donkey!) and some small deer.