Several posts...

15 Months Old
JoElle loves to talk! She talks and sings all the time, sometimes yells so we can hear her....she talks as if she is talking in sentences, but most of the words don't make sense...but now she is up to over 30 spoken words: Dada, Mama (her favorite one right now), hi, bye, that, uh-oh, wow, ball, duck, bubbles, quack quack, roar, baah for a sheep, Bible, diaper (ok she stopped saying this, now it's a Bible again!), light, eye and eyes, hug, bear, night night, blue, red, knock knock, what, is, row, Nana for Grandma, baby, and bop (really she is trying to say pop for the jack in the box!)
JoElle points to her teeth and sayd "tee" and points to her mouth and says "mou." She can almost say bird, still sounds like "bir" She is still trying to say "fish" and "shoe" they both still sound like "sh"! JoElle is trying to say "Up" for us to pick her up (it used to sound like uh, now it's "puh"!" JoElle likes to say bear,without the r....but hey close enough right? She is close to saying "more" when she signs more, especially because in the car I can't see her signing more when she wants more teddy grahams, so she has started to say "mu mu" and for milk she says "mil." Is it hard for kids to learn the last sounds in words or something?
JoElle also still signs, over 15 words to us: milk, eat, more, all done, hello, bubbles, car, light, bird, duck, happy, night night, airplane, monkey, drink, Mama, Daddy, and bath.

April 7, 2006 This weekend we took JoElle to an Easter egg hunt at a church by us. It was cute watching her pick up the eggs and put them into her little bunny basket. Then we took her to the park (Uncle Aaron was with us). JoElle actually enjoyed the slides for the first time (probably only because Uncle Aaron was helping her slide). Then we took a walk through the trees, and when we got back to the park my friend Robyn and her daughter Kamryn were at the park! How crazy, we didn't know the other was there, but Kamryn loved that we were there! I helped JoElle swing a little in a big kid swing, but when I asked my brother to take a pic of her, she decided to jump down...
On Sunday we went to an Easter egg hunt at TCU (where Uncle Aaron and Aunt Ana went to college) but it was over right after it started, in about two minutes because the parents didn't let the little kids hunt the eggs, the adults scrambled to pick up the eggs for the kids, how boring :(
So we went to Ridgmar mall after, JoElle played a little on their playground, but she was tired. We tried doing Easter bunny pics with cousin Peyton, but the lady took too long to take the pics, she wanted them to both smile, so JoElle started crying and reaching for me....Oh well like Grandma said, I cried in all my pics until I was about 4!!

~~~April 14, 2006~~~
JoElle said "baby"today while we were watching her favorite baby Einstein viedo. She can't get enough of the animals of these three DVD's; she just sits in front of the t.v., captivated. As soon as we get home from school/work, she turns the t.v. and the DVD player on. I am close to teaching her how to puch the button for DVD input and to push the play button. Just another week and I bet she will be doing all the steps by herself!...see stories for more of what we've up to lately.
We've all been very busy lately with work. Tim is liking his "new" job at Wachovia (he's been working there for about 2 months I think); I am crazy busy at work still managing two teams, I can't wait to get back to just managing my team!
This week we have all been suffering from allregies/asthma. JoElle and I visited Tandi after work Tuesday; JoElle had a ton of fun playing with Tandi. I have never seen her crack up as much as she did when they were playing! JoElle was petting Tandi's kitty, and the kitty was sleepy, so JoElle put her head down on the floor next to the kitty and said "night night" It was precious!
Unfortunately, the next day I was so sick (I'm allergic to kitties) that I couldn't even go to work or take JoElle to daycare so that I could rest. Soooo...I gave her a cup of milk in the morning, but her back to bed and she slept in until 10:00.. then I dozed in the living room with her favorite DVD on continuous play. Every once in a while I would wake up to JoElle standing on my head to reach the box of Klennix; she loves to pull Kleenix out of the box an either tear them up or pretend touse them. After several hours of this, JoElle had almost every single toy in the living room next to me, including all our shoes! (Did I mention she LOVES shoes?)
I think she knew I didn't feel good, she was so well behaved; then she took a nap from 1-4 so I could sleep, too. When I woke up and checked on her, she was sitting in her crib, she gave me a huge grin and jumped up so that I could get her.

March 28, 2006
Dear JoElle,
I love you so much! It is amazing how much love I have for you; you bring such joy to my heart. I love your smile and the way your eyes light up when you grin at us! In the car, you love to talk, giggle, and do anything to get my attention! Today in the car you were hiding under your blanket and giggling hysterically and you couldn't help but talk and give your hiding place away!
I love how you sit on our laps when you want to watch a movie or read a book and how you climb all over us, hug us, give us kisses, and I love it when you run and jump into my arms!
JoElle, the way you approach the world is fascinating; you love to encounter new things and explore old things over and over and over. You are always testing the world to see what it is all about; every day is a new adventure but you still look to us for reassurance and love.
One of the best things about you is your wonderful attitude and beautiful smile! You're giggling warms my heart, too. You love to be silly and loud all at the same time. It's funny how you like to turn around and make yourself dizzy. I can't imagine our lives without you! Every day is new, interesting and special.
I love the way you say "Mama;" it is so precious! The last week you have been saying "Mama" a lot and you want me to pick you up and hold you all the time (but then want right back down again!)
You are growing up too fast, but then I love your independant and willful spirit! You know what you want and you let it be known! I can't wait to see you develop into a beautiful young woman, but I am cherishing every moment of your toddler days!
Love,
Mama

March 24, 2006 JoElle is such a doll :)
This evening we were sitting on the couch watching basketball, Daddy points to the t.v. and says "basketball" and JoElle then puts to the t.v. and "baball" hehe it was so cute.
We were singing some of her favorite songs and I was done with a song, so she signed "more more" to me. Then she started saying "row row" and moving her arms like she was rowing a boat (they love to sing this in her daycare class). I started to sing the song "10 in the Bed" and the little one said "roll over, roll over" and when I sang "roll over" so did JoElle (it sounded a bit like "row row").
I was asking her where her body parts are, she showed me her eyes, nose, teeth, head, belly, toes and mouth (and at the same time she showed Daddy his and Mama hers!) Then I asked her duck, she signed duck, bird, airplane, monkey, light, and I taugh her Daddy and Mommy. It only took two times before she signed both to us!
Then JoElle was rocking back in forth like a crazy girl while I was holding her, grinning and giggling, then I stopped and she told me "more more"! I put her on the floor and told her to go turn around and make herself dizzy.....and she actually did it !! It was too funny. I didn't realize she would understand this!
I know she is our daughter, BUT she really is a smart little girl :)

March 20, 2006 JoElle is 14 Months Old! She is talking up a storm and making sense while doing so! She loves to watch the Baby Einstein animal videos. Yesterday she watched the "Neighborhood Animals" video 4 times! She is learning so much from them and she loves to dance with the hand puppets, speaking of talking here is what she has been saying lately:
JoElle says 25 words clearly: Dada, Mama, hi, bye, that, uh-oh, wow, ball, duck, bubbles, quack quack, roar, baah for a sheep, Bible, diaper, light, eye and eyes, hug, bear, night night, and blue, knock knock, what, is
JoElle is still trying to say "fish" and "shoe" right now they both still sound like "sh"! JoElle is trying to say "Up" for us to pick her up (it just sounds like uh!" She is saying "nana" but I am not sure what she is trying to say? JoElle can almost say "row row" when we sing "Row row row your boat"
On Saturday, March 18, 2006 JoElle was pointing at her clock in her room and she turned to me and asked me "What is this?" I couldn't believe it! She is putting words together into sentences and she is good at repeating what people tell her to say.
JoElle also signs 14 words to us: milk, eat, more, all done, hello, bubbles, car, light, bird, duck, happy, night night, airplane, and drink! She is also putting two spoken and two signed words together. She says "Hi Dada" and signs "more (to) eat" and "all done eat(ing)" It is so cool, she learned three signs all during this week that she turned 1. The others (besides milk) she is learning from our Kindermusik Sign and Sing class.

March 18, 2006 NO MORE BOTTLE!!
Did I mention that JoElle has been off of her bottle for an entire week? She quit using her bottle at school when she moved up to the toddler room in November, but at home she would still ask for it and we had tried several times unsuccessfully to get her off.
This time it worked! She is such a big girl now. She is a little fussy at night, but she doesn't quite know what is missing!
We had a busy day today. We ate with Tandi at Denny's; JoElle enjoyed all the attention she gets from everyone calling her a little princess. One lady asked me if I or Tandi was the mother :) hehe that's a first! We turned her water blue with some package they give to kids, it was pretty cool. JoElle played in the syrup and jelly, threw her crayons, and giggled like crazy at Tandi.
Then we went to our Kindermusick Sign and Sing class. Cousin Peyton was signing up a storm! He was signing happy, bath, light and fan! He really blossomed since last Saturday! He is also a very good cleaner and helper. It is very cute. In fact, last Saturday JoElle was at Peyton's house and I was told by Uncle Aaron that Peyton was running after some toys before JoElle could get to them so that he could hand them to her! They also played in the bathtub together, then Peyton got upset with JoElle because he thought she was getting back in and Mama made him get out, so he hit her on her back (I hear he got in trouble by Mama!).
Back to today, then we shopped for cousin Emily at Kid to Kid for some costumes for her to dress up in. JoElle and Peyton ran around the store picking out toys they liked. Then we went to Emily's 5th birthday party at Glenview Baptist church. They have a three story tall tree for the kids to climb in and slide down, it was really great for the kids, they both enjoyed it! Then Peyton and JoElle took balloons from each other (neither got upset though) and devoured an entire piece of cake each (JoElle's was sans icing due to the lactose!)
Then at 7:00 we took JoElle to Tim's friends' wedding at a Methodist church here in Arlington. Everyone was talking about how cute she is, she had on a frilly pink dress that Granny just got her that day. It was very cute. She did great the entire time (the wedding was super short !) but would not go to Granny. E very time Granny took her from Mama, she dove back in my arms!
When Grandma picked JoElle up from the wedding, JoElle sayed "nana" to her, so I am wondering if Nana means Grandma? Who knows!! She was excited to see Grandma, she didn't even pay any more attention to Mama and Daddy or the fact that we were leaving her, she couldn't care less when she is with my mom! Grandma has the magic touch with both JoElle and Peyton.
Later at the reception (JoElle went home with Grandma, it was past her bedtime!) One of Tim's friends named Casey told Tim he just had a son, who is 2 months old, and he wants his son to hook up with JoElle because she is beautiful! I told him my friend Gaby already has her son, Jeff, married off to JoElle!

March 8, 2006 JoElle is jabbering away and running all over the place!
She loves to talk and sing. Tonight at church, while we were in choir practice, she was talking up a storm in her class and making them laugh. Her teachers told me she is normally reserved in there with them, she finally decided to show them her true (loud) self!
It's crazy how fast she walks now! Her legs have straightened out quite a bit (she is still bow-legged like Mama); my best friend Tandi was laughing last Saturday because she says JoElle walks just like me!
She can climb up on the couch, turn the t.v. off and on, open the DVD player.......still likes to rearrange our furniture. JoElle plays with her play kitchen every day after school. She loves to bring food and items to everyone now. Last Saturday in our Kindermusick class, she kept sitting in her Aunt Ana's lap. It was cute!! She loves her cousin Peyton, she really looks up to him and follow him all around.
What else? Oh yeah, when we go eat Mexican food, JoElle insists on dipping her chips in salsa. Last time she ate half a bowl all by herself! She loves to eat rice. She is pickier about her food at home now, but at school she eats mostly anything. Some days at school she will only eat applesauce, I am just happy she eats fruit now! She likes fish, but not really other meats (except meat with spaghetti!). She feeds herself so well with spoons and forks; she is not nearly as messy as she used to be when she eats!
Twice last week she stayed up until 10:00 p.m, then crashed in the middle of the floor! Grandma told me just a few days before this would happen soon, how wise she is!
JoElle has been somewhat fussy the last week, the last part of her bottom molars is cutting through, three corners are already in, but the last corner isn't....she only has 4 more teeth left until her 2 year molars come in...

February 19, 2006 JoElle started saying "eye" today when pointing at her doll's eye. She loves to sing the "Itsy bitsy spider", she starts putting her fingers together to make the spider. JoElle loves "If You're Happy and You Know It"; as soon as she hears it she starts clapping and she loves to stomp, too!
She also started saying "light" this past week. Last night, we ate at Applebee's with Uncle Aaron; JoElle was realy antsy at first until the food came out. Then she was happy. She ate some of Uncle Aaron's steak with steak sauce and loved it. She kept putting to the walls saying "ball" because they had a football and basketball on the walls. Then she would point at a light on the ceiling and say "light". Smart girl! She is pretty good at signing light too. She is calling everything "bubbles"; it's her fave word right now. Tonight when she was watching the Olympics with me, she saw a car commercial and she signed "car"to me! This was her first time to sign car back to me.
Now, every book is a "Bible" since she learned how to say "Bible" !
Her favorite room right now is the laundry room, she loves to play in there. JoElle also loves to play peek-a-boo when she is in there and we are in the kitchen.
Her favorite books are Maisy books that have flaps so that she can lift the flaps to find animals underneath. In the car, she loves to find the Elephant, then point to the elephant on her window shade. She also loves this book we gave her for Valentine's day, it has a heart the lights up and plays music. She always dances when the music starts to play!

March 2006
JoElle still signs over 15 words to us: milk, eat, more, all done, hello, bubbles, car, light, bird, duck, happy, night night, airplane, monkey, and drink! She is also putting two spoken or two signed words together. She says "Hi Dada" and signs "more (to) eat" and "all done eat(ing)" It is so cool, she learned her first sign "milk" when she was 9 months old, then she learned three signs all during the week that she turned 1.
We quit learing new signs since she is talking so much, but she still uses the ones that she knows.