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Mom Leon surprised us by putting up Jubilee’s hair in her first pony tail. (The picture isn’t well-focused, but you can see it well enough.) Actually, it may be more of a top knot than a true pony tail since the hair is gathered and tied at the top of the head rather than the back, but it sure is cute!!
Yesterday, after church, Daphne and Veronica were chatting it up. At some point Daphne put her hand on Veronica’s shoulder and began to pray for her. Jubilee noticed this and looked at them curiously. Then she walked over to them, reached out her hand, and touched Veronica on the back. She did this twice, and although it was really cute, I pulled her away and explained that they were praying “Kay-Toe”. Jubilee nodded in agreement and then busied herself with another cracker. 
It finally happened: Jubilee had an accident that drew blood. While at retreat in Mission Springs, Jubilee tripped and fell, biting her lower lip. She did this two times, in fact. They were both pretty hard falls, too. Poor Jubilee!
Fortunately, our dentist friend, Dr. Fong, was there to inspect her teeth and assure us there was no harm done.
A special bonding happened today. I was standing at the sliding glass door (insdie the house) while listening to David explain why he’s cutting down some tree branches. Jubilee is playing somewhere in the same room. Suddenly, she runs up to me and grabs a hold of me.
“Hi Jubilee!” I respond. “Would you like a hug?”
And then she nodded!
So I gleefully bent down and she opened up her arms and gave me a hug. I gave her an even bigger hug back. This is the first time we have ever had this kind of interaction. We did this a couple more times that day. It was wonderful.
I was sitting outside of Life Bible Class (at FBCC) with a high schooler, waiting for her dad to pick her up. David is keeping Jubilee occupied. Suddenly Jubilee runs up to me. “Owie” she says and signs. Mind you, her saying “owie” sounds like 40% of the rest of her vocabulary, so I’m grateful that she can sign it too.
“Where is your is your owie?” I sign and ask.
Jubilee points down to her scraped knees! Hey, that’s excellent comprehension!
Jubilee now knows how to play peek-a-boo by covering her face with her own hands (as opposed to when we would hide our faces or cover her face with a burp cloth). Yesterday, as she was waiting for me to put her in the car, I saw her playing peek-a-boo…with her reflection on a neighboring car!
Tonight I forgot to pray before I started feeding Jubilee some pizza. After a few bites, I said “Ooops! We forgot to thank God for the food.” Jubilee’s eyes got really big, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, and she said something. Although I couldn’t understand what she said, it definitely conveyed the feeling of *gasp* “Oh no!”
Today jubilee was playing with this odd contraption. If you can’t tell, it’s a door stop that’s connected to the hinge of the door. I walked away for a bit and when I returned, she had taken it off. I scooted her away to replace it. It took me a long time to figure out what she had done.
She had actually lifted up the hinge bolt, removed the stopper, and replaced the bolt.
Is this amazing dexterity for a 15 month old?
I’ve been reading The Stay-at-Home Mom by Donna Otto. Donna writes about thinkng of mothering as a ministry. As a mother, when you take care of your child, you are serving the King…Jesus. Immediately I had a mental image of Jesus looking at me earnestly and signing to me that He wants to eat. I laughed for several minutes.
I think I did 4.5 loads of laundry yesterday, the .5 being the load that I only put in the washer. David finished that load and also did a 6th and final load. Whew!
The first stage of laundry, sorting, was quite fun. I had already sorted one basket onto our bed and had one more basket to sort. So I brought Jubilee into our room, then showed her the basket and how to hand me the laundry. Jubilee is an excellent helper! She handed me the dirty clothes a piece at a time, sometimes more than one, and I tossed them onto the correct pile. I was so proud of her!
Of course, she’s still learning the following concepts:
I. Dirty vs. Clean Laundry
Since there’s no such thing as a “dirty” basket” vs. a “clean” basket, Jubilee is convinced that all clothes in the laundry basket are supposed to be removed. This explains why a pair of David’s boxers and flat sheet moved from our bedroom to the den. Which leads me to the next concept…
II. Folded vs. Unfolded
The onesies are folded, but the dresses need to be hung. So while inserting hangers into Jubilee’s dresses, Jubilee begins to take the onesies out of the basket. “No, Jubilee. Those go into the drawer.” She somehow comprehends this statement by returning the onesies to me, totally unfolded.
And my personal “favorite”…
III. Laundry vs. Trash
“Don’t touch that Jubilee because it’s trash. It’s dirty.”
“Jubilee, this shirt is dirty. Let’s go to the closet and put it in the laundry basket.”
“No, Jubilee, the boxers do not belong in the garbage can. It’s dirty, but it’s not trash.”
Maybe it’s simply the English language that prevents young children from understanding abstract concepts.