Growing up

It is the first few weeks of the New Year, which means that there are lots of new toys to be played with and huge crowds at the gym and not a lot on the big Winn’s agenda. So I will tell you a little about what the small ones are up to. Jenna seems to be getting older at an alarming rate. She spends most of her time these days singing. She knows a lot of songs, but most of it is more like a musical- she simply sings about whatever she is doing at the moment. And she sings very loudly. There are only a few things that can get her to quiet down, and they include watching a show and listening to music. So those things probably happen more than they should.

This is what Jenna wants for her birthday

Jenna has also quickly become an iPhone pro. It is amazing to watch how quickly and easily little children can understand technology while their grandparents who have attended a few years of college (but didn’t graduate) can’t seem to figure out the most basic email functions. Some of Jenna’s favorite things to do with Lixi’s phone are an Easy bake Oven app, Barbie I Can Be, and Angry Birds. And she is getting very good with the more traditional uses of the phone. Her new kitchen set came with a cordless phone and she can often be found wandering around the house with it held up to her ear, having half a conversation with Opa or Kristi or Grandma or others. Her imagination has really started to blossom, and it is quite entertaining to watch. Last week she rescued an imaginary kitten from the play area at Chick-Fil-A and came running over to Lix with her hands outstretched to show it to her. She named it Furry Furry, and brought it home and has shown it to several momentarily confused visitors. This behavior baffles Alixa because she has no imagination and is unable to pretend anything.



Jenna has also started to interact more with Bo. They take baths together and she not only tolerates his presence but also shares toys with him and doesn’t freak out nearly as much when he happens to touch her. She talks to him more and more, includes him in her prayers, and generally treats him more like a brother and less like a piece of furniture, which is how she used to see him.

But the biggest sign that Jenna is growing up is that Lix straightened her hair for the first time. She’s been wanting to do it for a while, so she threw an episode of the Backyardigans on her phone and had Jenna sit through it. It went very well. Jenna loves it, and people seem to agree that she is pretty cute. Jarom thinks that it makes her look much more like Alixa’s daughter, although he still thinks they are both cuter with the curls.



Bo seems to have turned into a real person overnight. He has always been cute and fat and cuddly, but his personality is really starting to show up now. He is very curious and works quite hard to move himself around the room to get whatever it is that interests him. He is not a great crawler, and will only move backwards if he manages to find himself on the hardwood floor, but he is rarely in the same place that you left him when you come back into the room.

He also won't stay where you put him in the crib, refusing to be comfortable

He has also started to be more active in the tub. He loves his new bath toys and has learned that if he lays on his back and kicks his legs as hard as he can he will soak his mother and make her shriek for him to stop, which he thinks is hilarious and encourages him to continue. Lix is working on a few tricks that he is getting better at, like waving goodbye to people and raising his arms when she says “Bo is soooo big!” He has also begun to enjoy reading books, especially before bed. His favorite right now is Brown Bear Brown Bear and he will give you dirty looks and holler if you don’t let him turn the pages. And he is growing a few teeth as well. This, combined with a cold he has been fighting, has rendered him slightly more troublesome during the evenings, a development that neither Jarom nor Lix is thrilled about. But they and Jenna love him more than ever and are very happy with the kind of kid he is turning into.



There was also a surprise visitor who stopped by this week. Alixa’s dad is trying to land a contract with a company here in Dallas and had to fly in for 24 hours for some meetings. So he stayed the night in the guest room and got to the house in time to read Jenna her stories and help put her to bed. The plan was to meet him for dinner before his flight took off the next day, but there was a malfunctioning GPS that kept them from finding each other and the Winns just shared an appetizer at the Cheesecake Factory before sadly packing up the kids and heading home. It sounds like he might be coming back somewhat regularly, especially if he’s a good salesman, so we are looking forward to more of these surprise visits in the future.

Jenna fell asleep on the way to meet Opa for dinner

This is what happens when Jenna hides in Alixa's new blanket

A few funny Jenna-isms

Jenna: Flamingo is sitting on his eggs to keep them nice and warm
Jarom: How many eggs does Flamingo have?
Jenna: He has three.
Alixa: Is he going to be a mommy?
Jenna: No, he’s a daddy so he’s just waiting for a mommy.
Alixa: So where did he get the eggs?
Jenna: He got them from Target.

Alixa(as Jarom is lying in bed coughing): Tell daddy " I'm sorry your throat hurts."
Jenna: Daddy, I'm sorry your throw up hurts.