Jasmine van Zoest

Above is an image of Jasmine when she was only 4 months old. It has been an adventure and will continue to be. It's difficult to tell but in this picture Jasmine, in her 5th month, started to learn to sit on her own without support. She tumbles two to three times, and at the fourth try she was about to tumble again, but placed her hands on the floor to stop herself.

In her 5th month, Jasmine has also discovered her loves for white shoes, miffy, and the "aap" (monkey).

She has grown up way too fast.

Jasmine turns 2 on the 7th of January. We have compiled pictures of Jasmine from the first moment she was born to date in the above slide show. We would like to dedicate this to our dearest daughter.

Thank you everyone for coming out to help celebrate Jasmine's second birthday. Jasmine really enjoyed her time with you. We appreciate all the well wishes including from all of those on the other side of the world.

What does it mean for Jasmine to be two years old? She can be cantankerous, but she can also be very captive, cunning, inspiring and exuberant. She is learning the basic rules of grammar... although not from me, since I am terrible at it. She imitates our mannerisms and activities, as she spends hours pretend playing with her dolls in the dollhouse, with cardboard boxes, and her wooden horse. Last week when an audiologist came to visit us at home as Pearl needed to have her hearing tested and because of our busy schedule and the cold winter, the consultatie bureau sent an audiologist to our apartment. At the time of the test Pearl seemed uncomfortable with the OAE microphone over her ears and was restless. So Jasmine remained next to her and was extremely watchful. Finally, at some point the audiologist announced out loud,

she passed

It's alright. It's done now. You're okay

And gave her a kiss.

She then turned towards the audiologist and said,

bye-bye now

Jasmine does love being an older sister and is very caring towards her baby sister.

Jasmine had her well-child visit on the 11th of January in which her weight and height were recorded. At the checkup we found out that Jasmine is standing 34 and 1/4 inches tall, and weights about 26 pounds. The doctor also announced out loud, that she is perfectly healthy.

In this series, you'll find pictures of Jasmine playing with the ball-track set she received for her birthday. She loves it so much that she plays with it first thing once awakened from her sleep or nap. Hence the messy hairdos.

Well, it seems like Jasmine likes toys that allows her to build as she also loves the Lego that her "Pappi" gave her for St. Nicholas.

A conversation between Jasmine and her Papi:

Dad: How old are you?
Jasmine:
Dad: Jasmine, are you two years old?
Jasmine: Nooo Daddy, you are two years old
Dad: So, how old are you?
Jasmine: I am three!
Dad: No, Jasmine you are two years old
Jasmine: I am not two. Daddy you are two
(Jasmine looking at her fingers and started to count, "1 2 3" and then looked at Daddy with three fingers up at his eye level)
Jasmine: I am THREE!

When asked "how old are you?", Jasmine typically answer would be that she is older than her actual age. The highest she has ever answered us is 7. Although the first couple times when we started to ask her about her age, she did tell us she is two. But in the last two weeks, Jasmine has grown from a two years old girl to 3 or 7 years old girl. She wish she was older...

As in the title, Jasmine knows her ABC from the letter 'A' to 'Z'. She can recite it all the way through without missing any letters. Jasmine took Mama by surprise one day about several weeks ago when we were out at the playground by her Daddy's office. Jasmine rode the swing and she started to recite her 'ABC' as she swung away. Once she was done, she started to count from 1 to 10. As she was on the swing for a long time, Jasmine also started to hum songs that she likes as well. I guess she was happy to be out.

Aside from knowing her ABC, she has developed likes and dislikes of her own and is expressing them with the word, "I can't". For instance, Jasmine, Pearl, and I were home. Jasmine was circling the couch in the living room counting,

One, Two, buckle my shoes, Three, Four, Shut the door

Mama I can't do it

I can't put sweater on

Daddy, I can't kiss

I cannot wait for her to outgrow the "I can't" phase. ;-)

We are getting ready for Chinese New Year. Our home needs a little cleaning, and we don't owe any debts. I think we are almost ready for the New Year.

This Chinese New Year is the year of the Rat. In this series, Jasmine is shown wearing a Chinese outfit and with painted face. It is my first attempt at painting her face for the new year festivity.