Bunny

Easter this year was not only fun, but educational! Josie's grandparents got her learning to find the eggs, then count them, open the eggs, then count the raisin boxes... She really got into it!

Not me: I was over in the corner, eating, not counting the calories...

Here she is in the dress she got from her great-grandmother and the ears she got from me... I couldn't resist...There are tons of fantastic pictures I need to upload!

Here's hoping all of you had a lovely weekend. Amy

Trapped in a Table

Here's an illustration of what Sean and I saw when we visited a local daycare Monday.

At first, from the outside, the place looked fine. Then we went into the toddler cottage, the medicinal, harshly lit rooms with nothing on the white walls, "Hot" country music playing, and three tables with children stuck in them.

Seriously, the children were stuck IN the tables, suspended in the air, trapped, and QUIET. This was art time. The unsmiling women at the tables- kind of reminding me of black jack tables at a casino, the dealer in the middle - gave the silent, suffering children paintbrushes.

The director told us, "These tables really keep them confined and secure." Yeah, lady; no doubt. Shudder.

Basketball

Not exactly sure what kind of basketball technique lifting up your skirt to show off your belly button to the 4-year-old neighbor boy, but Josephine had a blast bouncing and kicking the ball on our little culdesac. The little boy desperately wanted to hold her hand and lead her around, which he did a couple times, very cute. (This pink dress and some of her other clothes actually come from his grandmother, after his mother had a late-term miscarriage. So it's kind of bittersweet how brotherly he is toward Josie.)

This morning Josie asked for some of my cereal and loved it "mo! mo!" (more); then she asked for a tissue and blew her nose! Yay! She also had a temper tantrum, but didn't want me, just went to her little chair and sat in it for some time alone. Funny!

While I was gone...

I was gone overnight for the first time ever in Josephine's life Friday night (church retreat).

She and Sean and our two wonderful babysitters did fine.

And Josie put her shoes on all by herself for the first time Saturday morning! Such a clever girl.

J-O-S-I-E Spells Trouble

Here's a couple pictures of Josie in our hotel in England.

But what I want to talk about is this girl's love of shoes. I had to go shoe shopping yesterday (okay, "had" may be a little strong!) and she came along. She tried on shoes, too. Spangled heels, waxy red clogs, pink slip-ons... she scooted up and down the aisles of the various stores, hanging onto the edge of the wall as though having a first foray in skates on an ice rink... carefully, slowly, focused, serious... falling every once in a while, and then grabbing a new striped pump and running with it close to her chest, giggling with glee. Even this morning at home she was doing it - found my new sandals and wore them like snowshoes down the hall.
Too adorable, too cute. I am just glad that she was only trying on shoes too big for her, because if she had been in love with ones her size, I probably would have bought them for her. One hypnotic stare from those blue eyes and I'm a gonner.
As the old dude at CVS said to me yesterday, as Josie bounced a pink ball and shook her little ringlets, "She's beautiful. And you're in trouble. Just wait till she's sixteen."
Of course, sixteen makes me think, Oh my goodness, I'm going to be OLD.

We had a great day yesterday. Josephine noticed MANNEQUINS for the first time. She didn't understand what they were. As Sean pointed out, she was looking for feet and a head (missing on these ones), intently - "Her little brain is blown," he said, and it seemed right. She went from one to the other, mystified, perhaps a little scared, tried waving at them, pointing to their motionless hands...

Amy