A Day for the Books

Jo pooped in the potty!

Of her own volition, even... she ripped off her diaper and sat down, and while I read Green Eggs and Ham she moved her bowels like a pro.

Later, she assured me that if Santa Claus ever gets lost, his mommy will find him.

Sunday Photos and Updates

This week's Josephine highlights!

1. Chatting...
Jo - I like to talk to my friends.
Mama - What do you like to talk about?
Jo- Going to the dentist when I get bigger.

2. To Sam, who I dunk in the bathtub during Jo's baths:
He's a brave little guy.

3. About her little friend...
ZB come over tonight?
I want color him PINK.

4. At the playground:
She picked buttercups and saw a girl on the merry go round - "I want give her flowers." So she hopped on and presented the girl with the whole bunch. They spun around grinning at each other. After the girl had skipped back to her picnic table, Josephine told me: "It make me happy to give girl flowers." Then the girl's brother brought back the flowers, saying "My sister only wants one." Jo was a little befuddled. She picked more and brought them to the girl's picnic table. "I give girl flowers give her mother," she explained.

5. Imagination:
I don't think I've ever mentioned here how Jo pretends that her fingers are little people - 'Where's mommy?" she'll make her index finger call - and then Sean and I will make our fingers be mommy and daddy. Who needs dolls? Then, the other day, she was pretending her cardboard bricks were baby bricks, so much so that she was rocking them to sleep and actually cuddled one while she fell asleep!

6. Teddy bears now live in the cupboards - "their cave."

7. The Berenstein Bears' are "the wierd bears."

8. Updates on some favorites:
Favorite books:
Madeline
Carl
Berenstein Bears
Olivia
Jesse Bear
Clifford
Curious George

Favorite books/videos:
Mary Poppins
Lola and Charlie
Little Bear
Miss Piggy

9. She can pretty much count and is now learning letters...

10. She's also pretty good about forming requests politely, as in "May I have...please?"

11. Daddy: "You're Dolly Madison."
Jo: "I not Madison. I DRINK medicine."

12. She peed in the potty! Of her own volition!

outtakes

Capturing the Moment

Sam is this huge, smiley guy, but whenever I get the camera near him, he so intently fixates on watching the device that he stops his grinning - but trust me, when he grins at me, he is a charmer...
And then there's these two - the personality twins - eating ice cream on a hot-rainy day...

Making Friends

It's hard to explain, but I can tell when Josephine likes someone... not just tolerates or is interested in, but really likes. The main clue: She struts with confidence in his or her presence. So, with pal pictured above, I was pleased that she leapt barefoot in the grass while he, intent on pushing the 'cart', followed behind, trying to get her to take a ride... it was adorable... and look a the two of them posing!!

At Fridays After Five

Top photo: We settle in on the grass at the pavilion to listen/watch the band and enjoy the crowd...
Photo 2: Jo and Audrey, her little friend

Tales of the Pink Tomboy...

...that's Sean's new term for Jo - because she's super tough- climbs everything, runs unafraid with the dogs at the dog park, etc. - but also wants everything pink, including a park.

Her Take on the Smurfs, after discovering them for the first time:
"They need clothes... maybe a nightgown?"

So Much for Winning "Stump the Toddler":
I say, "Make a sound like a pig!" - She responds, per usual: "Oink, Oink!"
Make a sound like a frog - "Ribbit, Ribbit"
Make a sound like an octopus... ...(pause) ... "Ink! Ink! Ink!"

Random Declaration of Selfhood:
"The Other Josie is not me, no.
The Other Josie is not Jo.
I am Jo."

Oh, If Only We Could:
You know what we should do with Billy tonight? (asks me, thinking, Give him a haircut.)
With delight, Jo trills: "Paint Billy pink?!"
In the Odd-How-Are-Bits-of-Information-Mixing-Up-In-Your-Head file:
"I have three nipples."
"Three nipples???"
"Yes. Three nipples."
"You do? How so?"
"Because...I have a big party at New House."

WHAT???
...Sam news: He loves to chat, batting coos back and forth. And grabbing hair. He is such a baby. Just loves to "exercise" in his bouncy chair and 'gym' - pumping his legs furiously with his lips in a serious 0 shape.

Moving On Up... the road

So yes, if you haven't heard - we are buying a house - only a couple streets up the road from where we currently live.

Some pluses of the new place:
- right across from a park that currently has playgrounds and pools, but is slated to be enhanced this upcoming year
- even closer to the city, so that we can walk/bus downtown
- nearer two of Jo's playmates' homes
- central air
- windows!

And: tossing out old stuff to prepare for the move.

Sam I Am

I have to remind myself, she's only 2

She loves her daddy's comics.

Couple things I need to post here to remember:
1. Right now, Josephine has difficult pronouncing the "y" sound in "you."
This means that when she comes to me, saying, "This yo-you is for you" it comes out "This woah-woah is pour woo" and I just can't help laughing...

Also, she can't pronounce the L beginning her friend's name, Lily. It comes out "Willy."
So of course, Lily's mother said to me one night, "Oh, Lily's trapped. I need to go Free Willy."
Ha ha ha...

2. "I get bigger-bigger? I get boobs?"

3. I love the way she structures negative constructions in her sentences:
"I like dogs eating candy - no!"
"His hair long - no!"
"I want to go sleep - no!"

4. "I love him. I love Sam." When I hold them both in my arms, she sings happily, "Two Sams!"

My favorite observation from Sean last night: "Toddlers are just basically frat boys: you know, disgusting."

In Which the Mother Self-Delights

So, I don't believe in karma, but if I did, that's how I would explain the fact that most of the photos that get taken of me these days are AWFUL - because I used to relish taking funky - silly - outrageously gross pictures of my mother. Relish as in Laugh Heartily, my poor mother cringing in despair to see that the evidence of her life was being taken by a sadistic teenager who thought that taking pics of her mother sans makeup at awkward moments was good fun.

(Well, it was...)

And so I have accepted this fate that is now mine, because I know I deserve it. I click through the closeups of my pores, the snapshots of my colorless, bloated, sleep-deprived eyes, the portraits that capture my ratty hair and bad teeth, and I let the rave that wants to come out - "Why did you take this picture of me??!!!" - slink away, shamefully...

So please understand that finding this photo of me where I look half decent feels like some kind of omnipotent forgiveness... also I am really proud that since getting my new haircut right before Sam was born, I've been faithfully doing something I've never done before in my whole life - blow drying my hair every time I shower. It makes such a difference! My hair feels cleaner longer... and it looks kinda nice. Now, I only shower every two or three days, because of the effort required, but it's working for me - showering and doing my hair feels like an earned pleasure, not a daily hassle to rush through before downing breakfast and racing out the door...

Ironic that I should be more well-put-together now that I'm NOT going to the office everyday, isn't it?

And We Have Hit the WHY Stage...

First picture above: Jo is quite the actress these days... here she reminds me of Helena Bonham Carter. You know, the hair...the pathos...
Picture #2: Jo, who tells me now "I love Sam!" at random moments, "plays" with Sam in his "gym"... he puts up with it ... She did start to undress him at one point...
Pic 3: He does adore her. He is smiling and cooing more and more - he'll stop nursing to flash a grin at me, like 'mmm, this is good!' - and Jo's antics and "shows" provide quite the entertainment.

So yes, we're in the why phase.
Jo: Look this, mommy!
-That's a seed. An apple seed. If you plant that in the ground, it grows a tree, which then grows another apple.
Jo: Why?
- [to self: crap! I don't know!] Because... that's how things grow... from seeds... [I am lame]
Jo: Why?

In reverse, it goes like this:
Mama: Josephine, why did you rub chalk all over your face?
Jo: Because... because... because 'why'!

The other night I started to pick up her moon sand, saying, "Jo, you need to help me clean this up, or you can't play with this anymore."
She just pulled up a chair, sat down, folded her hands in her lap, and said, "I'll watch you."