The best cargo in the world

The other night, Josephine, Sam and I had to set up some equipment at an event at Westminster Presbyterian Church. On a beautiful late winter's night, we walked around the building as the sun set having a discussion about architecture, church, and the onslaught of spring. Josephine had some great questions for me. Sam pointed out things that he liked (or mimicked me doing the same thing). The three of us enjoy these little adventures, and I'm glad I have a car in which I can safely transport the children as well as my recording equipment. It's a lovely old Volvo that drives well, smells good, and it's a wagon.

Spring approaches... with Teeth

Josephine doing first position above, with plie and curtsey - everyday that it's been nice outside we've been spending the afternoon in the grass, yanking daffodils and frolicking with the forsythia, which she renamed "Suns." And some little purple things she calls "thrombonias."

We then decorated our table with the flowers and before dinner shared our joys of the day, which for Jo included dancing outside and all the people she loves.

Meanwhile, Sam has five teeth bulging at his gums. It's painful just thinking of it. He's in the cute phase when he can point to his nose and ears - not always with the correct word, but sometimes... he loves to imitate what we say. He points to a peacock. "Peacock!" I say, slowly. "Ee-caw," he echos.

Teaching Josephine to use words and not fists when dealing with either little brother or best friend is a challenge.
"I had a rough day," she said one afternoon as I was picking her up from the babysitter.
"Why, honey?" I asked.
"Lily pushed me."
"Did you tell her not to? Did you talk to her about it? Did you tell the babysitter?"
"No," said Josephine. "I just pushed her back!"

So - okay, she's not being a victim. But now she's got it in her head she can wack and smack at anyone who gets in her way. So back to retraining her on dealing with bruiser babies... and how to stand up for herself without turning daycare into a boxing ring...

A little boy and a little girl

I'm always amazed at how well Sam and Jo seem to be play with each other. Now that Sam is a little older, the days of sibling aggression could be dawning. Yet, they also play so well together. I often recruit Jo to be my little helper with Sam so that she can feel sisterly. She's a big help, too. She adores her little brother, even though it won't be too long before they're the same size. For now, though, I think she's enjoying being the adoring big sister in size to go along with how she'll be his whole life.

Kids With Food & More Strange Utterances

Kids With Food: As the photographic evidence attests, mealtime remains a time for experimentation, not for sustenance. Sam, as you can see, is trying to transform into Popeye. And Josephine prefers making pictures out of spaghetti as opposed to eating it.

I guess this is why the great artists are always starving - they grow up conditioned to art preempting food.

More Strange Utterances:
According to her babysitter, Jo flung herself on the couch and exclaimed dramatically, "Now is the time to celebrate our youth!"

And yesterday, while holding one of the new daffodils that just sprung up in our yard, she queried: "Mama, is the world going to end?" I asked her today who told her that, and she pointed at ME. What??? REM song??

Just now she was pretending to put Sam in jail. "A cage, I call it," she said, authoritatively. "Get back in jail, I put you there."

In the bath tonight, she was curious about where "Evil-Land is?" and whether "evil witches have wands?"

She's also been driving me mad asking me every minute "When's your birthday?" and "When's springtime?" and "When is nighttime?" over and over and over again. Not sure what that strategy is about. Am only sure that these techniques should be studied by the CIA for those interrogations...

Butterfly in the Snow

a) Butterfly in the snow - Jo's been wearing her butterfly coat all week - I sang her a little song after she told me she was a butterfly queen:

She's a butterfly queen
Her name is Josephine
Prettiest one that I've seen
Jo the butterfly queen...

Our attempts to go sledding = not so great. Sam got cold and cried and a girl at the park ran over Jo. So they wailed while I dragged them up hill all the way home.

b) Sam has been really into drawing with crayons - on the window. I keep catching him doing it - and look at that face! He just grins - and, NO KIDDING - I had the camera and HE WAITED for me to take the picture, held the grin for me - a complete ham.

c) He's sort of sleeping through the night (finally!) - both parents relieved, though exhausted. It's hard to learn to sleep through the night ourselves...after being so used to waking up constantly...

d) Sam can say: Hi, Bye Bye, Hat (while pointing his index finger at his head), Up, Mama, Dada, and No. He chatters a lot and sings quite a bit, too.

e) Jo is currently doing this cute little mannerism - when you ask her a question, any question, like "where is your coat?" or "did you have fun today?" she begins all of her responses with a dramatic "OH! - " and a pause - "OH! - My coat is over there" and "OH! - I did have fun today" - it doesn't always make sense but it's always pretty darn cute.