Josephine's Imagination

Josephine has a big imagination. She lives in metaphor. She constantly reinvents the world.

"I've got hooks so we can hang up your playclothes and you can reach them," I told her yesterday.
"Hang them on the ceiling," Jo suggests.
"On the ceiling? But then you couldn't reach them."
"I can," she insists.
"I couldn't - I couldn't reach them!"
"I can, they go up on the ceiling, I jump high, I reach them, they go next to the ceiling fan, I fly up and get them," she says.

It's lovely, except when it's not.

"Does it go this way?" she asks, spinning her potty seat around. "Is it a hat? Is it glasses? Look, Mommy, I sit this way!"

And all I want to do is scream: "It's a potty seat! Sit on it and pee! Argghhh!"

Or: "I'm going to see my friends. They live that way." And off she runs, in the opposite direction of our house, with speed and conviction. Argghhh!

Above picture shows Jo watching the birds outside chugging it down from the new bird feeder...

Developmental news:
Jo is learning her letters, can recognize words like Moon and her own name. She knows things I haven't taught her - I said that "G" starts the word "girl," and she said, "G is for garden, too."

She knows how to count, and can do basic addition and subtraction.

I have taught her to understand that her daddy is "facetious" and that the story of where my Daddy is (dead) is "complicated."

She is potty trained (after the poo incident at the thrift shop, thank god, because I was going to go back to diapers until she was 45.)

When I tell her she's done a good job, she always tells me, "Good job, Mommy!"

It's so nice. I can't believe she's going to be three soon!!!

Jo and Sam

Sam loves Jo.
And Jo loves Sam.

Sam watches everything she does; helooks for her; she dances her crazy dance (involves jumping and spinning in the air, counting, quite elaborate and hysterical) and he squeals with laughter.

And Jo loves Sam - when he cries, she seems to know what he needs, and is usually right ("He wants a baby biscuit, Mama," she'll say) and she very sweetly entertains him, plays with him, lays with him, and likes him being around.

It is our mission in life, Sean and I agree, to tend this relationship between them. It is a surprising joy.

Of course, as I write this, Jo has found a tambourine and is beating it on the floor for him, singing/shouting, and driving me nuts, "Sam is my friend too!"

Sam is Six Months

He is 18 pounds.
He can scoot around on the floor, "creep" I think they call it, so basically, he's mobile.
He can also sit up, though he prefers to stand - he can stand up, holding onto something, all by himself. He wants to walk. He is ready to GO!

I talked to the doctor about the frustration Sam seems to have when he wants to eat and move and loses toys - I guess it's just some kids are like this - when he starts eating, he wants to stuff his face; when he starts moving, he wants to go fast; and when he can't, he screeches in the most ear-piercing agony of desperate angst I've ever heard. And it works - none of us can stand it - even Jo will give him a toy to get him to calm down. VERY different from mild baby Jozy...

Though, I should say, he is still very easy to make laugh, very ticklish, very cuddly, and already a ladies' man - Jo's friend, Caroline, for instance, who is 4.5, adores him. He will grow up with no small amount of feminine love.

Fairy Gets Her Wings

As you may recall, the last time we went to the doctor, he asked Jo about her doll Supergirl.
"Does she fly?"
"Yes."
"Do you fly"
"With my wings..."

Well, yesterday we took Sam to the doctor, and before we left, Jo insisted on wearing her wings - the doctor was super impressed, saying he would have to tell his family at dinner about this, as he had recounted the first conversation with her and obviously, she had remembered it and wore her wings. (Of course, I was super proud that the doctor thought her so clever.)

She also wore her new boots from friend Audrey (who is 7 months younger, but half a head taller) and her beach babe dress from friend Zara. A very cool look.

What I love is that, if you compliment Jo on her shiny red boots, she very sweetly says, "Thank you!" Her manners are sometimes impeccable - Yes, please, No thank you, "May I have scuze please?"

Other times, she gets red in the face trying to force herself to burp.

Sigh.

Day at the Fair

Just above: Jo's favorite cow. Because it was very noisy.

She was sooo excited about the fair, b/c she wanted to ride the ferris wheel just like in her favorite book of the moment, Madeline and the Gypsies. She was sure she would see the characters Madeline and 'Pito' there.

I had to go on it with her. I was TERRIFIED. She wanted to go again.

She also had her first real pony ride, did the carousel, went on a little train, a bizarre alligator. (On rides, she got a very serious, intense face that did NOT look like enjoyment in the slightest, but after each she seemed decidedly pleased. As the pony ride lady said, "She's a thinker.") Got to pet sheep, goats, cows, horses, bunnies. I held a baby duck & a baby chick. Jo was a little upset and concerned about the idea that the animals were all going home - until I described the fair as a giant playdate for farm animals.

She wants to go to the fair again, period.

Garden

Us working in the garden - Jo planting her very own 'hens and chicks' plant - Jo balancing a pink bell on her head, pretending it is a party hat - and a random cowboy at Fridays After Five -

Sweet Friendship

There's nothing sweeter than the ability of a two year old to make a friend.

We were at Cville Coffee to meet up with a friend of mine who had a son a month or so after Sam - Ezra is Sam's first little friend and playmate- I should say droolmate at this point -, and his mom and I took photos of the two of them together specifically so we can show them off when they are graduating from high school. (pics to come) Jo was very patiently playing by herself.

Then there were some kids Jo's age, so we hung out for a little while longer. One was this girl in ladybug boots. Soon it was just these two girls, suddenly playing together like they'd known each other forever -which is almost the truth. I heard the girl's name called, and looked at the mother - and realized after a while that I met this woman for the first time over four years ago, when I auditioned for a play she was directing - and then met her and her daughter at church when the girls were about 9 months old, but hadn't seen them since. What a surprise!

As the mom and I started chatting - about life, motherhood, work, identity - our girls played and played - laughing, giggling, scampering about. I've never seen Jo take to someone like this where the feeling was totally mutual - it actually gave me chills - and when we left, the new friend gave Jo a hug and wouldn't let her go! The mother literally had to untangle the two. She said her daughter never did this kind of thing, either. Obviously, we'd have to get together again.

I remember when I was about 9 years old deciding that when I grew up, I would always look people in the eyes; I would become an adult without losing myself; I would always stay real. I promised myself. But the road to 33 has been hard, and I'm not always real, I don't look strangers, even friends, in the eyes all the time.

I replay that embrace between Jo and her friend in my mind, and the simple, pure, fearless, uninhibited affection of that act both breaks and bolsters my heart.

Oh to open my arms to those I love, those I like, to those who need it, without fear of reprisal, judgment, rejection, aggression... Even if those things happen, just for that one moment of shared warmth, isn't it worth it?