The Empress Has No Clothes...

So, Mom says something like, "You know, these days kids are just too overworked, every part of their day structured and planned - they need time to be bored, so they can go use their imagination."

I heartily agree; in fact, once I realized that large swaths of 'nothing to do' allowed Josephine the freedom to invent and imagine for hours on end, everyone was happier.

However. Jo's muscular imagination tends to trample on reality to the point of parental exasperation. As in, it's time for dinner, and we tell our naked child to put some clothes on before coming to the table.

"I DO have clothes on," she says.

We look again. "No, you don't."

"I'm wearing a pretend dress and a pretend crown," and she extends her arms in the air to show us, presumably, the imaginary finery.

"Lovely," we say, "But for dinner, you at least need a shirt. A real one."

The queen is not amused. Later, she tells me, "My crown has DIAMONDS, and it's VERY, VERY tiny, teeny tiny, and SHINY. And my dress is PINK. It's so lovely!"

Of course, I have to agree.

Meanwhile, at a playgroup yesterday, a little baby boy a couple weeks younger than Sam showed him up by crawling around and trying to wrestle toys out of Sam's hands. "Show off," I grumbled inwardly to myself. Hee hee. Sam is currently going through a phase where he wants to be held ALL THE TIME, and it is driving me insane.

The only other thing that can placate him? See photo above. If Josephine is around, he is happy.

Personality

Above:
1 - On a family walk; Jo in 'bunny ears' - Sam 'chilling'
2 - Jo and Lily getting fancy
3 - Oh the glamour of the housewife - this is me after Sean insisted I wear a new shirt, instead of the one I'd been wearing for three days straight - oh yeah.


1) In the middle of the night, Jo called from her bedroom, "Mama! Mama!" and Sam, who was wakeful next to me in bed (he's been up all night the last three nights, sick, feverish, sweating, crying) bellowed back to her, "aahha waah waaah!!" Seriously, he was yelling back to her! (Meanwhile, the parents are groaning and piling pillows over our heads.)

2) We were playing with a baby doll, had it sitting up next to Sam, and then I - playfully - threw it up in the air and landed it on its head - you know, to be funny, like a cartoon. Sam burst into tears. He did not like watching the baby get hurt.

He turned 7 months yesterday; is over 18 pounds.

3) I have been trying to remember some of the things Jo is saying these days, but the child has turned into a major chatterbox; she talks ALL DAY LONG. Unceasingly. She tells me things like, "Flowers turn into mountains. Mountains don't turn into people; people turn into trees" as part of her "puppies turn into dogs, but babies don't turn into dogs" soliloquy... She told me a story about a duck who goes to the circus and swims in the swimming pool with all the elephants. She told me:
You (mama) were in the garden digging in the dirt. You found a worm. Then you found a bird. You cleaned off the bird and fed it.

Her memory is incredible. "I saw a man wearing a skirt," she said.
"You did? Where?"
"With daddy." Pause. "Some wear pants, some wear skirts; some wear shirts, some wear dresses!"
I asked Sean later if he had any idea what she was talking about. "We did see a man wearing a skirt," he said. "Three weeks ago!"

4) We found a preschool for Jo - she's going to start going on Wednesdays. It is a magical place - garden paths, bunnies, purple rooms... more on that later. Totally a gift from the universe - and from Lily's parents, who heard of the opening and basically got it for us on virtue of Lily and Jo's friendship!

Munchkins in Hoods (it rained finally!)

Flower Boy and Fairy Princess Go to a Tea Party

The Many Faces of Queen-Fairy-Princess Josephine

Power to the People

Girl power! Yah!

Actually, these were the poses that went along with my request for them to say "cheese."

Sam is obviously enthralled.

The third pic is of one of our friends comforting the children, who were frightened by the UVA mascot - a giant puffy 'cavalier' - wandering around. He did look spooky.

8/25

1) Jo and Sam hanging out with cousin Alison and her friend
2) Jo washing Sam in his turtle tub - and then washing the turtle, the walls, the floor...
3) Jo decided to wash her baby doll, too

Sorry for bad photos - still trying to figure this one out!