Girl in Hat

Just got these pics in from Sean's mum - they crack me up! What a poser!

Today Jo played with an old tube of lipstick,
learned how to use a pair of scissors,
made Daddy's bags of leaves into a chaise lounge for her to stretch upon,
saw a bit of "Lost" on our computer screen and later went to the backyard to explore 'the jungle,'
miraculously found her brown shoe that had been lost in a foot-deep pile of leaves over a month ago,
ate strawberries and pancakes,
pretended to be Santa Claus, giving me imaginary presents to unwrap, all of which I was told were Miss Piggy,
"washed" (soaked) her brown shoe in the bathroom sink,
made a crown that said "I can help" in Sunday School,
"helped" Daddy rake leaves and Mommy sweep with her mop and broom...
Twas a busy day for Lady J.

"I by self!"

I know this is a normal stage - every kid gets to the point of wanting to do everything "by self," as Jo puts it. So I'm not surprised - but I do find it amusing, often impressive, and sometimes frustrating.

Amusing because there's so much she enjoys doing By Self that later in life she will hate having to do, from chores to just the regular routines of dressing, brushing, etc. I wish I could feel as excited about brushing my teeth and sweeping the kitchen floor as she does... ("Look Sean! I did it! All by myself!" Comical, no?)

Impressive because she's figured out how to take off her shirts and put her on her socks really well - and I know I certainly wasn't showing her how to do it! She loves puzzles, too, and is getting pretty good at them. The other day she changed several music CDs successfully.

Frustrating, sometimes, because now she tends to strip off shoes and socks in the car, changes her shoes constantly, and demanded we buy her pull-up diapers so she could do that herself, too - a request we were happy to oblige, though so far I've been doing all the pulling up and she's been doing all the taking off and running around naked...

Ultimately, I'm really super proud of her growing independence and I delight in the sense of accomplishment she achieves every time she does something on her own.

Brief notes: Talking, Singing

1) So, one of Jo's new Fun Things To Do is to run through a range of faces that she makes - lifting and scrunching eyebrows, a variety of expressions... it's pretty funny... and she knows it...

2) Last night at dinner, she started uh interacting with ... something else... she seemed to be signaling to someone or something around the ceiling fan... she was telling it / gesturing to it to come down... smiling at it... Sean and I were extremely puzzled, and we kept trying to ask her who or what she was seeing / talking to, but she wouldn't say... it was extremely strange...

3) "Pacifier / Fire engine" - a song Jo was singing the other day - I loved that she heard the "fire" in "pacifier" and linked it to "fire engine" - word play - to mama poet, this is delightful - The other 'song' she sings is "Mommy right back", which always makes me want to cry, it's her lullabye to herself, it seems

Here's Jo before we went out in the snow yesterday. She LOVED it.

Two of my Favorite Recent Pictures

Royalty

I'm trying to convince Sean that it's all going to be Okay.

She's not going to be a princess-queen forever.

She won't eat, drink, and breathe Pink forever...

I mean, here she is loving a purple dress, for instance...

Her outfit for church yesterday:
Red "church party" dress
Pink stockings
Black velvet shoes
Purple purse
Purple crown
Blue knit scarf
Pink jacket

Let's just say the effect was... stunning. I think it cheered quite a few people up, in fact. One lady was groaning that she didn't have her camera with her.

Still, Queen Josephine did manage to romp with all that on the playground, much of which consisted of going in endless circles shouting "I'm dizzy! I'm dizzy!" while the other kids watched, bemused. And that afternoon she helped Daddy rake leaves.

New concepts stream from her mouth on an hourly basis, as well as complete sentences, but one of the most interesting ones was when last night, Sean pointed at a tree and said, "What's missing from the tree?" "Leaves!"

Aunt Kiki

Poor Aunt Kiki from Texas found Virginia cold. Still, we had a lovely, if short, weekend with her.

I look like a crazy person.

Here's a couple other pics she took...

Princess Josephine

We have, so far, kept our child sort of far away from the Princess cult. Still, it's difficult to determine what role models are really appropriate. I'm not sure what idolizing Miss Piggy will bring, but I can fairly say that at least she (literally) overpowers her object of affection (poor Kermie) and Dora, despite the weakness of the books/movies, is an active adventurer - unlike the primping princesses who do nothing but glam it up.

Still, Piggy and Dora are both pink, and so our daughter likes to be Pink, and she loves the princesses when she sees them. Last night, I was woken again at 4 am because Jo had lost one of her pink shoes that she was sleeping in, and could not return to dreamland without that missing shoe. I helped. I understand. It's hard to lose things in the middle of the night.

In other Jo news, she also performed for us last night. She did some tap dancing (stomping) and pretended to be a mermaid. She really can crank up the charisma when she wants! She made some cakes out of drums and blankets decorated with candles (bells) and sang happy birthday. Her imagination is blossoming! I almost hate to get her any play food or toys, because she does so well inventing things out of other things.

But we're not so good on the sharing front yet. We had missed a few advent calendar chocolate window openings, so we caught up last night. When we got to the third chocolate, I said to Jo, "Can mama have one? Can you share with mama?"
"No."
"Come on, Jo. Share. Save one for Daddy. Share with Daddy!"
"No," she said, popping the chocolate in her mouth. "Share with JO."

So I've lost the battle. I won't give up on the war. Promise.