Cheers!

A special salute (Cheers!) to Josie's best friends and biggest supporters: Grammy and Bampa, with whom we spent tons of time with this summer at Glen Lake. They've been loving grandparents since 1991, when cousin Ashley was born, and are kept on their toes by Miss Josie and her antics. Here are a few of their summer highlights!

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no, no NO!!! Land ...

Yes, we've reached that magical place where every child eventually
goes: "no, no, NO!!!" Land. Josie has a full and complete grasp
of the power of "no, no, NO!!!" and uses it freely and often. She even
tells the cat, "no, no, NO!!!" when she feels her toys are in jeopardy.
And, yes ... along with "no, no, NO!!!" came "MINE!!!" accompanied
by the grab, clutch and run maneuver. Ahhh, my sweet baby
is actually a toddler : )

But, doesn't she look just swell in her new shoes?

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"go, go, go!"

Obviously, the little Spartan cheerleader wasn't enough to help MSU. : (
But, doesn't she look cute? More photos to come ...

More Josie fun ...

This past weekend was a fun one ... not only did we aquire a "new" Little Tykes car to ride in (garage sale find, thanks Nora!), but we enjoyed good company and delicious grilled chicken with our neighbors (Scott & Nora, Megan & Katie) and watched some more (sad) MSU football. Josie scooped LOTS of water from her big, pink pail and played with her kitchen.

What Josie's been doing for fun all week:
swimming like a froggie, while blowing bubbles in the tub
dancing to the ice cream truck song (Popeye the Sailor Man)
reading her animals of the world book
"playing" naptime in her crib or lying on the floor and being covered by a blanket
playing on Mom's big bed
repeating and saying lots of words (still only once, but is trying out lots of sentences, too, if only I could understand them)
practicing her baby signs: eat/drink - uses it ALL the time (I mean ALL the time ... it's sort of a composite of both, but I think she's working on it)

Suggestion from Mom: "Hey, why don't you get that paper wet and wash your car?" prompted an immediate and thorough washing of the left rear bumper ...

Where the heck was the camera???!!!

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Gotcha!

Josie playing "gotcha" with Mom ... only I got her in a picture, instead. This is one of Josie's favorite games, where Mom chases her from one room to the next and then catches her - with lots of laughter and tickling all around. Her other faves are hide-and-seek and peekaboo and she never tires of any of them.

Josie's summer fun

There were tons more "summer fun" pix, but I got brutal and narrowed it down to ten : ) All are pretty much self-explanatory, except the last one: Josie's first time watching an MSU football game. She took to it from the first big play, and cheered like a lifetime fan through the first half. (slept like a tired baby for most of the second half). Her support paid off with a win : )

such a big girl, now!

In the last few months, Josie has really blossomed! She’s so much
more toddler than baby now and a joy to watch : ) Communication
is growing and we can now pretty much understand each other
most of the time (Mama says “yay!”).

An update for all the Josie watchers:

Josie's most-used words:
(There are others, but I can't remember them right now!)
Mama (Ma, Mom, Mommy)
Mmmmm or yummm
kitty
kitty cat
Gammy (or gama or ama or mmmmma)
Bampa (or bapa)
banana
Mac Kenzie
Gracie
Bow wow (dog)
down
chair
cracker
car
spoon
teeth (loves to brush her teeth!)
gorilla (more like ga-illa. This is when she reads her animals book)
Caroline (more like Ca-la-line. She's repeated this after me and on her own
several times when looking at my niece in a family photo.)
ssshhhh (with finger to mouth)
’kay (Okay) – I haven’t heard this one yet, but Miss Deb did at school

Pretty much any word starting with a “b:”
bear
book
ball
bed
babe (baby)
bowl

Lots of words repeated when someone else says them:
Cow
Turtle
Sparty (no, I swear she did! Only it was ’Party, not Farty like Patrick used to say)
Blanket
Doll
Box
Go
Down
More
Nora (Nona)
Bobbie (Baba)


They’ve been learning Baby Sign Language at school, and Josie has a consistent
repertoire of at least 4 signs (that Mom can interpret, anyway):
More
Thank you
please
Eat
Mama (maybe)


She makes the animal connection pretty well.
Favorites are:
ooooooh (cow)
maoh (cat)
bow wow (dog)
rrrrrr (tiger – see, Andrew! Another tiger fan)

Songs:
I've Been Working on the Railroad
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Shoo, Fly
Miss Molly Had a Dolly Who Was Sick, Sick, Sick
Ring Around The Rosie
Pop Goes The Weasel
Sing A Song of Sixpence
Patty Cake
If You’re Happy and You Know It
(really, she likes all songs and will “dance” just to a rhythmic beat …
one evening we were playing outside and the local high school band
was practicing – Josie rockin’ along with them : )

Foods (almost always using her spoon – and very well, I might add):
bananas
any other fruit, including melon, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, applesauce …
pasta (spaghetti, ravioli, Mac & Cheese, Chicken & Stars …)
tuna
Salmon (our favorite “go out to dinner” order together)
cottage cheese
scrambled eggs
Cheerios, bananas & milk
Pancakes
everything, really, the child has never met a meal she didn't participate
in (picture head over bowl, scooping as fast as she can and not missing a drop
– okay, but not many drops!)

favorite things and things to do:
kitty cats
puppy dogs
baby dolls
stuffed bears or cats
musical toys
drawing pad (magnetic, with a pen)
SHOES!!!
Minnie Mouse, Cat in the Hat and Froggie
Barbie and Dolly at Gammy & Bampa's
feeding dolls and pets
playing with cousins
borrowing the Baldwin's car
playing in the Play House
Jumping on pillows
Playing with the “new” toys she got from the Sanders, who live next door
(a kitchen with play food!!! Doll stroller and cool pink chair)
sitting on porch reading newspaper with Mom
pursuing MacKenzie
catching MacKenzie
gathering all her toys (dolls, stuffed animals, etc) in a group
putting on and taking off shoes
Grammy's phone
Watching the neighborhood from the front window (when WILL I be big enough to ride that school bus?!!!)
Going to the beach: digging in the sand, standing in the waves and watching all the other people and boats
Scooping in a pail of water and dumping it on myself
“swimming” like a baby froggie in the tub
blowing kisses
and, seeing Mom come pick me up at the end of the day at school : )

Many (many) fun summer photos to come ...

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Memories old ... and new

This morning Josie and I made the trek out to my adoption agency to drop off our first post-adoption report. During this first year home, I am required to send a summary of Josie's life and progress back to Kazakhstan every six months. Then one a year until she turns 18. I see it as a positive that her birth country is concerned about her welfare. Anyway, it's a very basic report and was easy to type up, since she's glowing with health and developing like any other 16-month-old.

The fun part of this little trip (only 15 miles from home, and one of the reasons I chose this agency), was meeting up again with Chandra, my AAI adoption consultant. Chandra was my consultant from the beginning and witnessed all the ups and downs of my wait for Josie to come home. She's not only great at her job, but was always up front with me and was a huge source of support.

I was happy to see her and give congrats, as she's just gotten married ... and she was excited to meet Josie in person (as was everyone else we encountered in the office : ) Josie got to meet some new people, make an escape down a long hallway, play with new toys and show Chandra how to get a timeout from Mom.

So fun! (see how happy we are in the photo?)