Happy Independence Day!

Had a great weekend visiting Grammy & Grandpa again at the lake. Josie had her first boat ride and parade and a tasty dinner at a favorite local restaurant. It's so fun to have people who sit near us them marvel at her table manners. (okay, not her manners, exactly, but since they undoubtedly sat down thinking, "Darn it! Right next to a baby!" Her relatively quiet concentration on eating must be a happy surprise : )

Pictures to come ... but in the meantime, here are a few more of Josie's favorite things to do:

- Eat (we've established this, so I won't keep mentioning it). Apparently "mmmmmm" will be Josie's first word.
- Feed baby or teddy bears (and one time even the cat, although the spoon didn't end up even close to MacKenzie's mouth ...)
- Arrange baby or teddy bear in a basket or box. She's very fussy about this, and will spend 15 minutes arranging and rearranging their position until she finally hits the wall of frustration. This weekend Grammy figured out that what she REALLY wants is for them to sit upright, not lay down ...
- Hug, pat or jump on Minnie Mouse, Froggy, Cat in the Hat and other big stuffed toys or pillows. Again, MacKenzie's a bit harder to nail down for this ...
- Read books (Favorites are still "Bear Wants More" and "Moo, Baa, La la la." But she loves anything with a flap to lift or babies or objects that we name over and over. She also has a little photo album with all her family members that I brought to Kazakhstan on our last visit. It's a big hit, and she points to everyone.
- Play peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek. The hiding is now just as much fun as the "jump out and laugh loudly" part.
- Put on ... take off ... put on ... take off ... on ... take off ... the shoes. Josie says, "Velcro rocks!"

and finally ...

- What I fondly call "Getting Mommy's Goat." This is a game where Josie does something she knows Mama doesn't want her to do and then laughs or grins devilishly as Mama reacts predictably (and loudly).

The photos at the top of this post are a perfect example of "Getting Mommy's Goat." Although they're totally faked in Photoshop (you know I didn't catch this in camera. Mayfly photos courtesy freenaturepictures.com)

Playing outdoors typically ends with Mama issuing the ultimatum "If you put one more thing (rock, leaf, twig, stick, piece of bark) in your mouth, we're going inside."

Saturday she did one better - a nice, juicy bug. (Mayflies everywhere, dead, half-dead, mostly alive). I didn't have the camera up, nor did I issue the ultimatum. I ran toward her, squealing like a girly-girl.

Grammy yanked the disgusting thing out and threw it in the grass. Eeeeuuuww, but okay - bug gone. Until I said, "I think you missed something." and she turned to see my little pink princess with one remaining Mayfly wing hanging delicately from her lips.

Mmmmm.

... and the cat says ...

Ga and Da

Josie and I visited Grammy & Gramps (aka, "ga" and "da") last weekend at the lake. Too cold to swim yet, but maybe next weekend. Josie had fun playing in the yard and swinging on the hammock with Mama and Grammy and discovered the "play" house for the first time. Hopefully we'll have photos of that next weekend, when we go back to celebrate Fourth of July Independence Day with Josie's two favorite people : )

For now, some new photos ...

Cutie

Mothers Day

My mom shot this on Mothers Day. Josie's first try at eating out, and although she did get a bit cranky and overtired, she was good as gold through church and most of brunch. This cute dress, which you only see a bit, was from Grammy, and has American flags across the tummy. CUTE!

More Mothers Day photos later.

Recent photos

little sweet pea ...

Sometime soon (I promise!) I'll post photos of Josie's baby showers, baptism, Mothers Day and all other fun first events. Obviously being a mom with a darling little sweet pea to photograph did not make me better at getting the photos made, or even posting them on the blog ...

I've started to lose track of all Josie's "firsts," too. She's just like a little sponge, soaking up knowledge and astounding her Mama everyday. I don't know how many times I've said, "There's no way she actually knows that!" only to find that, indeed, she has a whole encyclopedia and vocabulary in her head that's growing constantly.

She understands abstract concepts and appears to "get" things I'm sure I never taught her (was it just my last post where I was bragging that she could "follow" 2-step commands?). Lest you think we're running out to join Mensa tomorrow, however, her favorite activity is still playing tag with the cat ...

Other things Josie likes to do:
- attempting to put her shoes on (her feet, my feet, Minnie Mouse's feet ...)
- eating
- playing or listening to music
- eating
- hugging her toys
- eating
- playing at the computer with Mama
- eating
- exploring outdoors
- eating
- meeting new people
- eating
- playing in the tub
- eating
- hugging, touching, jumping on, poking, tickling and being held by Mama
- and, of course, eating

Josie's still working on a really clear first word, although, by the tone of her babbling, I'm probably going to look back at this as the good old quiet days ...

One real first, which has not been mastered since? The poo-poo in the potty. Although a complete fluke (comprised of an unusually aware and fast-moving Mama who noticed gas bubbles escaping in the tub - and a cooperative baby, who popped out the rather large nugget with panache).

Hey, my friend Karen says babies get credit for everything they do, whether they did it on purpose, or not.

Anyway, we're working on achieving this desirable potty activity again, since it's shorts weather, and last night had a close brush with success. Josie "told" me she had a poo-poo and headed off to the bathroom so we could have the fun of dropping pants and flushing Louie down the sewer (don't ask why ... It's Pooey Louie and Wetty Betty ... but we don't have a name for what comes out of the nose yet ...)

Sorry for the potty talk ...