"When I get bigger" is the latest theme, along with "Daddy says I'm getting to be a big girl."

My favorite is "when I get better, I'm going to teach Buster to ride a bicycle." Of course, if you laugh at it, she repeats it over and over again. Fun stuff.

So, what does it take to be a "big girl"? Potty trained? We're working on that. Sleep through the night? I wish. No more milk (soy or regular) in the middle of the night? Start school? Not rushing that one. What is the milestone, besides age?

Speaking of school, Jeanie's lessons have stuck! Jojo can say her ABC's ("next time I will listen to you!") and count to 12, after which she gets creative and repetitive. She also knows that a stop sign is an octagon (as mentioned below), but when you ask, "what does an octagon look like" the answer is simple: Jeanie has a blue one.

We went to the public library for story time today. That ladies who run story time are amazing, keeping the kids' attention and all, although I must say, if I had to listen to them all the time, they'd drive me crazy!

Below is a video Sheryl shot tonight. It's another "bigger" story:

Jojo is getting demanding. Everyone talks about the Terrible Twos, and I think she's there.

- In certain moods, she contradicts everything! "No, it's not!" You could say the sky is blue and she'd argue!
- She makes up things that other people supposedly said or think: "Sis says she doesn't want to!" when Sis wasn't even in the room.
- Her please goes on forever, and even when you say yes, if you don't do what she wants immediately, she keeps going...
- Her new phrase is "I can't." I'm trying to teach her to say, "I need help" or "I didn't know how" or something like that. A whiny "I can't" is too sad for me.

The pics below are ones Jojo took with Mommy's camera. She knows to put the strap around her neck so she doesn't drop it, but the strap is so long, it's up on her shoulder on one side and tangling up her elbow on the other. She tells everyone (includind Buster and the chickens) to say cheese!

Half of daddy...


Most of mommy, who was working on the chicken coop.


I helped her a little with aiming this one... she took 2 more on her own.


The next three are just random shots... she took alot of shots of her legs while walking around. I had to really lean in to get into one of the shots she asked me to say "cheese" for!




The chickens didn't say cheese, but she got really good detail on the chicken wire...

Finally got one video to upload!

Still having trouble uploading videos. Must be the 2 red bars that show my weak internet connection.

Anyway, we went for a walk tonight. Jojo spends half the time on our family walks in the stroller, and half the time walking. She likes to run, either chasing (catching up to) Mommy, or telling me, "you can't catch me!" I called her the Gingerbread girl (or the Jojobread girl). She started calling me the Stinky Cheese Man! Then Cedar was Sis Pequano (rhymes with "volcano").

I cringe a little bit as she runs down the sidewalk, as if I'm bracing myself for a face-plant. She hasn't tripped in a while, but a part of me wants to grab her, or at least run next to her in case she does.

On the way home she got the idea of walking on the 6 inch edge of the sidewalk. I pushed the stroller and held her hand as she "balanced" on the edge. Again, I had to fight the urge to tell her to move to the middle of the sidewalk where it's safer. I also had to fight the impatience I felt as they walked slower than usual on the edge (when she walked at all). "why am I in a hurry?" I had to keep asking myself. Then I'd smile and let her do her thing.

She still doesn't get the concept that I can't stop the stroller in the middle of an intersection so she can walk, and she thinks she can jump out at any time. Twice I almost ran her over because she climbed down and stood in front of the stroller.

All in all, it was a fun little walk. Much better than watching TV, for sure.

Hopefully with all that running she'll sleep better. She was up at 2 last night, and kept us both up until 3. Finally, after she kept fussing, I told her she would be in her room if she didn't stop whining and crying. She said she wanted to be in her room, and she slept until after 6. Go figure. This interrupted sleep is really wearing Sheryl and I down. I hate to look forward to the night she's at grandma's - I hate to think that I want my kid to be gone just so I can sleep. I know she loves it at grandma's, but hopefully she'll start sleeping through the night.

I was admonished by my mother that I have not been keeping up on this blog.

The videos I referred to back in April are gone! I do have some more recently; they are below.

The big new thing with Jojo is "octagon." She has astonished a bunch of people lately with her recognition of stop signs and saying, "stop sign is an octagon." Of course, when tested, she couldn't identify a square, so the geometry stills needs some work, but she's one smart kid!

Jojo counts to 10 very well, and often gets to twelve before she either starts repeating herself or getting creative. She can also say her alphabet very well when she wants to. Thanks, Jeanie!

We're also working on please and thank you. I sometimes forgot to require her to say please, so it's still a work in progress.

Jojo has also discovered hitting. She will swing anything around, hit anything with anything, and loves shooting bad guys. I'm sure this has nothing to do with infatuation with her cousin Hudson, who is now her favorite person. She loves Hudson! When I tell her she is going to grandma's house, her first question is, "will Hudson come play?" She has gone to Hudson's house the last two weeks to play with him.

Finally, Jojo cannot go to bed with hearing "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (and sometimes "and Flowers and her Mommy"). If I try to sing to her, she tells me "she's boring" (meaning, she's bored), and that I need to stop. I do try to pray with her after she sleeps, and often I'll get my "Jesus Loves Me" song in then.

I will try to post more often so each post isn't a long list of catch-up.

Enjoy the videos and pics below!