A few have commented (in person) about my decision to not post more stories about JoJo. They were disappointed. I've added a few. Funny, but I'd forgotten how much I enjoy writing them!





But don't worry, there are more pics at the bottom, too!

She's in potty-training, and we have her a little confused. Sheryl uses the term "bottom" for her back-side; I was cleaning her up the other day, and she was facing me, and I said, "I need to wipe your butt" and proceeded to wipe her front and back. Now, she walks around touching her back-side then her front saying, "this is my bottom; this is my butt; this is my bottom; this is my butt."

Over the summer she has developed a love for puzzles. She has the little 12 piece puzzles with the picture on the border and the outline of the pieces cut into the background. She has done most of them enough that she can do the entire puzzle by herself. The fun part, however, is that she likes to play with me when solving them. When teaching her how to do them, I'd let her put a piece down and I'd ask her, "does that go there?" if it was in the wrong place. Then I'd show her the correct place and probably way over-do it by showing her the matching colors/shapes from the border. Now, she does it to me. She'll take a piece that's obviously in the wrong place and say, "go here?" knowing that it's wrong. I'll say, "no." She'll do it 3-4 times before she puts it in the right place then proceeds to do the same with the next piece. We've tried moving her on to 24 piece puzzles, but I think the lack of shape/border is beyond her still.

She plays the same game with pictures in books. For as long as I've read to her, we've looked at the pictures in the book, and I'd ask, "where's the ... cat... dog... whatever" and she'd point to it. Since she started talking, it's been a mixture of that and, "what's that" with me pointing, and she would say the name of the thing in the picture. Now, she does that to me as well. "What's that, daddy, what's that?" She'll do it for a bunch of items on the page, but NEVER for something she doesn't know. I've tested her by saying the wrong thing, and she'll say, "no, (big smile) that's a ... " and say the right answer. If she doesn't know an answer when I ask, she just smiles and looks at me - then repeats the answer (and never forgets!)

She's back to Jeanie's house for daycare, and I can tell she's back into the routine because she whines less at home (having to vie for attention with 6 other kids must be teaching her patience) and she eats better! I think she's done with the high chair, preferring to sit on her knees on the same kind of chair as the rest of us, which also gives her the option of climbing onto daddy's lap to finish her meal if she wants. I don't mind, usually, but eating can be a pain when one arm is busy holding her up!

It's fun to hear her yell "daddy" when I come home each night. She demands "hold you" (although it's turning to "hold me" lately) even before I can empty my hands. I ask her every day, "did you have fun at Jeanie's?" and she smiles big and says, "Yeeees." I ask her, "did you play with Ashley?" Again, a big smile and "yeeees." I ask her, "what did you do?" The first few days the reply was "play toys," but Monday and Tuesday this week it was "cry." "No playing?" I'd ask. "No playing, just cry." "Why did you cry?" No answer. Finally I called Jeanie, and she thought it was hilarious. Turns out there's a little baby there who cries A LOT, and JoJo goes up to Jeanie all day and says, "Baby crying, baby crying." Jeanie hasn't seen JoJo cry at all. Today when I asked her she said, "No cry today. I play." I'll ask her what she ate. Dad: "Did you eat yogurt?" (big smile) "yeees." ; "Did you eat fruit?" (big smile, shakes head) "I didn't." ; "... have juice?" (big smile) "No have juice" or "I didn't." We go on and on with things I know she's eaten there in the past. Turns out, all she says "yeees" to is yogurt!

I am amazed at how smart she is; she does have two smart parents, but still! I hear comments all the time from people who are amazed at how well she speaks. She doesn't have her "l's" yet, but her sentences, her vocabulary, and her ability to say long words on the first try are pretty advanced for her age.

One last story: Her Sunday School teacher has a son in my school. I saw JoJo's paper the other day from church, and it had her name written on it twice. Turns out Tricia had written JoJo's name on the bottom of the page, and JoJo pointed to the other side and said, "No here. Name goes here" and made her re-write it. The term Tricia used was "bossy" as in "your little girl is bossy, isn't she?" She said it with a smile, of course, but she's right - when JoJo wants something, she can be very demanding! Still, it was cute that she was particular about where her name goes on the page.


JoJo loves the little stool, and she loves carries her mini-books of Winnie the Pooh. She still asks to "read book" whenever she's upset.


Size 2T jammies! I was telling the guys in my small group how I feel bad when she wants me to hold her before bed, but I'm doing the dishes. Gil suggested that I have her help me. She loved the idea and even pushes her stool up to the counter saying, "Do dishes, daddy..." Of course, she's no help, yet but it's fun to have her there wanting to be by me. Good idea, Gil!



What a cutie!