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.