Took Jojo and a friend to a play at VSAA.  It was an 'interactive' play where the narrator asked the audience questions.  After a story about a river, where actors personified a river, the narrator asked the kids, who were sitting on the floor in front, what they thought.  Jojo yelled out, 'The river was annoying.'  The entire room burst out laughing.

After the play, all the actors/actresses wanted to meet the girl who thought the river was annoying, and of course, Jojo soaked up all the attention.

We went to Ice Cream Renaissance afterwards, a good way to event a fun play date.

Jojo now brushes her hair in the morning - one less thing for me to do, and it looks about the same, so yeah for that.

She taught me something new today: "Dad, you want to know what happens when I brush my hair?  It stretches at the bottom, that's how I make my hair longer. So if you brushed your hair each morning, you could have long hair and I could braid it. And Dad, your beard doesn't count."  "Why not, it'd look cool with braids." I DO NOT want to braid your beard!"

The hat

I found a knit hat and scarf combo this morning tucked up on the coat closet shelf.  It's way too big for her, but Jojo loves it.  She's worn it all day and intends to sleep with it tonight.  I'm glad, as she was starting to claim my black/grey hat for herself. 

She wrote a note for me.  It says, 'There is no time that I can't have the hat.'  Cool to see how much she's learning in 1st grade, as her reading confidence has grown since September. 

On a sad note, we are quitting TaeKwonDo - Jojo wants to take a break, and although I had just started the class, I don't want to attend without her and make her wait in the gym for me.  Mondays were getting too crazy anyway, so although I'll miss the class, I'm sure I won't miss being out until past 7 every night.

It is official: Dr. Who, with Matt Smith, is too scary.  She was ok with David Tennant, but not Smith.  Not sure I really like Amy Pond as the side-kick, so I'm ok with it.  She wants to stick with Monk - comedies about people killing people are ok, apparently, but not with monsters killing people.  Picky picky.  :)

Clue

Jojo got the game Clue from grandma.  She loves playing it, although she doesn't quite get the strategy of it.  She loves to share, to help, and the game depends on being crafty, not sharing information.  For example, she wants to show me her cards, tell me what she has.  I have to explain to her that 'being nice' ruins the game, that it's part of the game to not help.

The other part of the game is the weapons.  I never thought I'd answer, "Dad, how do you kill someone with a rope? a lead pipe? etc."  Not exactly what I want to explain to a 6 year old, but it's part of the game and in context, so I don't think it's a problem.

A busy Saturday for my energetic 1st grader.

First we went to Felida Baptist church to make gift boxes for Operation Shoebox. Jojo made 7 in our 3 hour stint (I made only 4). She spent part of the time with her friend Courtney, but most of the time she was enamored with Gail Kreinbring, who charmingly let her follow her around and let Jojo pick things for her boxes while helping Jojo with hers.

We followed that up with Baja Fresh with Courtney's family, whose mother works at my school. It's good to have a Christian family to hang out with. The five of them (parents, 3 kids) are wonderful people to be around ('Good People' by Audio A. came to mind while writing this).

A surprise movie event at the library - as in, we were surprised to time it almost perfectly - meant we stayed there 2 1/2 hours, eating popcorn and watching Ramona and Beezus. Jojo was her usual friendly self, bonding with a slightly older girl during the movie. I got her Nate the Great on CD, and she loves the stories she has heard so far.

An interesting Jojo quote for today (context - she has been listing to Junie B. books on CD): "Dad, I look at the cover of Junie B. Jones, and I think, how come she has such a pretty voice but she has short dark hair?"

  The evening ended with Sarah and her kids coming over for a pizza night. We played games, watched TV, and made a whole lotta noise with all the kids in the house. Jojo learned how to deal with younger boys, something she's not used to doing. She was sure she wanted to stay up when they left, but she was dead asleep within 15 minutes.

Lacking pictures because of my downgrade from a smartphone. Have to come up with a way, as my phone's camera is poor.

I promised myself I'd start writing on here again.

I've been told that children's minds are sponges, that they absorb everything around them. Since she's been going to a Christian pre-school, her questions about God have greatly increased. She also likes to sing songs from Sunday school. The funny part is that if she doesn't remember the entire song, somehow a "boyfriend" sneaks into the lyrics. Better now than in high school, right?

Her questions about God lead to some interesting discussions. "Does God like iCarly?" "Why did God [corrected to Jesus] have to die on the cross?" "Is your Grandma who used to live at your mom's house in heaven?"

Also, her observations about life are funny. We were at Farmer's Market today, getting our usual cinnamon/sugar donuts and playing on the playground. As we walked around the different booths, Jojo found a booth where kids were sniffing goat cheese soap. A lady commented that she can't smell it because her nose was stuffed. Jojo's advice: "just stick your finger up there and unstuff it."

We went to see Kevin today in rehab. Bad way to spend his 40th birthday. Jojo gave him several hugs, which made him feel a little better. Kevin had shot himself in the leg accidentally with a pistol. For his birthday, we gave him a toy gun that shoots plastic balls. Jojo: "you can shoot yourself in the leg, and it won't hurt."

Jojo had a play date with Aleah today. She told me they married their boyfriends. They were going to go on a picnic with their boyfriends, but watched TV instead.

We're making plans for pre-school next fall. We have connections in Portland, but they're too far. 2nd option is a daycare by Jeanie's house, but we're on a waiting list.

I am amazed at hows much Jojo understands. We started reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. In the first chapter she teaches a girl to do the dishes, including sweeping the floor of crumbs or the witch will get her. Later in the chapter there is a boy making a pie, and it says he's getting flour on the floor. She interrupted me and said, "why didn't the witch come and get him?" I've read that book for years to many kids, and I've never heard that question - great connection to another part of the story.

Right now she also likes Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, except the parts when he is bad, and she doesn't want to hear that. I stop about 6 chapters in as the funny parts end there, but we've read the first few chapters several times.

Yes, it's finally here! and only 6 months overdue!!

Funny thing is I uploaded these to Youtube in February, just forgot to post them here.

Still catching up on videos. Beach pics are from a weekend at the coast with cousin Alex and family.

It's been two months since the last post. What can I say? School started. National boards.

I have a bunch of videos; here's some off-video highlights:

- At dinner last week, Jojo said, "salt, sssssss, salt starts with S." We didn't teach her that - must be Jeanie.
- While we were at one of Sis's games, Jojo saw "WOLVES" painted on the floor. She said, "there's the O, where's the 'Ju' (didn't say the letter J, but the sound). Not bad, eh? Jeanie again.
- She is also learning to write her name.
- she has a new friend, Aleah, 4 year old sister of one of Cedar's friends.
- Everything is "Dora, Dora, Dora." Could be worse - it could be cats, cats, cats!

Enjoy the videos!

Another telling conversation, as of this morning.

J - "Do I have a Thomas the train book?"
D - "Yes, I think so. I know Grandma has lots of them."
J - "Hey." (pause) "I said, 'HEY.' Are you listening to me?
D - "Yes, Jojo. What did you want to say?"
J - leans in and whispers, "My grandma is super!"

Oh, the stories Jojo tells.

Every day I get one report from Jeanie how Jojo was at daycare: "Jojo played with Ashley all day long - they were inseparable. They even took a late nap because they wouldn't stop playing."

Jojo's version: "Ashley wouldn't play with me because she was playing with her friend, so I went and sat against the wall" and "I played by myself when Ashley went home." "I couldn't play with two girls at the same time yesterday."

Today, Ashley wouldn't "come back to the party." I asked, "was there a party today at Jeanie's house?" "Yes, but God didn't give us any presents." "Oh. What presents did you want?" "oh, a little calculator, a sweater I can wear when I'm a big girl, a toy phone." (Those were the things Jojo had brought to Jeanie's the day before.)

Jeanie and I just laugh as I tell her the "report" that Jojo gives in the car.

Back to School.

Jojo went back to Jeanie's today since it was my first required day back at work. She cried last night, saying she'd rather go to grandma's house than Jeanie's.

I called Jeanie in the middle of the day, and everything was fine. When I went to pick her up, she could hardly wait to go back!

A few interesting developments in the last week:

1. Jojo has slept through the night all but one night! Daddy really really likes that! It's amazing how much better the morning feels after a good night's sleep.

2. Jojo discovered the term "best friend." Now, everyone is her "best friend." It's so fun to see her pick up new ideas, even if she doesn't get them perfect.

3. Bambi is the new favorite movie - I've seen it at least 6 times in the past week. Jojo knows that "the hunters shot Bambi's mom because they wanted to eat her for dinner!" Oh the joy of molding a young, impressionable mind. It is a little difficult to explain why Bambi has to fight the other boy deer over Faline. "They both wanted her to be their friend" is the best I can offer....

Little Red Riding Hood continues to be the favorite bedtime story. If I change the story just a little bit, she corrects me. Cousin Matthew said that the wolf ate Grannie, so now I have to tell it that way.

A perfect evening: steak dinner, new H. D. Wilson novel, gonna see District 9 later.

Yeah right. Mom calls, "Jojo has diarrhea, you need to come get her." Trade H. D. Wilson for Bark, George and This Little Chick. Trade District 9 for Bambi. Jojo, after one more "episode" (to be polite), was happy to be home. She called mommy on the phone, jumped on the couch, and ate a lot of ice cream.

One final trade: trade a night alone with a fun evening with my little girl. All in all, it was a good deal.

Tough day. Spent too much money making a planter box that was too big, too this, too that. Feeling crummy.

Then Jojo wanted to play, and she said, "I love you Daddy." I feel much better.

Some videos taken in the last week. Jojo loves bubbles.

She also loves to "help" in whatever project is going on. I wonder what age they stop doing that? I love it, although I feel bad when I have to tell her it's a big person job and she can't really help. Usually I can find some fun side task for her to do that keeps her happy and out of the way. It's fun just having her out there. In the video, she had seen me use the screwdriver to dig out rotten wood from the deck, so she decided to do the same on other boards - stick the screwdriver between the boards.

On Sunday we brought Jojo to church with Pull-ups because she's doing pretty well, but still not 100% reliable yet on the potty. Sure enough, I got called again this week to change her - I haven't heard a full sermon in about 2 months.

Anyway, on the way back to her classroom, Jojo told me what really happened: "You and mommy forgot to take me to potty before church because you are bad parents."

Also, Jojo has a new tent and camping chair. They're pink (of course); the tent is small enough that I can only sit up in the middle of it. It's set up in Jojo's room, and she loves to call Buster and have him rub up against the door, but she won't let him in!

Jojo's favorite dessert. Notice the hair. It looks styled, but we've never cut it.

Vacation and birthday videos!

Birthday cake!


Gift from Ashley!


opening the scooter!


learning to ride the scooter!


In Santa Cruz





Jojo with her cowboy hat... I have no idea who "Amy" is!

Jojo was riding her tricycle tonight on our walk - the first night since we've been home it's been cool enough to walk.

A few things stood out. First, she actually pedaled the pedals - which is new. Now, the pedaling didn't really get her anywhere, but she was proud of herself for pedaling as I pushed her. She even declared, "I can steer left and I can steer right!" and she did actually steer in the correct directions while saying that. The second is a habit that's been developing for a while. She got excited about "exercising her legs" so she took one hand off the bars, put it to her ear and called Hudson. "Hudson, I'm exercising my legs. Want to come exercise with me? Hudson, I'm exercising..." on and one. She even switched hands a few times. Finally, it's only been a few times she's had the thumb strength to ring her bell. I asked her to ring her bell, and she said, "That's not a bell. This (the fork for the steering handles) is the horn - that (the bell!) is the bell. See? This is the horn, that's the bell."

We've been to the pool every day this week. She still cries when she gets her face wet. I don't know what it is, but kids keep coming up to us at the pool asking me about Jojo. Usually it's 4-5 year old girls. Then they splash us, which makes Jojo cry. I eventually have to ask them to leave us alone, usually politely, although this one girl got kinda mean about it. Jojo likes to stand between my legs as I sit on the pool bottom and use my hands to scoot along. A little girl actually tried to sit on my lap, getting between me and Jojo. Jojo yelled, "that's my daddy! You go away!"