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!"

the silent pout... but still cute!


Jojo tricked me into "sharing" her cone with my bowl...


Jojo and mom at the fountain in Los Gatos.


More ice cream... always pink!


Best seat in the house... Jojo enjoys the backpack.


Eating lunch with sis and Aunt Kari during our hike. Daddy gets a much-needed backpack break.


This fallen tree was THE place to climb in Big Basin. Here with sis, cousins Evan and Kareena.


Sand toys in Santa Cruz!


Jojo on the plane ride on the SC boardwalk. She didn't like her first ride, but this one she at least smiled on.


Point Reyes was beautiful, cold, and foggy! We didn't stay long.



Funny that no matter how cool the vacation location is, this is Jojo's favorite spot - pretending to drive...

Pictures are coming...

I just had to share this one today: We are still working hard on the potty training thing, with some progress. Today Jojo woke up from her nap and had gas. I asked her if she needed to go potty. She said, "No, it's just gas. I need to go to the gas station."

We spent 2 hours today trying to beat the heat at Lakeshore's pool. It was great.

Jojo is so intent on becoming a "big girl" that I'm a little scared it's become too much. She acts out as a baby, wimpering and waving her hands in front of her, as if she's fighting the idea of having to act "older." I hate to push her, but at the same time, I don't know the line between letting her grow up at her own pace and holding her back by doing too much for her. Not that she's behind, per se. It's just hard not to compare her in the obvious area that we think she's behind in, i.e. the potty issue.

She'll always be my "little girl," and I know I should enjoy every moment, which I'm trying to do.

Vacation pics will be posted tomorrow.

Just two weeks, and I missed so much. Gotta get some videos from Sheryl.

Jojo keeps coming up with these "words of the day." Not that she calls them that, but I do. The first was "adorable" as in everything is "just adorable." Then it was "amazing." We went to check out Lakeshore AC. She saw the small gym, and I put her on the bench outside the window. "It's amazing!" she said. She said it a few more times throughout the tour. I'll post the videos we have on it.

She is also getting into the "watch me, Daddy!" phase. She's been in the "will you do ___ with me" for a while. She loves Sis's Hello Kitty baseball bat, and we have to tell her not to hit everything and everyone in sight with it. I think she learned it from playing baseball with the boys in Grandma's backyard. Sometimes the boys play swords or light sabers with them, too. She's asked me to fight with her a couple of times.

It is amazing how much she picks up. At the library last week, she wanted books on Humpty Dumpty (where'd she find out about him?). We got three of them, and of course she likes the one that has Humpty Dumpty climbing in his underwear (H.D. Climbs Again by David Horowitz).

Her favorite bed time story is still Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I try to incorporate something from our day into the story, but it always starts the same: "once upon a time there was a girl named... what was her name?" "Goldilocks" comes the happy answer. Yesterday Goldilocks liked to pick blueberries with her mommy (something she and Sheryl did in the backyard that evening). She tends to fall asleep before I finish the story, but if she's awake, she knows if I vary it one bit, and she corrects me. The routine has become more complicated by a string of party lights over her bed. She gets to drink her milk and maybe read one book while the lights are on, but we have to turn them off for Goldilocks or she won't go to sleep. "But it's dark when I close my eyes" she protests. "Yes, but if you don't close your eyes, you can't fall asleep." I lay on the floor, usually stretching my back as I tell the story. It also makes it easier for me to escape one she's asleep because she can't feel me take pressure off the mattress or anything like that, as I had to learn the hard way.

Jojo is also learning to enjoy time with Sis. She used to beg to go everywhere with me. Now if Sis is home, she wants to stay home with Sis. Today she threw Sis a ball (stilling working on catching) and watched Sis cut out clothes from her fashion book. Sis won't change her diapers, so I can't be gone long.

Finally, we took Jojo off cow milk, and her attitude has improved. Less cranky, more cheerful. She's actually eating food and asking for food. Granted, it's the same food - prunes, meat, yogurt, cereal, crackers - just more of it and more willingly.

Tomorrow she is going swimming with Grandma. I'll tell you how it went...

"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!

A couple of funny stories. I have plenty of videos to upload. I just got a monitor from my dad, so my laptop, which has display issues, will become a desktop here pretty soon.

On Sunday, Jojo and I were at Subway. A little girl a few booths over started crying. She asked me, "Is that girl crying because her mommy said no?" "I don't know," I said. Her reply: "When mommy says no, Sis only gets mad."

Tonight I was singing the ABC song with her as we read Alphabet Rescue. I sang it, and she held her hand sideways across her lips like she was telling me a secret and said softly, "You have to sing it better!" The song apparently ends with "Next time I will sing to you" instead of "next time won't you sing with me."

Jojo got her first knee scrape when she went to the park with mom Sunday night. She's worn her first band-aid the last few days. I had to tell her her knee wasn't bad, and I think I've convinced her it'll get better.

She loves Goldilocks and the three bears and has the version we read down so well she corrects me if I don't say it right. Most of the time I repeat it without the book, but she reminds me that Goldilocks "ate the porridge all up" the chair didn't just break - it "broke into little pieces," and the little bear's bed is not a bed but a crib.

She is a very observant little girl. I am amazed at how well she thinks - not just remembers, but seems to take the time to reason things out.

My computer has been acting up lately, so it's been a while.

I have some videos to share. There's a lot more, but my HD+ camera is too fast for my computer, so it locks it up. Not fun.

Jojo has been sick the last week or two.

We also had a Utah scare, as in, we were seriously considering moving to Utah. Scary stuff. Glad we didn't!

Jojo loves to eat paper, especially toilet paper. Lately, she's come up with two tricks. When she's on the potty, she asks Sheryl or me to go get her diaper. She is trying to get us out of the room so she can take a mouthful. Also, she calls it gum, as in the video below.

JoJo has been really fun lately.

On the one side, she loves to be helpful. She helps grandma at the food bank and in her basement. Tonight Sheryl is folding brochures for an upcoming camp, and JoJo wanted to help, so she helped put some of the brochures into the box. Then she got her own pad of paper and started tri-folding them, offering them to mommy and sis as "gifts."

It's also funny hearing her reports about Jeanie's house. "Jancie is a bad boy." "Hudson gave Jeanie a broon today." What's a broon, Jojo? She patiently repeats herself until I figure out it's a balloon. Was it Jeanie's birthday? "Yes." I can't be for sure because every day is a birthday with her!

At the same time, she's figured out the mommy-daddy game. If mommy tells her to do or stop doing something, she runs to daddy. If daddy tells her, she runs to mommy. She's not getting away with it much, which is good.

She loves her Monday nights and Tuesday days with Grandma, and mommy and daddy love their one night a week of uninterrupted sleep. Needless to say, I still did wake up at 3:30, probably out of habit.

The first videos from my new Vado camera. As I learn to edit video, I'll put up more.

Less writing, more pics... many more coming!

JoJo decided that painting her face was more fun than painting paper!
No matter how nice her new bed is, this is her favorite sleeping place - Daddy's lap! Ain't she adorable with those cute little arms?

JoJo's new bed. Notice her pink decorations on the wall - she wants her wall pink, and this was her first idea on how to get there!

Some fun stories to tell about JoJo.

First of all, she has named her feet: They are Ham (right) and Tom (left). She says she got the names from Jeanie.

Jeanie said today she came down from the play area upstairs at daycare with a plate. She brought it to Jeanie and said, "let's play frisbee!"

But the big news is that JoJo has a new bed in a new room! The first night she was so happy to have a new bed, she climbed up in it at 6 pm and said she was going to sleep. She said she wanted the walls pink, then green. Sheryl bought a green fabric for the walls, but JoJo taped some pink paper to the wall underneath it (pic below). She only cried when Sheryl took her pillow to put a pillow case and JoJo leaned back as if it were still there. It's the 2nd video below. By the third night - Sunday - JoJo was not so happy. She cried, "I want to sleep in my old room. I want to sleep with you." I had to hold her until she was asleep before she would lie in the bed. Tonight she didn't want to lie down either, so Sheryl stayed with her to get her to calm down.

There are so many little things happening with JoJo right now, I'm afraid if I don't write them down, I'll forget them. I'm sure I've missed a bunch already. I also don't want this to be just a highlight list, but real memories to look back on.

I'm finding we need to be careful about what JoJo hears. She sat on the couch the other day saying (rather loudly), "Shh! I'm thinking!" over and over. We asked her where she learned that, and she said, "Jeanie's house." She also kept saying, "stop being whiney-butt" (which is what I say to her when she's being whiney). It turns out Jeanie did not teach her the "Shh!" line, but she learned it from Angelina Ballerina videos. I think she's learned some of her whiney voices from there, too.

Bedtime has changed: The good news is that she is sleeping through the night - 8:30-4:30, bottle, then until 7. That is a great improvement over the last two years, and I'm beginning to remember what it was like not to be tired and sleep-deprived all the time. The bad news is that she is using every trick in the book not to go to bed: "I need blue blankie!" then "No, I need pink one!" ; "I want to sleep with mommy" ; "I didn't say night night to Sis" ; "Daddy, I want to sleep with you." The other day I was trying to get her to take a nap, and I was singing our usual "Jesus Loves Me" song, and she told me, "No Jesus Loves Me, Bible story - no take a nap!" I've sung it to her every night that I've put her to bed. It's the first indication she's given that she knows it.

It is fun to see her get excited about things. She loves coins ("my monies"). She has two coin purses, both temporarily lost, and every time she sees change, it's "I need my monies" followed by "where's my purse?" She'll put them in her purse, then into her socks, then into a pocket, then back into the purse, over and over again.

She still loves to read, and every time we're up on near Fred Meyer she asks to go to the library to get books! I love it! Currently it's Curious George, Baby Brians, and George Willy and Freddy Magee. It's funny that I have access to 3,000 or so picture books, but I go to the public library to get books for her! I think it's because I like to get books, too (imagine that)!

One last thing. I was reading a Yahoo! News article today, and JoJo climbed on the couch next to me. She pointed at a picture and said, "That's Bac Obama!" She actually recognizes the President's face. I was so impressed I called Grandpa Dale, who is a staunch Republican, so she could tell him. What a smart girl!

A few pictures from Halloween, pumpkin carving, and the pumpkin patch!