Josie's 1st Haircut!!!

Just an inch or so!

I'm losing my mind with her room!!!

Josie's room is making me coo coo. I want her to be a free spirit and play until she can no longer play, but seriously, her room is a wreck. I pick up toys, books, clothes, toys, books, clothes all day long. I used to think that was a bad idea, but I can't help myself, the mess makes me nuts. I don't think she has an excess amount of toys she just really likes to play with everything and she loves to dump boxes out. What kid doesn't though? She does pick up if I ask her too, but that's a chore in itself. My niece came to visit yesterday and thought Josie's room was the coolest thing ever: Pink and chaotic! She didn't want to leave. I even took the liberty of dressing her up all fancy while my sister left the room. It was like dressing a little doll. I can't even remember Josie being that small. Okay what a random post, but maybe my photos of Josie's room will make you feel better about your child's room, lol!

The Zoo & Spider Web!!!

NW Trek!!!

We definitely take full advantage of our NW Trek membership. I love that its always the same animals, but its always a different experience. Our last trip to the Trek was my favorite, Josie was totally into the tram ride and spotting the animals. We were really lucky to see 4 out of the 5 moose, which delights me because sometimes we don't get to see any of them and they are my favorite. I like how quiet the trails are and that it feels like a "family" outing because you really do get to be alone out there.

A Cool, Crisp Day at the Park...

We met up with friends today at the park. It's amazing what a couple of hours outside can do for you. It felt great. I've been a bit of a homebody lately. Getting a lot of work done, but it was definitely time for some play time. We then took a walk around the park on a great trail. The creek around the path was really full due to the heavy rain we've been having. There were tons of different types of ducks to feed and plenty of mud to try to avoid. I normally let Josie get pretty dirty when we play outside, but I didn't want to let her start something and have the other kids join in since everyone was headed to pizza afterwards. We had a great time at lunch and got to see two trains whiz by the pizza shop. A lovely little adventure with great friends. On the way home we sang our ABC's and counted to 14 again and again.

Dancing in the Dark!

Josie's loves for me to sit in her room with her, turn the lights out and turn her pink flower light and the radio on. She spins and dances. She does the funniest thing where she spins to the left and keeps her eyes looking over her shoulder so she really has no idea where she is going. She repeatedly falls and gets back up. She would do it all night if she could. Today Josie learned how the radio dial works and that if she turns it slowly she can find a song. She has been favoring country lately, ugh!!!
And check out that outfit!

Up to 14!

Josie has been really motivated to learn the alphabet and numbers recently. She pretty much has the alphabet in the bag (unless she is going to fast) and today she counted all the way to 14. It's really exciting to listen to her count and hear the way she pronounces each number and how if she doesn't receive an applause right away she gives herself one.

She also started singing a couple new songs that she picked up on Sesame Street like Sing, sing a song and a song that three turtles sing called Follow. They sing it in rounds so I'm sure it will be a while before she has that one down, but she's giving it her best and its so cute.

And so it begins...

Josie has officially started dressing herself. It's hilarious. She empties a draw or two and sits in a pile of clothes trying on one thing after another until she is satisfied. I think she got into the mind set this week when we started using Pull-Ups. I didn't get a photo of yesterdays outfit (a night gown that she insisted on wearing all day), but today's is pretty fabulous. She was wearing a pumpkin hat that fit her when she was an infant, but it mysteriously went missing. Oh how I love two!!!

Raking Sand

My Mom got Ed a water fountain/zen sand garden for Christmas and I felt the urge to pull it out of the box the other day and rake sand. It's a silly thing, but it really is relaxing. I was so tempted to call Josie over to check it out and see what she thought. I hesitated and then caved in. I love showing her new things even if they aren't age appropriate, Playdoh and finger painting at 12 months for example. I don't mind cleaning up her messes when it's something like that though because watching her little mind wrap around something new is so cool.

So I pulled the chair over to the counter and called her over. Of course within minutes (okay seconds) sand was everywhere. She was really enjoying it so I pulled out my big bowl of sand that I got in Hawaii that has seashells and glass stones and we raked away. It worked out much better in a larger space. I explained that we need to rake slow and gentle and she did a really good job.