What they say

Audrey: I want to get old. That's how I grow. I want to grow up!
Me: What does that mean?
Audrey: It means that you're going to be donezo!

Josie: when I go to bed, I sleep with my eyes open. I wait for daddy to leave, and then I open them.
Me: what do you do all night?
Josie: I just wait til morning.

Audrey: I'm Elsa.
Daddy:  who am I?
Audrey: you're Audrey's daddy, Michael James.
Daddy: Ok, well, who's your daddy then?
Audrey: Mi--- (stops...) you don't get to know his name!

Busted wearing my lipstick. I got this sweet expression saying that I needed a picture to show daddy, so she took it very seriously.

Audrey on a pretend phone: Hello. my dad is not very listening. because he just runned to my room. because I left the door open. it can lock if I leave it open.

Audrey: My food is in my tummy and God is in my heart. All my food is in my heart! And God is going to juggle my food.

What the kiddos say

Josie was telling us a joke. 

Josie: Where does a cow go on a Saturday night?

Us: Go to the moooovies! 

Josie: Where does a horse go on a Saturday night? 

Us: Go to the neeeeighbors! 

Josie: Where do calves go on a Saturday night? 

We looked puzzled, so she answered for us: To Graaaaaandma's house!

Audrey asked Papa after his shower if he found any tickets (ticks).

Josie, wearing her princess Anna dress that has an unfortunate hole in it: "I'm pretending this hole is a pocket."

Mike talking to Josie about work
Josie: Daddy,  your feet stink!
Mike: Well yeah, because I work a lot. Josie, do you have a job?
Josie: ...No...
Mike : Does mom have a job?
Josie: Yeah. She does the dishes and I do the silverware.

Audrey: Remember when Millie was in your tummy?
Me: Yeah.  Where were you?
Audrey: Um...in my bedroom.
Me: Ohhhh....
Audrey: Where were you? In the living room?

Josie after tripping over something : Ow! I hurt my Yankee toe.

Josie while looking out the window at a farmhouse: Oh cute! Their house is by corn.

After hearing daddy tell Audrey to hurry up: Hurry down, mom!
Me: What does that mean?
Josie: It means slow down.

What those kiddos are saying

Playing with the nativity set
Josie: Joseph, now you put the baby down. The baby needs to be. 

While eating a noodle dish for the third time leftover style
Josie: Mom... these noodles make me shiver!

Audrey at supper time
Me: Audrey, can you eat your green beans?
Audrey: No, it's ice cream! Mmmmm, ice cream
She proceeded to eat all of them, never swaying from her story that it was ice cream. The game even worked with Josie, who loved pretending that they were dessert. 

Audrey while we are praying before meals: 

Audrey: Thank you Lord for this food and for Grandma's house.

Long pause. 

All of us: Amen...
Apparently that's all we are thankful for every single time she prays.

While not as humorous, it's noteworthy to point out that the last time we went to the library, Josie really had a better understanding of the future, and not just the present time. Most visits, I spend my time picking out the books to bring home while the girls spend their time taking books off the shelves to read individually or have me read to them. No matter how many times I'd ask them if they wanted to bring them home instead, they always wanted to read them now.  This time, Josie got excited at the idea of having it to read over and over again at home, and suddenly it was like a door had opened. She couldn't pick out books fast enough to put in the library bag. When we got home, she excitedly ran to get the books she had picked out and was waiting on the couch to read them before nap time. It was fun to see her connect those dots! The concept of time is really coming together for her lately.

Josie says

After a bathroom visit:
Me: Did you remember to flush?
Josie: Yes, I did. Are you proud of me?
Me: Yep I am!
Josie: I'm proud of my sister for helping me. She's just a little one.

A few weeks ago, my mom had cataract surgery and stayed with us immediately after. She wore an eye patch the first day and Josie was terrified of it. She was absolutely shocked that Grammy had to wear that and kept begging me to have her take it off. 

It took almost the whole rest of the afternoon for her to even get close to Grammy. She laid down on the floor on the other side of the living room at first, and when we went to the grocery store, she would only hold my hand the whole time. Also, she had to be on the other side of me, not in between us. Grammy was pretty good about not being too hurt. She understood that it was very unknown to the three year old Josie. (Audrey, on the other hand, just poked the patch, laughed, and proceeded to hug and climb all over Grammy.)

Fast forward two weeks. Grammy came back for her other eye's surgery. She spent a little time explaining that she would have another eye patch after her surgery and that it would only be for a little while (I didn't know they had this conversation). After the surgery, we were heading home separately, and Josie told me that she didn't want to see Grammy. We had this conversation in the car:

Me: Why don't you want to see Grammy? (kind of shocked, she looooves Grammy)
Josie: I don't want her to have a patch on her eye. I don't like that. (So, clearly, they talked about it...)
Me: Well, she needs to have the patch on her eye to help it feel better. It's only for today, and then she can take it off just like last time.
Josie: But I don't want it on! 
(We repeated this part at least three more times before I came up with another explanation.)

Me: It's kind of like a bandaid. She has to wear it because she has an owie. But, once it heals, she can take it off.
Josie: (sitting for a while, then quietly, more to herself than to me) One time I had an owie on my knee and I put on a bandaid and it got better.
Me: That's right, Josie! It's just like that! Grammy will have a bandaid on her eye until it is better.
Josie: But I don't like that!
Me: I heard you say you don't like it. Now, we won't say it anymore because Grammy has to wear it. You still love her, right? So we can love her with her eye bandaid.

She didn't whine/cry that she didn't like it anymore and was so much better when we saw Grammy again. I really wanted to record this story because it was amazing watching her think it through and relate it to something in her life. Also, I felt like this was a great example of how we are able to talk things through more and more as she gets older.

There are a lot of great things about growing up.

Girly girl updates

The other day, auntie Lara put her necklace around Josie's neck, much to her delight. A while later, Josie asked, "Why did you lock the necklace on me?" Auntie brilliantly told her that it only can break when she is playing with it, so it's safe around her neck, but Josie wasn't buying it. She thought auntie had locked it on her forever.

Josie is full of "the sillys" all the time these days. She is constantly making up words or changing words she knows to be nonsense, ie. delmet for helmet (which kind of drives us nuts but also shows a lot of creativity). She gets so hyped up that bedtime is a disaster, usually taking a solid three hours before she'll fall asleep, regardless of what time she is put to bed, what the routine is, how she napped or didn't nap that day, etc. We're banking on it being a stage. She's gotten a lot better at playing independently, but with that comes getting into anything and everything. She can be so polite when talking with others. I often find myself reminding her to say thank you while she is saying thank you, so clearly I need to back off and let her have a chance to use her manners. 

The other day, I walked in to find Audrey laying on her changing table while Josie had a wipe and was wiping her leg. Jo had pulled her little wooden table up along side so that Audrey could climb up, and then she stood on it so she was at "mom height" to "change Audrey's diaper." After realizing that nobody was hurt or about to get hurt, I definitely laughed about it. They can be quite creative.

Audrey, these days, is winning everyone over with  her charm. The blue eyes, curly blonde hair, smiles, hugs, and constant hand holding is too much to resist. I'm not kidding, you guys. Everyone is sucked in by her charm. To top it off, she doesn't whine/cry nearly as much and she's talking up a storm, so she's just fun to be around all the time. She's just at a fun stage in life, and each stage is better than the last. She still speaks softly, so often times she relies on her facial expressions to get her point across. She has the best surprised or excited face. Huge eyes, open mouth, often times saying "'cited!" (excited). 

This mini update is leaving out a lot, but I don't want to forget these little things.

Josie says

Some of these are a little older, but definitely worth saving.

The week that my grandpa died, Josie and I had this conversation...
Me: Josie, I'm sad because my grandpa is sick and I don't like seeing him in pain.
Josie: I love my papa.
I pull up a picture of him next to a picture of my dad so she can see her papa vs mine.
Me: tearing up at this point This is my grandpa. I really love him.
Josie: I really love him too! Mommy don't be sad. Your grandpa doesn't want you to be sad. He doesn't want you to cry. He loves you, Mama!
For real. The empathy of a two year old can be astounding. Of course this only made me cry harder. She followed with:
Josie: Can I sit real close to you and give you a hug? I love you, Mama. Do you love me? 
and we did sit together on the couch and hug for a little while. It was perfect.

Talking on the phone (whatever toy she's currently holding to her ear)
Josie: Hello? Is it you? The sun is outside in the morning."
or
Josie: Hello? Is it you? It's cold outside of the house." 
Always has to include the weather.

Again, talking on the phone after learning that the batteries were dead on her little keyboard: 
Josie: Hello? Grandma? The batteries are dying! Can you fix it? The batteries are going dead. We need to change them. Grandma? The batteries are going dead!
This went on for well over ten minutes. She was very concerned about the fate of the piano and only Grandma could fix it.

Looking at a calendar with square boxes...
Josie: Mommy, what is that?
Me: It's a bunch of squares.
Josie: Remember tangles? Is it tangles?
Me:
Josie? Mommy, remember the tangles??
Me: Yeah...! Rectangles!
We clearly haven't reviewed shapes enough lately... mama's already forgotten them!

To the waffle she was eating for breakfast, while screaming extra loud.
Josie: '"I wannnnnt to stab you!
Me: Me???
Josie: looking at me while obviously confused, No...
Me: Oh good, for a second I thought you wanted to stab your mama.
Josie: I want to get my waffle with the stab.
Grammatical toddler errors are my favorite. :)

April 3rd, Josie singing Jingle Bells...
Josie: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!!!!!
Me: Are you singing that just because it's snowing? Yes it was really snowing!
Josie with an extra cheeky grin: Yeah!
Me: Noooooo!
Josie: and I'm singing it to the cars out there in the snow.

After using the toilet (sorry for the bathroom humor)...
Josie: I used toilet paper!
Me: No, you didn't.
Josie: I took some paper and just freaked out.

On our drive to church one Sunday.
Josie:: while looking out the window, On the second day, God made the car so we went to church.

Her words are pretty accurate, so when she really stumbles, it's worth noting.
Umbrella has sounded like umdebetla. We get to hear this a lot since she loves anything that remotely resembles an umbrella. Lately, it's been our plunger (gross.......). She also used the plunger and a cup balancing on the handle end to make a light with a shade. Pretty clever, if I do say so myself!

Also worth noting? Her baby's name the other day was "Nanno" and she currently has a cow and horse living in her room with her. She feeds them hay bales and pets them and gets "kisses from their licks". All.day.long. 

Josie says

She says a lot of funny things, but I've been terrible at writing them down. Here are a few from the past couple of weeks.

Josie, walking up to the lfb while addressing Audrey over her shoulder: "I'll ask {him}, Audrey." 

To the lfb, who had been playing quietly by himself: "Are you happy? Say: I am! You're married to me now! Come on, we got married." Then she took his hand and dragged him down the hallway, his face showing his lack of excitement the whole way. I have a feeling that marriage is doomed.

After a man came to buy a few chairs we had sold via craigslist, Josie was very concerned.
Josie: Where did our chairs go??
Me: That man bought them from us so he's going to take them to his house.
Josie, after thinking quietly for a while: Can we move it back in here? Now we won't have ANYTHING left...
She continued to ask us if we could put a chair over there (the entryway) and if we could have those chairs back, no matter how many times I showed her that we already had a new chair for the old chair's spot. She was very concerned...

While driving one day.
Me: Josie, how high can you count?
Josie: Um, no thank you... What?? Now, she has manners?
Me: Oh...ok, you don't want to count?
Josie: No, I'm learning about the road.
Me: Well, I can help you..? One...
Josie very loudly to speak over me: Road road road! Snow snow snow, road road road!
I'm not nearly entertaining enough.

She's figured out that all injuries feel better if they get kissed. After hurting her finger one day, auntie was determined to make her feel better.
Auntie Lara: Josie, can I kiss your finger?
Josie, speaking mournfully: Yeah... can you just take it off?

Generally speaking, she doesn't have too many words or phrases that she just can't figure out, but we've had a few lately that have had us in stitches (behind our hands of course, so that she wouldn't see us holding back the laughter).

We have a book called "Commotion in the Ocean." She calls it "Da - Ka-ma-shun in Ocean" no matter how many times we say it slowly.

We go to a small group once a week called "Missional Community." She is usually pretty excited when she's mentioning it, so it comes out like "Mishadee amudadity!!"

One of the bible songs she's picked up is Fisher's of Men. All day long, you will hear her saying "Bisherament! Bisherament, Bisherament!" Even when I pointed out that the song is about fishing (no, I realize what the point of the song is...), she nodded enthusiastically and repeated "bisherament! Follow me, bisherament!"

Later today, I'll be posting the very first Audrey Says post. Aren't you excited??

Josie says

The tv in the background: "Tell someone you love them..."

Me: Josie, can you tell someone you love them? Do you love your mama?
Josie: I love my mama!
Me: Who is your mama?
Josie: You're my mama!
Me: I get to be your mama??
Josie: I get a chocolate chip! (chocolate chips are used as incentive for potty related business around here)

We almost had a sweet moment there...



Sitting on the couch under a big blanket, talking to our lfb (little foster boy) - 
Josie: Get up here! Get up here on the couch so we can lay!

Hopefully she has innocent intentions! They are only three and two years old after all.



Hubby sneezes, a couple of feet away from Josie with his mouth covered....
Josie: Don't bless on me!
Hubby: I didn't.
Josie: Don't bless on me with that color.
Hubby: ??
A couple of minutes later...
Josie: So. Don't bless your color out! (while shaking her head)



At the dinner table, goofing around while she's supposed to be eating...
Josie: Where'd you go? Where are you, baddo (shadow)?? There you are! Are you on the table? Are you on the wall? Where'd you go, baddo?"
Hubby (to me): Earlier, she was asking her fingers what they are doing...
Josie (who of course heard what daddy said): Yeeeeeeeee!

Who knows...



Talking to her little teddy bear...
Josie: Did you go potty on the bed sweetheart? (I never call her sweetheart, it's usually just sweetie. She came up with that one on her own)
Josie: What do you want my sweetheart boy? I know you want to look at yourself on there. I have to go bring you to the potty.
Me: No, you can use a pretend potty in here.
Josie: But my bear has to go potty! She puts the bear on a toy table from her dollhouse. I will watch you go to sleep. I'm going to close the door. You cannot come in the bedroom, Mom. I'm going to open the door and go out. Meanwhile, the bear is sleeping on the table covered up with the huge afghan blanket we keep in the living room. He stays there for a good 20 minutes before she remembers him. She's not the most responsible mommy quite yet.

Josie says

"I'm just hanging out with Audrey listening to music. I'm her man."

I guess role playing has begun.

We play a game where I say that I'm hungry and pretend to eat her finger. The other day, she came up to me and said, "I'm hungry for your finger in here!" It took me a moment to realize what she was referencing and that she didn't actually have a strong craving for human fingers.

"I want a bread of peace. I want a bread of peace!"
I think you mean a piece of bread. :)

Her new word of exclamation is "Aff!" All.day.long. For no reason. Everyone looks at her like, "What...are you saying?" I have no idea where it came from.

She is still rocking the add ons to words typically ending in -ing. Most common are "What are you doin'in?" and "Where are we goin'in?" A few dozen times an hour. One day I tried to get her to repeat me.

Me: Josie, what are we doING?
Josie: What are we doin'in?
Me; Can you say doING?
Josie: doin'IN
x3
Cue her looking at me with a pleased smile. She's saying it perfectly in her mind.

Josie says

One of my favorite things about this age is grammatical errors. Their little brains work so hard to memorize what we are saying when they are first figuring out speech, but it is fascinating to watch them logically try to figure out grammar and uses of different words in different contexts. Deep, right? Anyways, within five minutes this morning, I heard this:

"Where did Mommy going in?" (repeat 5 times until she saw me, a mere ten feet away from her and not hiding)
"What did Mommy did?" 
"What is Mommy doing in?"

I just love it. Innocent and adorable.

Terrible picture, but still full of personality.

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