Showing posts with label Josie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josie. Show all posts

7/07/2014

Josie Grace, three years old

I've got a lot of updates to share in the next couple of weeks, but for now, it's time to slow down a second and revel in the fact that we have a three year old. 

I know. It's crazy, but so very true.


Her birthday snuck up on us and suddenly she is a preschooler and no longer a toddler. While she completely looks and acts like it, that still shocked us a little. (Insert all the other cliche sayings here).

So we celebrated our little lady with a birthday dinner amongst our family, homemade cake (made with so much love but also so much frustration) and gifts. She felt so special on her day, which is what we wanted. It's our goal to make each of us feel special but not spoiled on birthdays. I think we succeeded this year.


While my mom and I worked on the cakes, she entertained herself with this requested box. For an hour at least. 

We also celebrated my nephew, Deano, who's birthday is just two days after Josie's. In an over-achiever sort of way, I decided to make two separate cakes. That probably won't happen again as I don't necessarily enjoy being in a hot kitchen all day long in the middle of summer. :) The humidity won out and Deano's cake kind of flopped, but it tasted great, which is all that matters right?



Audrey dressed up to celebrate her sister. (We take every opportunity to wear dresses seriously)

Josie picked out her birthday dress (from Costco) and headband. We did a mini photoshoot (because that is what you do, right?) and got a bunch of goofy faces. I'll take it.








Josie got a bunch of great gifts, but this one in particular really stood out. The little puppy barks and walks around, and the pure joy that each kid expressed was the best part of the party. Audrey, in particular, was hilarious. She screamed out over and over again and followed it around even while everyone else moved on to the next fun gift.


Even Hannah the dog was completely fascinated.



Blowing out the candles went smoothly. Deano went first with some help, and Josie rocked it on her own. She totally understood exactly what to do and loved all the attention while we sang to them. Also, note her decorative headgear, all her choice.




My little lady, not even close to a baby. She challenges us daily and definitely knows how to keep us on our toes. One thing is certain, though. We wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. 


Happy birthday, Josie girl.



1/17/2014

the Sisters

Where to begin? A relationship between sisters is complicated. With only 16 months between them, the gap of size and maturity is closing and with that comes more laughter but also more tears.


Most of their behavior is totally typical. Audrey wants to do whatever Josie is doing. It isn't undying admiration at this point, but she definitely "gets inspired" by what the big sis is doing. Josie hasn't learned yet that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so she gets rather worked up about it. Especially if it involves cheerios.

An example:
In the morning, I'll get Josie a bowl full of cheerios to keep her calm before I can get myself together enough to get her a real breakfast. If Audrey has been released from her cage let out of her crib, she beelines straight to Josie to eat her cheerios. If I get her a bowl just for her, she inhales it and then goes to Josie for the rest of hers. You haven't seen a real cat fight until you see this! Josie gets distraught and it takes half the morning for her to recover. Audrey smiles with a real "victory!" expression on her face. I'm ready to throw in the towel by the end of it all.


A story for you.



Every once in a while, Josie will be so very sweet to Audrey and will give her a toy without an ulterior motive or say something sweet about how much she loves her. I have to keep my eyes and ears open for it though, because at this point they are not too lovey dovey. Audrey in turn does occasionally offer kisses and hugs to her, but again, I have to be extra watchful if I want to catch those moments. 


Most of the time, they get along great. They tend to coexist without tears about 90% of the time. The older Audrey gets, the more they play closer and closer together. Josie is happy to role play (and of course assign roles to Audrey) all day long and Audrey plays along for a while before moving on to another game or activity.


There isn't a whole lot of jealousy yet. Most of the time, if one kid wants to he held, the other is content to stand close by or play on her own. I can only recall less than a handful of times that Josie asked me to put Audrey down so she could sit with me (and read a story of course). Most of the time, Audrey is happy to get down because she's done with whatever we are doing anyways. Overall, this doesn't create problems, which I'm so thankful for.


They are almost the same clothing size! For a while, Josie was in 2T and Audrey was in 18 months. I foresee many arguments about clothing since they will more than likely be in similar sizes their whole lives. Lord, help us all.


They interact the most at mealtimes. Right now, they sit next to each other with the lfb sitting across from them. Josie is all about messing around at dinner time and Audrey is happy to oblige if she can once she's eaten enough to avoid starvation. Many a meal I am guilty of dragging Audrey's high chair away from the table to try to keep them under some kind of control. Many a meal, I fail. It is entertaining, though, so there's that.



I still think that they look like sisters, but the similarities are not that obvious to me. Hair is different, eyes are different, noses are different. With totally different personalities, they just seem so different.


One of their obvious differences (to hubby and me) is how different their approaches are to new things. Josie will dive in head first with excitement, not thinking through what could happen or if she is even capable of it. Usually, she ends up stumbling or initially failing, causing immediate frustration. We do a lot of coaching around about continuing on even though "it's so hard, mommy!"

Audrey will take her time, watch everyone else, figure out exactly what she should do, and then do it almost perfectly. She takes longer because she does this, but in the end she comes out ahead. She didn't have to fail and then figure it out. She just does it right the first time. This can be dangerous, though, because if we aren't careful she could get the attitude that if she can't do it perfectly the first time, it isn't worth doing. No bueno.

It's so fun to watch how different they are. They are both smart. They are both loving. They are both sweet and compassionate to others. They are both dramatic. They are both hilarious. Yet they go about all of these character traits differently. Always keeping us on our toes, these two!


I pray that they can be best friends. I pray that even though it's inevitable that there will be arguing, that they will learn to put each other ahead of friends that will come and go. I pray that they can be sisters in Christ as well as sisters in our little family.


Aren't these little princesses sweet?


And occasionally, they match. Not too often, because come on. But occasionally, it's sweet.




1/15/2014

Because it's been forever (1 of 2)

I haven't updated on the girls in ... well, who knows how long. Things are so different with them now that I really feel the need to write it down so I don't forget.

Josie. 



Josie, josie josie. This girl is a character. She never stops talking and the things she says (you can read some of them here) are hilarious. Now look. I know that toddlers say funny things; they are known for that. But Josie-girl, she says funny things. I also know that I'm biased but she is just a little entertainer. She is absolutely full of life

Many a morning I will stumble come out of my bedroom to find her happily sitting (in the dark) in the living room with something she isn't supposed to have in hand. She greets me with a "good morning, Mommy!" and grins like it really is just a fantastic morning. Unfortunately, my response almost always is "good morning but what do you have in your hand? Are you supposed to be eating marshmallows/chocolate chips/vitamins for breakfast????" It's not that pretty, that morning version of this surprised and frustrated mama. But I digress.



Josie is pretty much a solid 3T. Her shoe size is between a 7 and 8. She is currently in between growth spurts, something I can tell by how much she eats. While she acts hungry all the time, she truly only eats about a third given to her. Mostly, she just plays with her food or drink happily while the other two inhale it. She eats a balanced diet so I'm not worried about it. Her hair is still baby soft and the flyaways are kind of out of control. It's hard to get it to stay in a ponytail because the flyaways around her face never get long enough to make it all the way to the ponytail. If I try using a clip, it will slip out. It's growing long, but it isn't "kid" hair yet. It's still pretty much baby hair. It's mostly blond but has some darker spots in the under layers. Her blue eyes are darker than her daddy's and sister's. 

There was nothing wrong at the time. She just shows a lot of expression and I happened to capture this little gem.


We're slowly working on letters and numbers, identifying them in books and learning to write them on the black board or with crayons. I'm not too concerned about it because mostly I just want to encourage her imagination and independent play. I really believe that kids need to spend serious time playing, because after all, that is their full-time job. They learn so much from play time. 



Her imagination, speaking of, is just sky rocketing. She is constantly mothering her little teddy bear, talking to her fingers (???), using random objects as people, furniture, etc. It's so fun to see her mind processing as she looks for something to add. This car? What can drive it? I know, my pinky finger. What can I use as the diaper for the bear? I got it, the chair arm cover. Perfect! She's clever, that one.

The other day, she spent like 30 minutes working on the snowman I started and abandoned (to chase after the little sister). She was perfectly content to sit and play by herself. She talked to it, tackled it, built it back up, and happily played right next to it without any whines or complaints. It made me so happy since earlier this year she wouldn't play outside in her snow pants because she would get frustrated from falling over so often. She's grown up so much even in just two months. Ahh! Slow it down, girl!

Notice the (one) heel, the necklace, the messy hair, and the king. Audrey makes a great king (for at least two minutes).

Her most favorite things right now are ballet and princesses. At this point, they are the same. She mixes the two worlds together into a dancing, high heeled, ball room attired little lady. I love it. She puts on her dress up clothes almost every day and prances around. Any book about a ballerina is her current favorite and she constantly asks me if her doll/baby/bear can do ballet with her. While I love that she plays with trucks and cars, I love the girly side of her too. What's really cool is that since we try to emphasize both sides equally, it is truly her choice and decision what she prefers. Seeing her character and personality shine through is just starting and is really fun.

Let's see, let's see. I know I'm missing a lot.

She is so affectionate. Considering that she used to push us away so that she could explore and run around all the time, I think hubby and I are extra big push overs when it comes to the hugs and kisses. She will tell us that she loves us on her own all the time, offers hugs, kisses, and "cuddles," and will happily sit on our laps to read a story for as long as we are willing. Our busy girl has evened out a little and now her energy is more divided mentally and physically. 



Josie Grace's gross motor skills (larger movements like walking, crawling, jumping, etc) have always been dominant. She is known to plow forward without thinking it through entirely. At this stage as a toddler, she often ends up frustrated, but she's learning how to keep going and not quit in anger and she is still ready to jump in head first almost all of the time. It's fun to see her be adventurous when it comes to new things, and thankfully she doesn't do things that are super dangerous. 

Here's an example. When Josie first saw the lake and found out that we were going to go in it, she just plowed right in. There was no "gee I wonder how to do this" or "what else is in this water?" It was just, "looks fun! I'm going in!" Now of course we were with her so when she plummeted under water immediately, we picked her up and she learned that being under water can be kind of scary. She chilled out after that initial tumble and we could step back a bit more. But generally speaking, the first time we do something new with her, we have to watch her closely and explain the dangers or rules verbally as she's doing it. She just gets excited to get started.



She's always been pretty good at the bigger things (walking at 9 months, running, jumping, swinging, sliding, coloring on huge paper) but the fine motor skills take a little more work. She's not behind in that area, but it isn't as much of a strength as the gross motor skills. 

I just love her so much. She's kind, compassionate, sweet, bossy, a strong leader (already), and sassy. She keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh all of the time.


7/08/2013

Josie Grace, Two Years Old

Josie is two. She's full of spunk, a huge talker, and right in the thick of the tantrum years. Her giggles and smiles light up the room and her sweet little voice is always carrying a tune. She loves to give hugs and kisses, play with her sister (such a great big sister) and look at all things motorized (boats, trains, tractors, you name it). She gets really serious when she's figuring out something new, but jumps right in when she's ready. She always keeps us on our toes with her crazy antics. We love her so so much. 

















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