average Sunday morning

In case anyone hasn't seen this video of a little girl in ballet class, please look and love!

"It's okay if your shoes aren't doing it. Don't worry, okay?"

I'm hereby adopting that line as my motto. Towards everything.

I'm always amused with we catch her in true style blog form. (Look at the last photo on the page I linked to, which is my friend's blog. Preeeeecisely.)

(June 4)

Bedford

We were all excited to hear that timing had worked in such a way that my maternal grandma was going to be able to make an unexpected trip down to Bedford (from St. Louis) on Memorial Day weekend. With Sean being swamped with work, Josephine and I left him home to recuperate and headed up to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday (one month early).

It'd been a year since we'd seen her; last summer the Haigler girls headed up to St. Louis, and obviously with a toddler, there's such a difference in a year! So it was really great to visit-- I'm glad it worked out.

"Quite A Pair" would describe each of the last few pictures well:

First up, Josephine and her "Aunt Girl".... I can see how to a toddler the words "girl" and "Darla" would sound similar. Plus, Darla consistently wears sundresses and accessories around Josephine-- and that is the archetype of the ladies who, when Josephine sees them, she proudly pronounces a "GIRL" while pointing and showing me (in case I need a reminder what a girl ought to look like. :-/ ) Anyway, it's pretty cute. I hope Darla doesn't mind such a generic sounding name, when, knowing Josephine, it is meant in a very impressed and admiring way.

On the topic of names... I have been referring to my grandma as "Great Grandma" to Josephine. Since she calls me "Bah" and generally picks up on last syllables of people's names (Janell is "Aunt Nell", Grandpa is "Pa", Mama Jo was first "doe", etc.) it isn't surprising that she calls my mom "Bah", too, even though we refer to her as Grandma. Bah just equals Ma in her head, and that's the last syllable of Grandma. It might also be that she hears me call her Mom, and so she makes her substitution based off that.

Well, Josephine took this stubborn little quirk a step further while we were up there that weekend. The child who can repeat back all kinds of phrases and sentences-- rather than learning my grandma's name as "Great-Grandma," promptly started calling her "Great Bah." She did again today after seeing me uploading these pictures. So it is official. She now has three Bahs.

Aunt 'Nell and Great Bah... inseparable!

My dad loving Josephine's nightshirt, which reads, "My hedgehog is smarter than your president." :-) Courtesy of Mama Jo. (Note how when my dad knelt down next to her to take a picture, she knelt down too.)

Josephine and her grandma tickling the ivories, right before Josephine told me, "Bah, flew 'way." (Mom, go away). I've decided I'm not going to teach her "go away." I prefer to be told to fly away. Like an angel or butterfly. So I took one more picture and then fluttered along.

The remaining pictures are from my mom's camera (or maybe Darla's)...

At my Aunt JoAnn's house celebrating Grandma's 80th!

My Aunt JoAnn, purveyor of the butterfly wings, was ready for Josephine again, this time with a tiara and sunglasses. Josephine eats that stuff up.

(May 29)

her mother's sense of style

(May 28)

grandma and garden

My parents and Janell came down to Austin for a weekend in mid May. A treat as always! And the weekend before, Sean's parents were in town! So what you see below is Josephine on a serious grandparent high... nothing short of effusive joy when she talks about or see her beloveds.

A side perk: I'm always a little more fearless with getting stuff done on the house when my parents are around; Dad and I picked up a free water-conserving toilet (provided by the City of Austin) and we installed it upstairs. My first toilet installation! I rode that plumbing high into the following week and replaced a leaking hose bib by myself, too!

Our garden/yard looked its best ever this spring; here are a few pictures...

The plants are all a lot bigger now that's mid June, but the lack of rain has made things less green, so I think these are still my favorite yard shots from this year so far.

(photos from May 21)

"girl"

Can't say we've replicated the precision since this occurrence on May 16, but regardless, you've got to admit that's a pretty good drawing of a girl to her right!

When I asked about arms, she drew the things that looked like arms, and when I asked about shoes, the dots were added to the bottom of the picture. And while the resemblance to an actual head is... ummm... lacking, she was at least intentional about drawing it at the top of the body. :-)

Naturally, like most events in Josephine's life, this couldn't escape photographic documentation and subsequent broadcasting to the entire universe.

PS: As for the drawing on her left, it is clearly a genius interpretation of atomic chaos that would befuddle the most advanced theorists presently inhabiting this planet. Clearly.