little lady lederhosen (3 times fast)

I understand that by all appearances it seems we've swapped out Josephine for a pint-size Bavarian boy. (ha, catch that?)

But we haven't. We're just humoring a slightly warped, grandmotherly request that we cross-dress our daughter. :-)

(Sean's parents picked up some very REAL lederhosen on a visit to Switzerland last Christmas. We're talking heavy, gamey leather.)

My understanding is that while she never did buy Sean any when he was little, his mom has always kind of wished she'd seen him in some.

Well, I'm happy to say that in the next picture her wish is TOTALLY granted. Sean couldn't have looked more like Sean than Josephine does here:

My alternate title for this post was Halloween Preview 2011, because you can bet your bottom dollar that if these still fit her in October you'll be seeing them again!

(pictures taken May 5th)

notes from may

Blog-worthy vs. worthy of the time to blog it: that's the ongoing battle. In reality, Josephine's way more worthy of my time than I am, but no matter how cute she is, the blog gets delayed because the blogger gets distracted... frequently by Miss Blogged About herself. :-)

So I am now attempting to catch up on the last month and a half of pictures and notes. These three notes are from the very beginning of May:

#1) The dipping issue.

True to her roots, the child likes food. She also likes mimicking our eating techniques, of which I'm growing rather self-conscious. I'm afraid we've created a bit of a dipping, spreading, sopping fool out of her. It's one thing to put cream cheese on celery, egg on toast, peanut butter on apple, or dip strawberries into yogurt. But apparently she hasn't absorbed any sort of discretion regarding which combinations fit well together. She recently out did my creativity comfort levels as she happily spread tuna salad on her banana and acted like it was the most refined delicacy to ever cross her plate.

#2) Wings DO NOT equal flight.

Of course, setting aside ostriches, emus, penguins, and a few others, typically wings DO equal flight. But I've yet to explain those nuances to her, in addition to one other key nuance: fake wings. Which is why the following conversation took place.

For a while now, every time she runs away from me she has exclaimed "Eeen flew away!" One night as she was "flying away" (aka, avoiding me as I tried to put on her pajamas) I finally said, "Josephine, you can't fly away. Only things with wings can fly, and you don't have wings."

In reply, Josephine gave me a look that said clearly, "OH YEAH???" And then marched over to her closet, opened the door, and pointed to the purple butterfly wings given to her at Christmas.

Okay. So she has wings. I stood duly corrected.

Since that night it has become apparent that she thinks these wings will indeed let her fly away. Once, she asked me to put them on her, and I obliged, which was immediately followed by a request to be let outside. I opened the door for her and then watched her trot straight up to the tree trunk closest to us. (An odd behavior for her. But like a good, desensitized toddler's mother, I don't question odd behavior). Later, after I had joined her outside, she came up to me. I asked about the wings and whether she was going to "fly away again." She pointed straight up to the top of the tree where the birds were, declared, "EEEN FLEW 'WAY UP TREE!!!!" and then ran up to the tree trunk again. Clearly thinking she would either take off at some point, or else somehow magically get transported up the tree and be able to fly back down.

In short, I am glad we lack easy roof access.

#3) A quirk (or perhaps totally normal behavior for a toddler).

The child has a knack for figuring out what fits into what. It tends to surprise me, because sometimes her intuition for what will fit is a bit uncanny... Like she'll see something she's holding, spot something it will fit into just perfectly across the room, and be unable to resist darting across the room to try it, despite breaking various rules and facing discipline. It's hilarious (and no, doesn't get punished, despite breaking rules, because it isn't defiant and she promptly returns where she ought to be. Not that I laugh out loud or anything. But I do puzzle. It IS a compulsion. I'm serious. It's weird.)

I should have been keeping a list of what she's been putting in what. Sadly, I haven't, because by now it'd be really quite impressive. Long, anyway.

I did think to take a representative picture after seeing what she did with some of her tools during quiet time recently.

(It's a bolt strung on the screwdriver, which is jammed in the nail).

The only way it isn't representative is that typically, the items stuck into each other have nothing to do with each other. Like a crayon holding her plastic nails together, dowel rod fashion. Or the same plastic nail neatly plugging a piece of drip line tubing in the basket of backyard stuff by the door. Wads of trash, perfectly filling her shoe. A wooden ball inside the light-socket-tightening-gadget that came with the kitchen lights... (such a perfect fit that something will have to break to get it out.) I suspect that kids putting things in places they don't belong is a pretty common trait for toddlers... think frozen peas up the nose... so let's hope this little quirk doesn't lead to trips to the ER.

This tendency hasn't let up since the beginning of May. Here's a picture from today-- the date of this post. Who knew dollhouses came with an alpaca-shaped room? She was quite pleased with the head fitting out on the balcony; I could tell she was happy to have finally figured out what the balcony was for.

scopes: kaleido & stetho

Josephine had a play date with Zanna last Monday... you can see the pictures that Sarah posted on her blog by clicking on this underlined phrase: Girls just wanna have fun!

Nope, not complaining!

Due to some persistent internet troubles and my own comings and goings, I've been rather quiet on the cyberfront. So I'll try to make some earnest effort towards catching up.

Today I'll relive a VERY happy memory-- the trip I took (yes, just me!!) to southern California to see a couple friends about a month ago. Here are some pictures... if only they could convey the insanely perfect temperatures, the happy breezes that greeted you every time you stepped out the door, the sweetness of my friends, and the complete and utter lack of responsibility I so blissfully enjoyed and so desperately needed! The trip was delightful.

I got in on a direct flight Thursday evening, ate some of Mychel's sister's delicious potato soup, was a terrible guest, and fell promptly into a deep slumber.

The next morning (after an incredibly restful night's sleep and a yummy fried egg sandwich) we found coffee, some picnicking supplies and went a bit south of where Mychel lives in Costa Mesa, to take a little hike.

Mychel and I on our hike in Crystal Cove:

More pics from the hike:
The roadrunner we saw right before we picnicked:



The hummingbird that provided a perfect excuse to pause after a rather steep climb:
Looking down on part of our nearly 6 mile trail:
Mychel and her sister, Amanda:
Amanda dropped us off at Balboa Island that evening on her way to work. We wandered about finding food, peaceful views, a magnifying glass for Josephine, a ferry to Newport Beach, happy hour snacks and drinks, and eventually some mighty fine and well earned dessert at Crow Bar and Kitchen, back in Corona del Mar, where Amanda fetched us. A couple pics from the south end of Newport Beach:

The next few pictures are on the UCI campus, where Mychel works. We went there Saturday morning so that I could see her office and we could visit the farmer's market that gathers there every Saturday.

I was continuously amazed by the suspicion-inducing* vegetation in Orange County. (*just a little too lush and tropical for the climate... and sure enough, I even spotted sprinkler heads along the highways!) Anyway, I wish I'd gotten more pictures of some of the crazy plants and blossoms I saw. Here's a good example though-- I loved these pretty trees with their red blooms and apparent disdain for foliage:

Dr. Mychel Varner's office! Loved seeing the placard, her desk, the brief demonstration of things she does that don't make an ounce of sense to me-- I'm so impressed and humbled by my awesome friend!

Something I CAN understand are fish tacos. After UCI we ate some excellent ones at Normitas, where we went in order for me to meet up with Nikki (my wonderful friend, bridesmaid, college roommate), her hubs Jeff, and their baby Sophia to spend the night with them.

It was so great to see Nikki and spend some real time with her-- it'd been way too long!! We squeezed in a stroll along Huntington Beach, a bit of high-end thrift store shopping, and even a late night reflexology foot spa. Jeff grilled up some wonderful chicken for us that night, and in the meantime... well... I spent a LOT of time cooing over this one:

Pretty sure I blew raspberries until my lips were numb...
... and unsurprisingly received a lot of this expression in return:
But it didn't take her long to figure out I was harmless. Sophia is such a happy baby.

And here's the adorable family once I finally allowed them to have their daughter back:

We met back up with the Varner girls at church on Sunday, had lunch, and then I went back to Mychel's place and spent the remaining time with her after some park lounging. We went over to Newport Beach, north of where we'd been the other night, and decided to wander around and wait for the sunset.

People on the piers were pretty serious about their fishing (eww)...

...so we found a jetty and hung out there, somehow managing to avoid hypothermia while watching a super peaceful sunset. It was perfect. (And frankly, as we blister our way through 100 degrees of muggy misery in early June, hypothermia sounds like a treat. I'd give anything to recreate the numbness in my toes.)

Monday morning, we ate breakfast at a cute Austin-ish cafe that I don't remember the name of, and then we headed straight up to the little Long Beach airport that provides the direct flights to Austin. I do mean little. There was one terminal, and this is half of it:
Despite having reached a point of definitely missing my family, I was sad to leave (a sadness I comforted with the conviction that I would immediately start watching flight prices when I got back to Texas so that I could plan my next trip out!)

It was truly wonderful. To have the opportunity to run and play with such great friends without being in control or responsible for anything was an ENORMOUS treat!!

And from what I hear, the three nights Sean and Josephine spent in Teague with his parents while I was in California went quite well-- I gather I wasn't missed too much, at least not by a certain two year old who had endless playtime with her Mama Jo! :-)

yes, we colored Easter eggs.

Literally.

That is what happens when you're an ill-prepared mom. You hand your kid some hardboiled eggs and crayons, help out a bit, and then shove them back in the fridge. I'm just proud that I did all that 24 hours ahead of time.

Easter Sunday:

On Easter day, we had brunch after church and then went home to take the obligatory family photo and brave the humidity for a couple brief egg hunts. Despite the fact that we didn't make it to any hunts this year that actually contained competition, we felt it was still necessary to train her in the art, as next year she might very well need to hold her own. This is about candy, people. According to my sweet tooth, this is serious business.

(Of course, according to the gospel, Easter has nothing to do with candy. "Yes, however," says my sweet tooth, "while walking in faith-- and unless that leads us otherwise-- we must still remain pragmatists!") And hence commenced Josephine's candy-hunting training.

I took the pictures immediately above and below while she waited for Sean to hide the eggs for the first hunt. As a side note, the whole get-up (dress, hat, and bloomers to match) were a gift from Sean's paternal grandma, who found the custom-made dress in Groesbeck, TX. Since the wearing of this dress, Josephine seems perpetually attracted to gingham seersucker. I'm not sure what to make of that. I think it's mostly precious.
In the picture below, please note the oblong object wedged between the two main branches of this tree, approximately 3 feet above Josephine's eye level. Yes. An egg. One of Sean's many impossible hiding places, considering SHE IS BARELY TWO. Some of us take this art very, very, very seriously, apparently. I might have the sweet tooth, but he clearly has the competitive streak...