antics...

Hi!

Sorry for making it so lonely around here!!!

Two videos of Josephine:

First up, my favorite EVER.  I watch this constantly-- it's a little pick-me-upper.  She IS so PRECIOUS.

We have started doing about 30 minutes of "school time" every day, as soon as Clement goes down for his morning nap.  We even took a "First Day of School" picture:

August 28, 2013

As far as she's concerned, we're just pretending school.  As in, she calls me "teacher" and her first order of business each day at school is to tell me what her mom did that morning.  :-/
Yep.
I'd better be PERFECT by next fall.

So her singing the number song was sort of her "show and tell" thing that she was showing me, her "teacher", that morning at "school".  Note how in the video she has glittery pink and purple hair clips clipped onto her earlobes.  Right.  And then remind yourself to forgive all the grey hairs you see on my head next time we're visiting.  Sadly, the TX Rangers cap doesn't make nearly as frequent an appearance as these makeshift dangly earrings.  (SHE IS FOUR.  WHY ARE EARRINGS A FACTOR???)

Secondly, a brief video (relative to how long/often she does this!) of her imitating the head priest at our church.  I so wish I had a video --or better, a montage-- that could convey my experience of Josephine enacting church services in our living room.  This video falls infinitely short of capturing it all... MOSTLY because to capture it all would require months worth of video and would put youtube into total defunct mode if I tried to upload it.  Also because the magic inevitably vanishes the minute she sees the camera.  I am not stealthy enough.
Suffice it to say, she has spent a great deal of time in church services and absorbing bits and pieces here and there.  So acting it out in our living room is not a surprise-- it's the same as her acting out classroom settings after being at Mothers' Day Out.  But it has been a source of constant joy and amusement for us, worth blogging.

In the above video, I had requested permission to record part of that morning's "sermon".  In it, Josephine is working through her understanding of the nativity.  This took a looooong time.  Several details had to be ironed out (in addition to what you see in the 2 minute clip I uploaded, she thought Jesus was born in Heaven, she needed to know just how many shepherds came to worship Jesus, and there was a lengthy interruption during which Clement wanted to eat the microphone).

(Tangent:  Considering how favorited, visited, and discussed the story of Christ's birth is for her, I am even more concerned about her grasp on the others we've been teaching her.  Oh well.  We'll get through them all... I'm sure... eventually.  Assuming I survive that long.)

You will also see in this video clip her latest improvisations in her imitation of Cliff (our head rector):  a jump rope around her waist, a pulpit on the canopy of her stroller replete with sermon notes, and performing the sign of the cross over Clement -- actually, I just realized this isn't in the clip that I uploaded, since it was at the start of the church service, prior to the singing, and what I have here I recorded once I realized this was going to be going on for a good bit longer.  But it's funny to me that the fact that she does the "holy spirit" part of the cross backwards on herself translates into her crossing Clement in the proper order.  (At least he'll learn right!)  Such a natural little priest!

Also, I recently sent Cliff an e-mail where I told him stories about Josephine... He has always liked that when she comes up for communion she crosses her arms across her chest and in typical, Josephine, wide-eyed fashion, gazes around like "WOOO THERE IS SO MUCH TO TAKE IN RIGHT NOW!"  So after hearing for the Nth time through various sources that he finds her "cherubic", I shared some stories about her constant re-enactions of Christ Church services.  To read this e-mail, all you need to know is Annie is one of the worship leaders at church.  A very pretty, sincerely passionate lady-- easy for anyone to adore.
Also, the fact that Josephine was up to all this apparently had Cliff and his wife, Christine, rolling-- and the stories were going to get passed along, last I heard.  So I figured it needed to be shared here, too!
The details also give a good indication of how totally inadequate the above video is at capturing this "moment" that has been such a part of my/our daily life for months now.

It has been precious, and one day I will miss it SO much.

The e-mail:

Cliff,

Have no doubt, the adoration is mutual.  That "cherubic face" is memorizing your every move.  She frequently enacts church services at home, wherein she alternates freely between these personas:

1) Annie, as she sings with all the passion she can muster the doxology, Our Father, and any number of impromptu worship songs (including a very reverent rendition of Baa Baa Black Sheep).  All while standing and swaying at a microphone stand built of Duplos.  (For months it was the ONLY thing she would build.)
  

2) Herself, as she shrieks in frustration when the microphone stand repeatedly collapses. (Because Duplos aren't MEANT to be stacked in a single column 3 feet high, Josephine!!  Use something ELSE!!)

3) You, the rest of the time.  There's a bit of preaching (THAT'S always interesting), a lot of praying (which for a while, she would conclude slowly and devoutly, "…in the name of the name, amen." — I think this has finally been rectified), and a few other erroneously memorized lines that she hears you say. Of course, she insists she's COMPLETELY RIGHT, so I have finally just resorted to saying, "Josephine, I promise you, he is saying 'xyz' — not 'xyw' — but you listen next Sunday and tell me what you hear."  Above and beyond, though, her favorite line is an enthusiastic, expectant: "Do we have any birthdays or anniversaries??"  And shortly after she watched the infant baptism ceremony last spring, it was, "Do we have any birthdays or anniversaries?  No?  Okay— How about any baptisms?  Little boy, do YOU want to be baptized???"  This is the kind of line that concerns a mother when she overhears it, so I promptly checked on them, just in time to see her pouring pretend holy water over his head from the sugar dish of her tea set.  Of course Clement just sat there, none the wiser.  Probably relieved that she wasn't doing anything to cause pain or emotional angst. 

And Josephine looked mighty pleased with herself.

Conclusion: any time you wish to attend a church service where you aren't in charge, our living room has one going on daily, if not hourly, run by a four year old who LOVES to be in charge.  Or perhaps if any parishioners miss a service and need it reenacted for them privately… I've got just the gal.  

ALSO, since I'm writing about Josephine and church, I can't leave out this story:  She had some money from somewhere— I can't remember now… maybe our garage sale— so we decided to have the Tithing Talk.  She has watched us turn in our check each week, and we'd explained about checks and accounts and all— that it was the same as cash.  Anyway, since she had $20, the idea was that she should give $2 back to God.  Talked about why, how, with what attitude, etc.  Good conversation.  We felt like great parents-- totally patting ourselves on our backs.

Went to church.

She did it.

We came home.

She immediately went to the kitchen table and started cutting up a large piece of paper into smaller bits.  She was so engrossed in this that Sean finally asked her what she was doing.  

A very determined sounding response: "I'm making checks so I don't have to give away so much of my money."

Yeah, she's preternatural alright.  This kid has it aaaalll figured out!

:-)

Jenny

There you go, Family--  a glimpse of Religious Josephine.  If I ever manage to sneak more representative video of this, I guarantee I'll share.  Otherwise, as you know, there is a bedroom for you upstairs which offers an excellent vantage point for witnessing these adorable josephinian escapades...