3.09.2009

Josephine Update

Things have been pretty wild here lately. Josephine is one of the most rambunctious babies I've ever met. She is incredibly trusting of her mama, to the point where she'll back flip off the couch into my lap without any prompting...or even checking that I'm still there to catch her. She's happy to spend all evening running full speed into the couch, and then into me, and then into the dog. She loves showing off how she can balance on a box and jump off all by herself, and it's even more fun when she doesn't land on her feet!
You'd never know all of this if I didn't tell you, she is still awfully shy around strangers. Even more so around men (excluding papa) no matter how many times she's met them.
I started bringing her to the nursery at church a few weeks ago but I always staid in there with her. Slowly she spent more and more time exploring the toys and less time crawling up my leg. Last Sunday I dropped her off and left to join my family in the sanctuary. When I came in at the end of service she was playing nicely on the floor, looked up at me and burst into tears. I was told she only cried for a minute while I was gone; I guess when I came back in she remembered that Oh Yeah, Mama Left Me and she was not happy. It was real sobbing, tears, clinging to my neck like a little koala... She wouldn't let me put her down for the rest of the afternoon.
On one hand, I want her to start being more comfortable with new situations and not having me around 24/7 so that I can take more classes and work more hours while leaving her with a friend/babysitter. On the other hand, My Baby! Oh don't cry Baby! I'm so sorry, I'll never leave you Again!
I love watching Josephine try on new hats...I don't mean dress up, though that's fun too. I mean, one moment she my little book worm and the next she a scientist exploring the wonders of nature (and every night she's an Olympic gymnast). Sometimes she will "read" to herself, but usually she brings a book over and thrusts it in your lap. She recognizes cat and meows at the picture, she know dog and pets the page. She floats her hand through the air at air plane, and gives a big sniff and a satisfying ahhhh when she turns the page to flower. She knows which page has the Pat-a-cake rhyme on it and makes sure that is the one you are reading. My favorite though, is that she knows all the parts to 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, complete with falling down and then holding her head like she's hurt...
Even though today it's snowing like it's winter or something, yesterday was warm and sunny and mostly green outside. We were tromping around the yard and enjoying the sun when she put on her scientist hat. I was pretty much only making sure she wasn't running out into the street and keeping her from eating any dog poop, she was pretty much ignoring me. I saw her pick up a piece of wood from the garden and place in on the front step. A few minutes later she was inspecting a leaf and ran up the driveway to place it next to the wood chip. I asked her if she was starting a collection, she replied eh. Next was a single blade of grass that seemed to be chosen quite deliberately out of the millions in front of her.
Most nights she still wakes up a few times. It's pretty annoying, yeah, but sometimes it's kinda funny. She doesn't lie there and cry, she stands up and falls on top of me, mutiple times. Last night was really sweet though, she stood up and plopped onto my chest but didn't make it over because of a pillow in her way. She wriggled around for a few second and finally settled herself back to sleep, curled up like a kitten on my chest. She staid there for several minutes before rolling back to the mattress. Best several minutes I've had in a long time.

1 comment:

Jill said...

So cute! It sound like little Josephine is getting a pint-sized personality. What a character!