Poop Happens

For reasons that will soon become obvious this post contains no pictures.

On November 1, 2010 at 7:14PM while Annie was busy painting with her art class, she received a picture message of one proud poop in the bottom of Josie's froggy potty. Josie had pooped in her potty for the first time.

She has been studying Once Upon a Potty for several hours per day the past two weeks, carrying it around with her constantly, asking for consecutive read alouds. Since she released the brown trout in the bathtub a few months ago, the froggy potty has been a fixture in the bathroom.

Although Mama and Daddy are supremely stoked for Bobcat to graduate to the potty (she still has blow-outs on occasion), they realize they still have several months of diaper laundering ahead. And besides, this morning at around 6:30AM as they listened to Bobcat grunting out her morning deuce, they were thankful for another ten minutes of sleep.

Halloween 2010

For Josie's second Halloween the whole family dressed up as the greatest three-piece in rock and roll history, ZZ Top, featuring Josie on guitar as Billy Gibbons, JP on bass as Dusty Hill, and Annie on drums as Frank Beard. The Joh(a)ns(e/o)n Family does not believe in prefabricated Halloween costumes and this year all components were borrowed, thrifted, or crafted right down to the white, fuzzy guitars and Annie's curler and hairpsray-induced mullet fro.

The family spent the evening enjoying costumes, pizza, and beer at the Blind Lady Ale House before trick-or-treating training. Josie walked around one bustling block with the Maklary family before packing it in for the night.

Lookin sharp and lookin for love

Beard & Hill

Josie really enjoyed playing the crowd at the BLAH while walking around and holding her guitar. Too bad it's not easier to snap a good picture of her in action. Hey, she's got legs and she knows how to use them! Billy was quite content to strum from her high chair fortunately.

Contained

What happened to my cheap sunglasses?

This beard is fantastic!

Oh! Those tricksy parents have hidden a bribe within its itchy, ticklishness!

"I ain't askin for much. I said, Mom, take me downtown. I'm just lookin for some candy!"

A beer drinker and a hell raiser

Pizza in the beard. Oh, yeah!

Mama and Daddy have high hopes of improving the beards and making the guitars spin for next year, but by then Josie will be deep in her twos. Maybe they'll hire out a more complacent wildcat to be Billy.

Update!!! The Blind Lady Ale House awarded ZZ Top the Best Costume prize for the night!

A Visit with Grammy

Grammy paid Josie a short visit last week. Everyone had a great time!

Getting close to the polar bears at the zoo

Uggs for the future surfer gal

Cat Balloon

Topless dining at Rancho's (Mama forgot a bib)

The Kid Can Eat

Before:

Fourteen Minutes Later:

Catch Me If You Can

Gentle reader, if you've been paying close attention, you may have noticed fewer posts and fewer words per post. This trend is probably closely correlated with Josie's increasing walking speed. Mama and Daddy spend more time chasing the Bobcat these days than snapping pictures and thinking, "Oh that would make a cute blog post." Speaking of photographs, most of them are blurs and streaks of color. Having said that, blurs and streaks of color are quite representative of her spirit these days.

Mama is so stoked that Josie can still fit into her ruffle butts!

"Myron Cope's Terrible Tahl"

"I'm outta here!"

Josie is so talkative these days! Her vocabulary includes:

• Mama
• Daddy ("Day-ee" or "Day-day")
• More ("Muh")
• Cat
• No ("Oh" with lots of head shaking); note this list does not include "Yes!"
• Oh my! ("Moh mine!")
• Uh-oh!
• Boobies ("Bee-bees")
• Belly ("Bee-bee")
• Baby
• Bye-bye
• Hi
• Grammy ("Ma-mee")
• Grandpa Bob ("Ba-ba")
• Thank you ("Tiki")
• Caca
• Pee-pee (She pointed to Mama's crotch one day and said "pee-pee.")
• Swing ("Weee")
• Eat
• Ball and "kick it" although she may think "kick it" means "bounce" or "throw."
• Bubble
• Read
• Binky ("Binks!")
  
• Hat ("At")
  

And, she signs the following: more, water, food, fruit, juice, milk, music, help, swing, fan, butterfly, change (as in diaper change), clean, no-no, phone, sleep, bird, car, motorcycle, bike, and the oh-so-specific "Where is Grandpa Bob?"

One of Josie's most recent new things is eating whole fruit, something she would never agree to do before.

You know she's enjoying it when she ignores the oranges, a fruit she usually inhales

She's possibly eating the stem here.

Notice her hair finally filling out? Mama, always the mulletphobe, thinks it's time for a haircut soon.

Josie Plays in the Patio Mister

Kid City

The Joh(a)ns(e/o)n Family recently purchased a membership to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. Kid City is a section of the museum only for kids five years old and under so it's perfect for itty bitties and the body guards. Now that the Bobcat is walking on her hind legs, she visits several times per week.

Her favorite activities are:

• Chasing balls and screaming, "BAAAAAAAAW"
  
• Filling up a shopping cart with food and balls
• Avoiding getting nailed by other kids running with shopping carts
  
• Sticking letters on the magnetic board
• Playing the xylophone
• Making the stop light change red, yellow, and green -- this is quite a stretch for her and a testament to her love of pressing buttons
• Wiggling on the cushions
• Teaching Dad how to use the abacus
  

There are several other activities that don't suit her tastes or coordination level. It will be fun to watch her grow and change preferences.

Magnetic letter board

Herding balls

Shopping, shopping, shopping