parks and good fortunes

Walking the dogs in the woods

Pants got wet on the slide!!

This morning we went to a park we had never been to before with Grandpa Marvin and the dogs. McCullomb Park. It is nice because not only can you take a nice walk in the woods, there is a great playground there as well. First, we walked the dog through the woods a bit. Then, we hit the playground. We had the playground to ourselves for a bit and then more and more girls of all ages kept showing up. Johari seemed to want the place for herself. I am not sure what was going on for her there. I guess she had just enjoyed pretend cooking apples for us before the various crews of girls arrived.

Tryin' on Grandpa's gloves

Adventures with lotion!

The other day, I gave Johari a fortune cookie while we were picking up some teriyaki chicken!! She gnawed on it for a bit and then I opened it up for her. Her fortune read...
"You are a leader. Others soon will need your inspiration." I thought that was a great fortune for her to get.
I have begun listening to Naomi Aldort's CD series from series of workshops she did called "Trusting Our Children, Trusting Ourselves." It makes me think about all kinds of stuff concerning my own growth as a child, raising Johari, education, the impact of so many commonly accepted ways of treating children and on and on.
The other day, Johari said "Thank you" when I wiped her snotty nose for her. I couldn't believe it. I mean she REALLY doesn't like getting her nose wiped. But since she has been more snotty lately she has been a bit more accepting of it. In fact she talks about her boogers in her nose now. She informs me when she is aware of having lots of boogers in there. And she has even shown me her nose a few times so I could check them out.

Johari often says she wants to go to the "store" now. When we are out and about or when she is itching to get out. I didn't really think she even liked being in the store that much but apparently I have already passed some materialism on to her. When it is bad weather though, sometimes that is the cheapest outing. We have to hit the parks and beaches and playgrounds more!! I thought we hit them pretty often. Sometimes we have gone to the playground a couple times in the day. Or maybe there is just something fun about the "store".

zoo, sick house, book reading

Lookin' at the Mama Giraffe and her 2 kids

Mama and Kiddo sweetly neckin'

Watching Mama Gorilla and her baby...getting nyo-nyo's???

Sliding down at the Zoomazium indoor playground

Well we started the week off by getting to the zoo on a beautiful day. We saw the 5 month old baby gorilla a couple of times which was wonderful. The gorillas are my favorite. And to get to watch this adorable baby gorilla with her fantastic mama was awesome. The baby rides on her mama's arm. Mama is highly protective of the baby. The baby can't stray more than a few feet from Mama's arms.
Then, the rest of the week we have been enshrouded in illness. I think everyone in the house was ill this week including dogs. Johari was totally out of it on Wednesday. She had a fever and slept in my arms the whole day while Grandma and Grandpa stayed upstairs with their stomach flu. Then it was my turn to have the stomach bug on Thursday, but I anticipated it's arrival and managed it pretty well by not consuming much besides toast, saltines and apple sauce. I think we are all on the mend. Not at 100% but working our way there. And it is snowing today!!!! It would be nice to get out for a walk while we are feeling a bit better but so far the snow falling is keeping us in.
I don't really watch TV. But for the past couple days it seems that was most of what I did. I got to see a few of the shows that people talk about when I go to playdates and have no clue what they are referring to. I went to a playdate a few weeks ago and 2 of the mamas were talking about this couple that had twins and then had sextuplets. And the way they spoke of the couple I thought they both knew them. Come to find out it is a reality show about this couple and all their kiddos. So now I am in the loop a tinsy weensy bit.
I finished reading Three Cups of Tea this past week. It was good. Very inspiring and thought-provoking. For one, I thought about how Greg Mortenson empowered so many girls in these rural parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan by focusing and stressing the importance of education for the girls. Then, I juxtapose that with my critique of formal education when I think about what I may want for Johari's education. How I could come to believe that it is so empowering for some and think that in many ways it is so disempowering for others. The other topic that the book made me think a whole lot about was how powerful and unifying Greg's work is to people of these countries which the U.S. just attacks and destroys in the name of fighting terrorism. Where empowering people through education, sustainable work, healthcare and a good water supply is far more anti-terrorist than war. But then again, I guess that is not what these wars are really about. It is more of a fight for control of resources and land with the guise of anti-terrorism and freedom-fighting.
Now, I have begun to read Eat, Pray, Love. I am definitely enjoying it so far.

beach in the evening

We went to the beach this evening. It was a beautiful day. Sunny. About 50. In the evening we went to the beach to play in the sand and remembered to bring the bucket and shovel this time. Hyon, Lua, Jung Gyu and Sung Jin met us there. Everyone enjoyed looking for treasures, sifting through sand and rocks, filling the bucket, throwing rocks in the water, and eating apples.
My camera died soon after we got there so I didn't get to snap away like I wanted to.

a little bit of fun laughter

I had never posted a video clip before. It took quite a while to upload it. But I think this one of her laugh is also cute. So I think I will try to share it as well.

that....three four....high heels

Hey!! Check out this look!

Johari found the box of zip loc baggies. She decided to wear them as shoes for a bit. A new stilo!!!

This is a new look that she uses often now. The furrowing of her brows! I am not sure if she came up with it herself or if it is a reflection of how I look often. I am sure you all that know me well, know which one it is .

Last weekend, we went to Carmel's first birthday bash. And it was definitely a BASH!!! Huge. Johari found some play high heels. First she found only one. She seemed to walk quite well in it. I figured it was because she still had some grounding with the non-high heel foot. But then this boy, Rowan, found the other high heel and delivered it to Johari to her delight. I thought for sure that would be some falls with 2 high heels on!!! But she was a high heel pro. Unlike her mama who has no interest in any heel!

Johari likes to say "three four" sometimes just "four". I guess 4 is the magic number!!! It is funny because it is in no context or anything. I guess it is just from hearing counting in various places. She is also referring to many things as "that" which makes it difficult to know what she is talking about. She will just point in some general direction and say "that". And then it is mama's time to guess away. 20 questions!!! Or less before it becomes frustrating, probably.
We went to a Naw Ruz (Baha'i and Persian New Year) celebration in Seattle yesterday night. It was fun. After Johari warmed up to the scene she didn't want to leave the dance floor. She really liked to dance and run around and check out the other little kiddos. And discover Trader Joe's triple ginger snaps. Something we both appreciate! She was ready for some late night partying!! Mama got tired before her, but then again she napped on the way there.
I tried to get out and take a jog yesterday. I haven't attempted that in a while. So I was glad to be getting out and trying to syke myself to be able to run for a bit with Johari in the jogging stroller. She let me run for about 8 minutes. Just getting started and then she insisted on getting out and walking her cat (a stuffed animal). One of those mama moments when you just have to talk yourself through surrendering to the moment. Surrendering to what Johari needs. How is mama gonna get in some exercise! In time, it will happen. I have to believe. Somehow, somewhere, some way.

sewing for the nudist....

I finally did some sewing yesterday. I was inspired to make Johari a jumper. Since she resists getting clothes or diapers on, I figure if there is one item that I can get on her that would be most useful, it would be a jumper. I copied one that she already had. And it turned out pretty cute and it fits! Now I want to make more and more!!! Sewing is very gratifying and fun.



So in this desire not to wear clothes....she decided that her pajamas were hats when I was trying to put them on her. That is as far as they would go.
Then she added the pajama bottoms to the headdress. Welcome into her pajama head fun!

Pants, for what?

I have found though that if we leave the house without various clothing items, she will accept some of them later if she feels cold or something like that. After repeatedly trying to put a shirt on her this morning with no success, when we opened the door to go out for a walk and felt the cool air outside, she turned and accepted the shirt and jumper and sweater.

Eating Mama's sweater

This week Johari had her routine check up with the doctor. She did not dig anything about going to that doctor's appointment. She doesn't wanted to be weighed or measured or touched or listened to by the strangers. In any case, she is more and more of a pipsqueak in the world of percentiles. But I am not going to worry about it tremendously because she seems to be healthy and happy. One of the questions the doctor asks about the milestones is whether she is speaking any words and if so, how many. So on the spot I had no concept and couldn't really calculate. So I responded with 10-15. But then when I was home, I thought about it more and more and was interested to write them down and count them up. And as I have been doing this, I have noticed that she definitely has more than 40 words that she is speaking. And that as I am trying to write them down she is adding more everyday. Then, I was also thinking about how there are different layers of her language...her spoken words, her signs which some overlap and then there are many signs that she uses for words that she does not speak yet, and then there is all of the words that she understands but has no sign and can't speak herself yet. Children acquiring language is such a fascinating thing.
We have been into reading In My Heart by Molly Bang in bed at night. If you have not read it, it is one of my favorites in kids books for Johari's age range. It is great!!! It is about how the mother has her son in her heart throughout everything that she does in her day and everything that he does in his day. At the end of the book, it shows all of the people in the little boy's heart. The other night, after reading this book, Johari and I were discussing who is in her heart. It was so great. She is getting more and more into discussing and signing about things that she sees going on in the book.
I put a figure painting up on our bedroom wall that Ceci did many years ago. I told Johari that Ceci painted it. So now whenever she looks at it, she says "Ceci". And I say, "Ceci painted it, huh?" Johari: "Yeah!" And we can repeat this over and over. She also makes reference to the nyo-nyo's of the figure at times.
We went to a couple of playdates this week and had good times.

barrette party tonight.....

We had our friends over this evening, Cheryl and Jordan and Nawo and Carmel. It was great fun. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal together. And then great fun playing afterwards. The girls, Jordan, Johari and Carmel, all got lots of barrettes in their hair.

Johari, What kind of look is that?????? Are the barrettes too tight?

Jordan having barrette fun!

Carmel, a few for the hair and a few for the mouth.

Johari and Merlin at the beach.

My hands are sandy, Mama!

A week or so ago, Johari had great fun in exploring the art of putting on lotion. It truly is an art that can not be defined by rigid rules.

And her greatest joy came when Mama accidentally squirted a big glob of lotion out and it happened to land on Johari's leg. That brought many laughs and giggles.

bike ride

Grandpa Marvin put our bicycle together today. So we took our first successful bike ride together. It was fun. Johari enjoyed it. She didn't mind getting her helmet on or anything about the getting in the child seat. She just relaxed and enjoyed the ride. And if I stopped she told me, "Seat", meaning that I should put my butt back on the seat and keep going.
We had a beautiful sunny day today. Right now it is ending with the sun shining through an evening sprinkle of rain. It's beautiful. Now a cloud with a silver lining.
Johari really likes going to the playground by the pond below where we live. She likes to climb up one slide and go down a different slide. She also really enjoys the swing.

climb to new heights

pic from Mexico....

takin' the dog with...

silly mama with lil' sweet stuff

pretend contact lens care in a castanet

mastering how to climb high on a ladder

bathtub girl!