Sunday, July 20, 2008
video clippings.....
Bouncing around!!!!
Crawling in the sand at Venice beach
Hawaiian fun with glow sticks
Walking in her heels
Birthday singing
Rollerskaters at Venice Beach
singing and high heels
Johari likes to sing often. She loves "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I have even heard her singing it on her own with a Johari twist at times. She makes up more and more verses for the "Wheels on the Bus". There are mama worms on the bus and baby worms on the bus and dogs and Ahdji-oudjou has probably been in her wheels on the bus songs.
She has her own pair of high heels from the dollar store now. They are extra slip-slidey but pretty clip-cloppy!
We went to another concert in the park Thursday night. It was Hawaiian music this time. Johari was fascinated by the hula dancers. We had a lot of fun and closed the playground down after the concert, of course!
Yesterday we took the ferry boat to Kingston for a farmer's market. Johari really likes the ferry boats and we had a good day together.
Birthday fun at the beach!!!
PERFECT chocolate cake by Hyon!!!!
An awesome shawl made by Mary Ellen!!!Friday, July 18, 2008
Meet Ahdji-oudjou
One morning just when Johari had woken up, she says to me, "Where is the moon?" When I turned the question around for her to speculate, she replied, "It went home to sleep."
She has been asking where people's moms are a lot lately. Where is Aunt Shaye's mom? Where is Chrissy's mom? Where is Sasha's mom? So when I asked her where her mom was, she thought about it for a bit and then said, "California". (This was while we were there.)
While we were visiting Soraya, she took us out to her parents place an hour outside of L.A. They board animals and rescue them as well. So they had a llama, goat, sheep, miniature horse, several large horses, and dogs. She was really pumped up to get there and check out the horses. While we were there, out of the blue she says, "I love pigs. Baby pigs." I haven't heard her using the word 'love' much before this. I guess pigs bring out the love in her.
Johari's imagination started with pretending to get people apples about 6 months ago and it has only expanded since then. There are still pretend apples in her play. She goes to the store to get them and she cooks them and she feeds them to people. She also pretends that we are taking the bus to places. We usually pretend to take the bus to the book store or the shoe store. At the pretend book store, she might pick up a book on dolphins and at the book store, she will get some orange shoes for me, herself, and Merlin, the dog. She even has an imaginary friend that developed recently. It is a girl named, Ahdji-oudjou. She had come up with that phrase (which sometimes sounds more like Eedji-oudjou) when we were in Montana last and continued to say it often, but then in the last couple weeks Ahdji-oudjou took on more personality. Sometimes Johari pretends to drive us to Adhji-oudjou's house which is "faraway". Or Ahdji-oudjou will come over to play at our house with our toys. Ahdji-oudjou took a bath with us and her mom did, too! Ahdji-oudjou will sit on Johari's lap in the carseat.
She also likes to pretend to put worms in my coffee or in other things. And then I must react with serious disgust while I drink worms! Worms are starting to be in lots of things and they taste YUCKY!
She was pretending to be a dog the other morning. She said the dog (herself) needed water as ALL dogs do. When I gave her a small bowl of water on the ground, she tried to lap it up like a dog.
Johari loves to hang from things now. That is one of her favorite activities at the park. It seems like she can hang on for a pretty long time.
Two things that I hear repeated many times throughout the day, "Where, mommy?" and "What's that noise?" I tell her about something I am seeing and point it out to her. "Where, mommy?" "Over there" while pointing to it or explaining where something is if it out of sight. "Where, mommy?" And I repeat or change my answer a bit. She asks me over and over. And then when I turn it around she points it out or tells me the answer. I think that the repetitive thing is just her getting it all recorded clearly in her mind or learning how to say the answers as well.
When she wanted to say "sneeze", she did a pretend cough as her word for it.
While we were walking around Soraya's neighborhood in L.A., we saw a poster with a picture of Barack Obama. I pointed it out to her. We did the "Where?" routine. Later, she said that she wanted to see "that guy" and I asked her if it was Ilchi Lee who has been "that guy" for a while. But she was not referring to Ilchi Lee this time. She wanted to see "Rock O Mama" aka Barack Obama.
She asked for "sunflower nuts" the other day.
She likes it when people roll their tongue or can make a clover shape with the tongue. She does her own version of just sticking out her tongue.
The other night was a full moon. Johari called it a Mama Moon and said the Baby Moon had gone to the park.
She clearly knows when she is ready to go somewhere or leave a place and when she is not. She says, "I am ready to go now." or not.
Soraya had several Buddha statues at her place. Johari took a small one to the park with her. Johari called the happy Buddha with its arms stretching to sky, Mama Buddha. I am guessing because it looks like it has nyo-nyo's.
She has been asking where people's moms are a lot lately. Where is Aunt Shaye's mom? Where is Chrissy's mom? Where is Sasha's mom? So when I asked her where her mom was, she thought about it for a bit and then said, "California". (This was while we were there.)
While we were visiting Soraya, she took us out to her parents place an hour outside of L.A. They board animals and rescue them as well. So they had a llama, goat, sheep, miniature horse, several large horses, and dogs. She was really pumped up to get there and check out the horses. While we were there, out of the blue she says, "I love pigs. Baby pigs." I haven't heard her using the word 'love' much before this. I guess pigs bring out the love in her.
Johari's imagination started with pretending to get people apples about 6 months ago and it has only expanded since then. There are still pretend apples in her play. She goes to the store to get them and she cooks them and she feeds them to people. She also pretends that we are taking the bus to places. We usually pretend to take the bus to the book store or the shoe store. At the pretend book store, she might pick up a book on dolphins and at the book store, she will get some orange shoes for me, herself, and Merlin, the dog. She even has an imaginary friend that developed recently. It is a girl named, Ahdji-oudjou. She had come up with that phrase (which sometimes sounds more like Eedji-oudjou) when we were in Montana last and continued to say it often, but then in the last couple weeks Ahdji-oudjou took on more personality. Sometimes Johari pretends to drive us to Adhji-oudjou's house which is "faraway". Or Ahdji-oudjou will come over to play at our house with our toys. Ahdji-oudjou took a bath with us and her mom did, too! Ahdji-oudjou will sit on Johari's lap in the carseat.
She also likes to pretend to put worms in my coffee or in other things. And then I must react with serious disgust while I drink worms! Worms are starting to be in lots of things and they taste YUCKY!
She was pretending to be a dog the other morning. She said the dog (herself) needed water as ALL dogs do. When I gave her a small bowl of water on the ground, she tried to lap it up like a dog.
Johari loves to hang from things now. That is one of her favorite activities at the park. It seems like she can hang on for a pretty long time.
Two things that I hear repeated many times throughout the day, "Where, mommy?" and "What's that noise?" I tell her about something I am seeing and point it out to her. "Where, mommy?" "Over there" while pointing to it or explaining where something is if it out of sight. "Where, mommy?" And I repeat or change my answer a bit. She asks me over and over. And then when I turn it around she points it out or tells me the answer. I think that the repetitive thing is just her getting it all recorded clearly in her mind or learning how to say the answers as well.
When she wanted to say "sneeze", she did a pretend cough as her word for it.
While we were walking around Soraya's neighborhood in L.A., we saw a poster with a picture of Barack Obama. I pointed it out to her. We did the "Where?" routine. Later, she said that she wanted to see "that guy" and I asked her if it was Ilchi Lee who has been "that guy" for a while. But she was not referring to Ilchi Lee this time. She wanted to see "Rock O Mama" aka Barack Obama.
She asked for "sunflower nuts" the other day.
She likes it when people roll their tongue or can make a clover shape with the tongue. She does her own version of just sticking out her tongue.
The other night was a full moon. Johari called it a Mama Moon and said the Baby Moon had gone to the park.
She clearly knows when she is ready to go somewhere or leave a place and when she is not. She says, "I am ready to go now." or not.
Soraya had several Buddha statues at her place. Johari took a small one to the park with her. Johari called the happy Buddha with its arms stretching to sky, Mama Buddha. I am guessing because it looks like it has nyo-nyo's.
Our trip to Cali....
Playing at the airport before we take offFirst, we went to Uncle Doug and Aunt Shaye's house in Berkeley. Johari had fun exploring in their yard. We took walks around the neighborhood. Johari fell in love with Aunt Shaye!!! She couldn't get enough of Aunt Shaye. She didn't want Aunt Shaye to go to bed and stop reading to her. She wanted to sit next to Aunt Shaye while having our delicious Thai birthday dinner in their yard. Uncle Doug took us to a really nice farmer's market where we sampled away!!! Strawberry tastings and peach samples! It was yummy and fun. We enjoyed our visit with them. She continues to ask where Aunt Shaye's mommy is.... I think because one time Shaye was talking to her mom on the phone.
Reading with Aunt Shaye in bedThen, we went to hang with Sasha and Chrissy for a few days in a suburb of San Francisco called Brisbain. We tried to go to the beach but the wind whipped us away. We picked plums from the neighbors' tree. Johari probably ate 10 in a row. She loved playing with Sasha and Chrissy and their cats, too!! She resisted baths most of our trip but she finally got in and didn't want to get out at the end of our stay at Sasha and Chrissy's house.
She colored in her armpits...deodorant, I guess! 
Hangin with mama at a cafe in Brisbain, CA
Playing with Sasha and Chrissy at a park in San Francisco
Then we headed off to L.A. to spend a few days with Soraya. I remembered the awesome rollerskaters of Venice beach from when I had spent a summer in L.A. when I was in high school and so we went there one evening. It was fun!!! We watched the rollerskating and played on a playground, saw the end of a slam dunk contest. We met Soraya's crew of friends. And learned more about her Tao culture group and we were involved in a ceremony at their center. We hung in her neighborhood and went to a couple of different parks.
Watching the awesome rollerskaters at Venice beach in LA
Johari and Soraya at Venice beach
Watching a slam dunk contest at Venice beach
Playing at children's store near Soraya's placeSaturday, July 5, 2008
Fun picnic at the beach with our friends
Smiley cakes...Ibrahim
Jordan and sucker
Shawheen hiding from the camera
Shawheen's sharp rock to dig with
The beautiful crew digging in the sand
Ibrahim is up to his elbows in sand
Jordan's sneaky smile
Ishmael's lovely grin
Watching a train pass byTuesday, July 1, 2008
riding the waves
Taking the right ferry to the right place the next weekend
Riding a whale at a very cool park that we found when we went to a concert that didn't turn out to be too kid-friendlythese poor young knees
I think this photo doesn't even do these knees justice. Johari has a cut on her knee that has been re-opened at least 6 or 7 times. And it is painful to watch it continue to happen but I remember back to my childhood scabbed up and scarred knees. I think it just shows you are up to something!!! Lua told me that she has a classmate that has perfect knees without any scars. That girl must just be sitting around! Johari is vehemently opposed to bandaids at this point. One time I tried to sneak one on after she had fallen asleep for a nap and she woke up immediately in protest and tore it off. So we can't get portection from those yet.
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