We Made It!

When we are driving in the car, Johari likes to:
1. Ask why we stopped at every stop sign and stop light. So we discuss it every time. Sometimes she gets into knowing what all of the signs mean.
2. Say, "We Made It!" or "We almost made it!" even when we have just set out for our destination. But I figure we have made it to wherever we are in that moment.
The other day, we had a discussion about nyonyo's. Whose nyonyo's work and whose don't. The discussion arose because we had been at the park with Nawo and Carmel. We were each heading home for nap time and Johari and I were talking about that. So she was mentioning that if Carmel was going home for a nap then Nawo must be giving her nyonyo's (nursing her to bed). I tried to discuss the lack of milk in the male breast as well as how only mamas who have had a baby and been nursing have milk. It was an interesting discussion even if the concept didn't stick. I think she still believes that daddies can nurse their babies.
She is still the little exerciser and personal trainer. She gets her arms up in running position and trots along and yells, "Come on, guys!" or "Let's go, guys!" Sometimes she will be running along and exclaim, "Exercise!" to let me know that she is now exercising. I can usually tell just by looking because of how she puts her arms tight to her sides and her hands into fists.

We finally got to one of the excellent Seattle wading pools just before the season comes to an end. We will be ready for next summer wading pools though. She had her baby doll doing a whole lot of swimming in the wading pool.

She has had a week long binge on mac n cheese aka "monkey cheese". She was requesting it for breakfast and snack and dinner. She ate it a couple times a day. But I think it is fizzling out because she continued to request it but then would only eat a couple bites of it whereas at first she was scarfing it all down.
Paper towel rolls are awesome. It can be a trumpet or megaphone. She put it on her arm the other day and it became her cast.

Grandpa Marvin let her help put the dishwasher back together. WOW, did she enjoy that!!! She liked to put the screws where they belong or at least provide them to Grandpa. And she got to work on her screwing skills.

We met new friends at the mall the other day. Johari was showing Orion the luxuries of sitting in the massage chairs at the gadget store.
I often read while I am nursing Johari to sleep. Lately I have been reading Eckhart Tolle books. Johari found this little book somewhere in my collection that is called Awakening Loving-Kindness by Pema Chodron. She has taken to "needing" her book to hold when she is going to bed now. She wants to have her spiritual book to lay down with as well. She looks in it at times and talks about the letters or says numbers as if she is reading it.
Johari is expanding her motherly love. She refers to most of her baby friends as "my baby". She will ask me, "Is that my baby?" Of course, they are! Now not only will she take care of her baby dolls, but other objects can be her babies too. One time she had a little toy car that she was carrying around that she was lovingly referring to as her baby. Another time, her high heels held to her chest were her babies. They require all the normal baby care. She lets me know when they are crying or they need their mommy or the need to nurse.
We were walking Merlin the other night and she asked her Grandma what the bumpy slope in the sidewalk was. Grandma explained that it was for wheelchairs and strollers. Johari's response, "For us mommies!" "Yes, for us mommies." "For our babies?" "Yes."