The Journey

Capturing Johari...can that be done?

2011-05-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Johari would undoubtedly say, "I'm getting JAZZY! Yeah!!!"

She made up some different games with rocks. And decorated rocks. Hid decorated rocks.

Her piece of artwork.

Nappin'

She was given a packet of bindis when she bought a couple things at this shop. On her sweaty skin, sometimes her bindi would slide around.

Riding the grocery store donkey!

A nap performance

Arriving in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

2011-05-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

We spent the majority of our time in a town called Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. I had been there about 6 years ago when I was travelling around Costa Rica for a summer. I really loved the place. Coincidentally, my mom had 2 friends that are staying there for 6 months to a year. All the more reason for us to want to get there and stay there for most of our time in Costa Rica.

Meeting the cat at the hotel we were staying at. She even got to have the cat sleepover in our room a couple of nights we were there.

A beautiful garden throughout the hotel.

The Caribbean Ocean

Creative times in the hammock. I mainly just brought some books and drawing stuff and a baby doll for this trip. I seemed to work out perfectly.

There was this great spot on the beach close to where we were staying. The waves would break farther out. Leaving calm water by the shore. Perfect for Johari to play in and for me to float in.

Meeting another cat.

The school in town.

A laundry service. Didn't use this one, but walked past it many times a day.

First couple days in Costa Rica

2011-05-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Costa Rica for a week and a half. It is a beautiful and wonderful country. I am grateful to have gotten to go back there. Here are some pictures of our first couple days there. We spent half a day in San Jose. Then we went to Manuel Antonio/Quepos for a couple day and half.

Happy on the bus to Manuel Antonio

Making it to the ocean

She loved playing in this pool as well at the hotel

In Quepos along the waterfront by a farmer's market

Rockstar!

I will post pics of more of journey soon soon.

just pics...

2011-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Intelligent

2011-03-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we were driving along. This is what Johari said:

"I am intelligent. Juniper is intelligent. Everyone is intelligent. Even the army is intelligent... Well, their fighting isn't intelligent, but they are intelligent."

(Juniper is a baby that we care for and was riding in the car with us.)

cuddles

2011-03-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

a jewel

2011-03-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Johari: Guess who my favorite person in the whole entire world is?

Me: Who?

Johari: The whole entire world is my favorite person. Even the people in countries and places I have never been....

I love you

2010-10-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

I like to remember things Johari says sometimes. Sometimes I quickly find a scrap if paper to write something down on. Sometimes it floats out of my memory and I never get a chance to write it down. Today, I was looking at something I scribbled on a piece of paper in the car from a while ago. Here is what she had said, "Mom, guess what my favorite word is." Me, "What?" Johari replies, "'I love you'. I like to say it because it feels me with joy."

flower

2010-10-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

Johari says to me today, "If I was a flower, I would let you pick me."

a girl, a scarf and endless creativity

2010-09-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Johari has been having great fun with a scarf and her imagination.

Barney bandaged in a suave style

Barney really bandaged!

We both have babies in our moby wraps....

Babushka girl!

Carrying her baby

Beautiful

circus school

2010-09-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, Johari and I went to a performance by the staff of the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA). Johari is super excited about this place because she is going to start taking a class there in a few weeks. She likes to tell people about how she is going to be going to Circus School soon. She even has her own box of tissue as her "school supplies" because she might get a drippy or sweaty.

The show last night was great fun. During the intermission, Johari was doing flips while hanging from my arms and reenacting the tight-wire act on an old railroad track outside. After the show was over she asked me, "Do I start circus school tomorrow?"

This morning, she woke up and started doing standing balancing acts on my shoulders.

When she tells people about how she is going to circus school, she makes it sound as if she will be performing for an audience the whole time. She talks of how they will need to get a ticket scanned to come and see her at the school. I love her enthusiasm for this!

This will be her first class on her own. When I asked her if she is ready to take a class without me, she confidently let me know that she did not need me and that she can do this on her own. She is a big 4 now.

snail face

2010-08-29T23:06:00.001-07:00

A classic snail moment from months past.

a moment in july...more to come

2010-08-29T22:30:00.001-07:00

I am looking through all the pictures that I took in July and all that we did in that month. I hope to post more of July soon. But for now....here is a moment.

the first haircut a couple months ago at Foxy Cuts

2010-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Very serious throughout the process.

Lily blew out her hair and flat ironed it to give it an even cut. So her hair was straight for a few days after until the moisture crept in. And the eventual shower.

Hand on the hip sassiness that gets magnified with getting a hair do at the salon.

energizer bunny...

2010-08-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

Preface: I often call Johari an "energizer bunny" because she can keep on going even when I think she must surely be tired.

Story: Today, we were walking and she asked me why I had called her "Johari" and not "daughter". We got into a discussion of all of the nicknames that I call her. She said I call her a "charged rabbit"....I realized that was her way of saying "energizer bunny."

The house that Christina and Johari built

2010-08-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

We went to San Juan Island for the day. This was a beach we went to before we headed to the ferry home.

Christina is ready to build a house. In action!

Collecting rocks in her dress to be the carpeting inside the house

The house completed

The fire pit inside the house

Johari and Christina saying good bye to their house. She cried for a while saying that she did not want to forget her house.

going short....

2010-08-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, Johari was taking a bath at night. She decided that when she got out of the bath, she wanted to cut her hair. Short. I was surprised. So far it has seemed, at least in my listening of her, that she wasn't interested in short hair and associated it with maleness. As much as I love her hair, I was happy for her to be free to do as she pleases with her hair and feel comfortable and beautiful in whatever hair she wants or doesn't want. So she started the cutting process and then asked me to help out.

The next day she looked in the mirror and smiled and said.... "I don't have to go see Lily anymore." (Lily is the hairdresser that Johari went to for her first haircut experience.) I don't interpret this that she didn't like the experience with Lily at all. She really enjoyed it. She was super sassy in her 3 days of straight hair. She was begging me to go back to Lily's for another appointment. But I guess she saw some freedom in her new short do.

wiggles on the trail clip

2010-08-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

playing the cat guitar

2010-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Let's see if I've figured out the video thang......

roosters returned

2010-08-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

A morning home pedicure....

and manicure.

We went to return our roosters. I thought we had 3 roosters but it was really only 2. That's pretty good odds...2 out of 9. We will be coming back to get some pullets in a little bit when they have grown up a bit. While we were at Josie's place, we got to hang out and play with animals and enjoy their awesome space and the loving people within it.

Johari has a blast getting some kitten time.

Once Johari warmed up a bit, she and a couple of the girls were off on their own, feeding the goats and horse apple peelings and cores, picking flowers, swinging, and I have no idea what else. But enjoying life.

A kisser.

When we got home, Johari did some of her food coloring experiments.

I was lucky enough to get a duck liver to make for dinner from Josie, "the chicken lady". Duck liver is delicious! Mmmmmm good.

Another project of tracing the magnets she got at the baby shower yesterday.

A lovely day.

life

2010-08-22T22:59:00.001-07:00

Waking up and snuggling her dogs. Kenya, her dog that came from the heavens on her birthday, is quite the snuggler.

Snail fun. We had a rain this morning. The snails were out. She collected almost 20 of them and put them all on the hood of our car. Then, surprisingly, put them all back into their natural environment. I thought we would be keeping a few pet snails again.

We went to a baby shower. With lots of cool games to play. I went fishing and got this awesome light switch plate on my first casting. It is already installed in our hallway.

Watching gifts being opened and devouring the strawberries and whip cream off of a strawberry shortcake.

Ananda.....Bliss

Playing at St. Edwards Park for a bit.

Mastering the art of jumping and catching the rings independently!

Sitting beneath the owls

A Johari shot of the sky.

Our peach trees are ripening. Even though our trees may be somewhat sick with a parasite of some sort, we are still receiving the blessings of some delicious peaches.

Mmmmmmmmm

Johari picked out her "first" running shoes when we were at the resale shop a couple weeks ago. These shoes inspire her to go out running in the evenings sometimes. Which in turn inspires me to get my running shoes out and run around our neighborhood together.

We have been wanting to collect wood to do a project of making stacking blocks from slices of wood. A toy product that one can buy for a pretty penny. The first place we were going to collect wood from I realized that the homeowners were going to be using it to heat their house. Then on our jog we found a home that had some in their green garbage, so we asked them if we could take some. The first step in our project.

We collected some blackberries on the way home as well. I absolutely love that there is wild food in the neighborhood that we have made into cobblers, pies, and smoothies. Johari collects some to feed to the chickens as well.

We often admire the twilight silhouettes.

A zuchini bread recipe I have been baking since I was a kid turned healthier. Made with a friend's gift of a zuchini from her garden. Thank you, Amelia.

today

2010-08-21T22:02:00.001-07:00

It has been so long since I wrote here. And I really do want to get back to it and catch up on things that we have done in the last couple months. But for now, I am going to share a few moments simply from today.

a moment

2010-07-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

no words. just a moment. inspired by Soulemama

insatiable desire for pets!

2010-06-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Johari and I went to the zoo today. Our membership had expired and we were ready to get a new membership and get back to visiting the zoo. Our zoo is awesome in summer, fall, winter, and spring! Rain or shine there are places to be at the zoo.

In any case, she got to pet a Madagascar Hissing Roach. (Luckily she is not desiring one of these yet.) Then she pet an albino corn snake and then another corn snake. And observed a large stick bug I think it was.

On her way home from the zoo, she decided that she was going to look for a snake in our old garden when she got home. And could I get her a cage for the snake she would find. Well, we looked. And we did not find. She is very adamant that she does indeed want a snake right now. She is willing to set her snails free in hopes of getting one (because of the number of pets that we have right now).

I am suggesting that we have to learn more about caring for snakes and so on. We have put the word out to the only friend that I know has had a snake to call us with more info about it. Johari is leaving messages on Jake's facebook page asking all of her questions about getting and having a snake. We are going to ride this one out for a bit. See where it takes her.

It seems that Johari needs to live on a farm or have her own zoo.

The other day she also decided she wanted to send letter through the mail to the Easter Bunny and if that failed to Santa Claus about the cat she wants. She drew a picture of a fluffy red cat and had me write Easter Bunny on it.

going to the big top!

2010-06-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

We went to see Cirque du Soleil!! It was great fun. We saw amazingly flexible and bendy women. Men in human "hamster" wheels! People flipping with stilts on. Tightrope acrobats. Hoola hoop woman, spinning at least 10 hoola hoops in different places on her body at one time. . A man stacking up chairs and balancing on top. His body strength and control was inspiring. A unicycle act. Clowns. Magic tricks. Good music and dancing. It was awesome.

I like to imagine what life in the circus might be like!

bring on summer...ice skating

2010-06-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

Getting her skates on

Johari went ice skating for the first time about a week ago. We went with our friends, Twitney, Emma, Joey, and Julia. It was a great time to try it out because the place was not crowded or busy at all.

At first when got on the ice, Johari wasn't doing much balancing and I was basically holding her up as her feet were shooting out in front of her. Then she used the wall a bit claiming a bit of independence. Then a skater told me about the 5 gallon buckets that they had for the kiddos to hold onto. Even more independence. They could push the buckets around and skate some. By the end, Johari wanted to try to go the 4 feet from her bucket to the exit on her own without any help. She was very proud when she accomplished that on her own!

Julia and Johari pushing their buckets along

Twitney and Juju doing bucket time.

Takin' a break on her bucket!

Two Quotes of the Day

2010-06-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, Frogs like bugs. I like you."

"Mom, Did you know what? My world is perfect." With her arms open wide toward the sky.

Rainbow girl exploring a yard

2010-06-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

The beautiful rainbow girl playing in the yard of a house where we babysit sometimes.

a flock of nine

2010-06-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our one Silkie, Macaroni Girl, in a bunch of Buff Orpingtons

the set up for our chicks while they are growing

Takin the chicks out for sunshine

We got our chicks a few days ago. They are staying warm in the downstairs bathroom until they have their adult feathers. They have a nice set up. A full bath tub and 80 degrees for now. We have 8 Buff Orpingtons and 1 Silkie. We are hoping for all girls because we just want layers but we don't know yet. Undoubtedly, we will have to trade some roosters out for hens. The woman, Josie, that we got them from is happy to do this.

Johari was so excited to drive home with the chicks. She has decided to name them after "food groups". It is hard to tell the Orpingtons apart at this point. The Silkie seems to be called Silk sometimes or may have been named Macaroni Girl. (Let's hope she is really a girl.) Others have been called Squash, Green Bean, Noodle, Broccoli, and Cauliflower.

We brought them outside one day to play in the sun. One caught a bumblebee. It is fun to watch the whole crew when one catches something or even thinks that they have caught something. The one who got something scurries off and the others chase it around trying to steal the treat away.

Our coop out back is not constructed yet. Hopefully that will be in the works soon.

We had this book from the library a few months ago called, Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County. Johari is now the Chicken Chasing Queen!

Picture...less....

2010-06-07T09:47:00.001-07:00

Well, bummer deal is that I lost all of my photos since August 2009, yesterday when my hard drive died. It is a lesson in backing up data that is important to me. I really value pictures. I love taking them and I love looking at them. So it is also a lesson in letting go. The temptation is be upset and to say all of the "I shoulda"s to myself. I shoulda blogged more at least. Oh, well. Let it go. Let it go.

On a different note,

Last night, Johari said, after we kissed good night, "Kissing is....beautiful."

Introducing Mrs. Biggleworth

2010-06-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Holding Mrs. Bigglesworth

The ride home with Mrs. Bigglesworth

Johari got a hamster!!!! She is so excited. She was asking for one and really wanting one. I understand that desire. I used to be the hamster queen myself when I was a kiddo. This time, I kind of wanted a ferret though, but the hamster is probably just right for us. I started looking around at cages and hamsters at the pet store. Yesterday, I looked at Craig's List....and there was Mrs. Bigglesworth. She sounded perfect. She came with a cage and bedding. Her teenage boy caretaker was just getting too busy to play with her because he was involved in sports. We met them in the Walmart parking lot and picked up Mrs. Biggleworth from their RV.

Mrs. Biggleworth was then renamed "I Love You" Joy Noodle. "I Love You" being her first name. And Joy and Noodle being her two last names. Somehow Mrs. Bigglesworth is sticking as well. In any case, Mrs. Bigglesworth is the perfect hamster. She is super sweet and not afraid. Extremely good with being handled...ALOT!

Yesterday Mrs. Biggleworth could hardly catch some shut eye. Johari just wants to play and play with her. And Jordan came over as well so they were really enjoying hamster time.

I thought I could sleep with Mrs. Biggleworth in the room. She has a quiet wheel. But I had to move her out of the bedroom in the middle of the night.

This morning Johari was talking about loving Mrs. Biggleworth and Mrs. Biggleworth loving us. She said, "she is really attached to my heart."

from the lil camera

2010-02-17T15:49:00.001-08:00

Hey this is something that I didn't post a while ago. Some pics that must have been taken last summer or something. I figure I will post it now in honor of losing the photos from the hard drive. A few more salvaged right here on blogspot. :)

More from the phone

2010-02-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

Carmel and Johari got outfits sent from Grandma Sistah in Togo

Admiring a golden dress and her beautiful self

Random writings of Johari's while were playing at a mall... no guidance, no instruction, no involvement on my part.

Johari and Luke-y kissin'

After watching a video of NYC Ballet performance of "Swan Lake" many times and Twitney's house, Johari had to have a dress that went all the way to the floor so that she could be the queen. I put this together one day. Beautiful cloth brought back from Indonesia by Alfonso. Thank you.

Hiding out in a Joanne Fabric shopping cart doing self-portraits underneath layers of cloth

Stacy and I at 3D movie showing of Avatar

Hugs...Jordan and Johari
Playing with the dog, Sonya

Fun times....

Johari and Jordan having smiles and dippin' dots at the zoo

Johari and Jordan sitting on the porch

Girl...bike...sun...smiles

A sparkle in the mud

Mama and baby monsters that I knitted. Daphne and Delilah. (Danger Crafts)

Wearing a hair net and working at a vegetable processing plant to help make Communi-tea Kombucha

She couldn't help but get her shoes and socks off and get in the cold cold stream after working on kombucha making. But she suffered when the coldness sank in and warmth couldn't come quick enough.

Playin at the mall

Found her these awesome high heels thrifting in Wooster, Ohio

Fall time at the beach

In a sense, getting all of these photos off my phone and lil camera has been a trip down memory lane taking us up into the present.

Joy and Love

2010-02-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

When we had just gotten our $13 couch delivered and we were taking care of Lyra. Smiling. Cuddling on our new couch. I see love and joy in this picture.

Phone pics

2010-02-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

My lil camera and my newish computer don't communicate. I finally got a card reader and was able to take all the pictures of the lil camera as well as my phone which is something I usually have handy even when I have forgotten one of my cameras. These pictures may go back a year or so. I just thought I would post a few of the gems.

Ishmael and Johari climbing together

Johari and Ibrahim testing driving a car shopping cart and sunglasses

Listening to the New Age stuff at Bastyr Dispensary

Googly-goggled eyes.

Wigged out!

Too long away.....

2010-02-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about the blog so often and never getting to it. And then when I stay away too long it starts to seem overwhelming. Like I won't be able to catch up. Then I try to remind myself that although it would be nice to catch up. It would be wonderful to remember all of the awesome moments in the past few months like visiting family in Montana for Thanksgiving and seeing the Nutcracker ballet and watching "Miracle on 34th Street" over and over in Ohio over the holidays and playing with friends and stomping in mud and starting to ride a big bike with training wheels .... AND it is ok to just jump off from where we are right now.

I am in a rare situation right now. Johari is napping at home in our bed (typically we only catch naps these days in the car if any nap at all). My easiest way to jump in is to at least post some photos.

Her new bike. She really likes riding it in the neighborhood.

Doing a little BBQ on one of our many sunny winter days.

Feeding Eleanor while out for a stroll

Johari woke up one morning and decided she wanted to learn to use the sewing machine on her own. So that's what we did! She made a little quilt scarf and gave it to her grandma.

A little quilt blanket for her baby dolls that she made....with some unwanted help. She has the hang of the steps to working the sewing machine!

A drawing of people in her family if I am remembering right.

More projects!!!!

Her own version of Punky Brewster. She got a DVD with 8 episodes of the 80's TV show Punky Brewster. She likes to act out being Punky Brewster who is an awesome character!

Random shots....

2009-11-12T16:13:00.001-08:00

Smile

Drawing in a notebook

Paper chain decorated

Swing fun

My arm warmer

Eating and drawing in her cabinet house

Fairy preparations for Halloween party

Cat pumpkin

Face painting baby doll... eerie

The gift of an old communion dress...

2009-11-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

We went to a celebration a few weeks ago to welcome home a friend, Amelia and her fiancee, Hendra, from Indonesia. It was a quick visit and celebration. Our friend and Amelia's mom, MaryEllen, had found her old communion dress when she was cleaning out her closet. She thought someone might enjoy using it to dress up. That someone was certainly Johari! When we got home from their house, she put it on right away without the slip, of course. And she pretended to be Amelia and I was Hendra. We danced to get married. She introduced him to her dog, Riley (Barney Boy played that part). We kissed. We hugged. She put on a veil.

She had a couple of pumpkins from Cortney that she was busy painting in between the wedding ceremonies.

triking at Greenlake in October.

2009-11-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

Some time in October, Johari wanted to take her tricycle to Greenlake to bike around there. It was a beautiful day and she had fun doing it.

I think she is going to be ready for a bigger bike soon. She rode a little bicycle with training wheels all around the store the other day. She is used to being able to bike backwards on her tricycle so it took her a little bit of frustration and figuring out to work with the brakes when she pedaled backwards on the bike at the store.

More creative outlets....

2009-11-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Lua and Johari reading books on the couch...wearing newly made cat hat.

I have been knitting a whole lot. Really into it right now. My latest project was a pink cat hat for Johari. Johari has been knitting often as well. I give her a set of double pointed needles, some ends and yarn and she wraps it all up in some special way. It kind of looks like casting on. I am not sure what it is but she has a plan because sometimes she gets really frustrated and upset with it, saying, "The yarn is not doing what I want it to do!" And then she throws it down. But she picks it back up and works on it some more.

A necklace Johari made for Stacy

Johari has also been enjoying doing beading. She is making necklaces and bracelets for people.

Grandpa Marvin just got her a small but real guitar from Goodwill. She played it on the way to the grocery store through the grocery store and home again the other day. She has also started doing dance performances. Then she got people to take turns getting up to do a dance performance. I think it is so beautiful to watch her skip and twirl around the room, so free! I love it. Today, she incorporated the guitar and the dance performances. We took turns one would play the guitar while the other danced.

I might need to learn some guitar so that we can actually produce some organized music out of this nice little instrument. I have been interested in learning how to play a guitar for a little while now but I usually brush myself off as not having musical talent. But maybe it is just undiscovered.

Drawing

2009-11-12T15:19:00.001-08:00

Johari has been doing a whole lot of drawing recently. She draws on paper and then she also can spend quite a while drawing on the DoodlePro. So I snap a picture of her drawings before she erases them away. It is nice to get a a record of her pictures but not have to have all of the waste of the piles of paper pictures. Some times she has a little notebook that she draws in. I wish that I could remember what her descriptions of these drawing were. She seems to be getting more and more elaborate and things are looking more and more like what she says that they are. It is amazing to watch.

Sunday Fremont Market

2009-10-16T17:27:00.001-07:00

Johari's beautiful beaded shoes from the market

Johari collecting bottle caps and sticks in her potatohead lunch box from the market

Silly faces

This generous man gave Johari the Jimi Hendrix rainbow sweater and a deal on my Bob Marley shirt while he played Jimi on the guitar for Johari.

Ibrahim picked out some cars for his birthday

We went to the Fremont Market a few Sundays ago. It was a beautiful day. We had a good time. It is a market with lots of awesome arts and crafts and foods.

Her own decision...

2009-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

One week ago today, Johari got her ears pierced. It was her decision. I had asked her about it a few different times in the past. I told her that it hurts a bit while getting pierced and that she could decide when and if she wanted to get her ears pierced. Those times she decided that she didn't. Then the other day she was holding a wallet that had two dangling things on it to her for at least 15 minutes or more. And switching it from ear to ear saying that these were her earrings. So I asked her again and by the next day she decided she was ready and wanted to get her ears pierced. When I reminded her that it would pinch a bit when she was getting it done, her response was, "I won't cry." She did cry after the first pierce but she did not stop the process. She cried through the second pierce. She got to choose the earrings that she wanted. They are rainbow sparkly flowers. On the way home from the mall later, she said, "I said that I wasn't going to cry. But I cried. That's confusing."

making graham cracker houses....

2009-10-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Johari saw this in one of her National Geographic kids magazines. She kept asking me if we could do it. I finally got the supplies. In the future, I will not get the generic graham crackers for this project. About 70% of them were cracked in half and easy to crumble. She had fun squeezing frosting and decorating.

I love listening to this girl

2009-10-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, Johari said, "When we get home, I want to make banana muffins from Scrabble."

What she meant was 'scratch'.

The other day, I said, "Johari, you are hilarious!" And in her toddler style grump she said to me, "I am NOT malarious!!!"

I think the reason that I was saying that she was hilarious was because she was talking about how Barney Boy (our dog)'s mother was Chaka Khan. "Barney's mom, Chaka Khan, sells refrigerators. Would you like to buy one?" How does this all come together... I am not sure but with plenty of imagination.

This morning, Johari says, "I had a dream last night where there were 5 high chairs next to a really small table." This is the first time she has told me of a dream she had. I always wonder if she remembers some of her dreams. And coincidentally last night I was listening to NPR and there was a woman speaking who had written a book called The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik, she was saying that babies and kids dream so much more than adults and learn so much from their dreams. (I haven't read the book and I only caught the tail end of talk but it sounded like interesting stuff.)

Playing in the jewelry box

2009-09-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Johari had fun playing with rings from my jewelry box.

strokling....

2009-09-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, Johari had some mosquito bites on her back. The bites even kept her up at night a bit. Anyway, she liked for me to scratch them or tickle them or pat them a bit. Then she started just liking me to scratch and tickle her all over her back. I was reminded of how whenever we were visiting with my paternal grandma, I would lay across her lap and she would strokle (tickle + stroke) behind my knees, all over my legs, on my back, on my tummy, in my elbow pits and all over my legs. I told Johari about this memory. After that she would ask me to tickle her... "like great grandma used to do."

dancing....

2009-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

I was just watching Johari dance around the room. It is a truly beautiful sight. She is playing all the sample music clips on the keyboard in the playroom. Watching her dance around the room was reminding me of when I was a little girl, we would put on records and I would dance all around our dining room and family room. I loved to dance around the room. But I always got very self-conscious if I found anyone was watching me too closely. I hope Johari is free of that self-consciousness.

Watching her dance to different genres of music clips was making me realize we need to get more classical music into our lives over here.

A visit to see Grandpa Gary

2009-07-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

We went out to Missoula at the beginning of the month to visit Grandpa Gary and Granny Em. And luckily we get to see Gale along the way and Kent, Bobbie and Robyn too. Johari loves her evening at Gale's place. She has her rhthym with it now and wants Gale to set up the air mattress right away and get a movie picked out. We ended up going out and renting Shrek 2. We have probably watched Shrek 1 so many times, it was nice to get to see the next one.
We had a nice time in Missoula. We went to a midday concert. Johari did a ton of triking with an awesome trike her grandpa got. She was quite zippy! And went to playgrounds. We tried out the Missoula Children's museum. That was a good time.

Grandpa Gary and Johari swinging together

Speedy Triker!

Johari doctoring at the Missoula Children's Museum

Digging for fossils

Johari's photo of her grandpa

color experiments

2009-07-04T22:27:00.001-07:00

I wish I could say this was our 4th of July colorworks celebration, but we did this a couple weeks ago. A few times. Johari really enjoys it. Coloring the water and mixing the different colors together.

Taste testing the green food coloring.

happy

2009-07-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ananda

Cheesers

Her face made up--her style. Did her eyebrows.

Ate a little bit of bun!!

Truly Triking

2009-06-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

I remember a few weeks ago, Johari was trying to get going on her tricycle. There were many moments of serious frustration for her. She wanted to do it...on her own, of course... but she was struggling to ge tthe tricycle going. Within a few days, she was suddenly zipping around on it without any problem. It is a reminder of the importance of those frustrating moments for them. Those are the moments of learning.

Now she loves to ride her tricycle on the back porch. Or in the driveway and once in a while around the neighborhood. Most mornings, you can find her out back on the porch riding her trike around. Sometimes she will order me to get on the exercise bicycle machine that we inherited with the house. My little personal trainer!!!

A picture of me triking when I was about Johari's age

I've been trying to catch a photo that would be similar to the one of me. I haven't quite gotten the shot I am looking for. But here is an attempt.

She's Crafty!!! She gets around.

2009-06-17T15:16:00.001-07:00

We have been doing a lot of crafting at home. I have been sewing. She has been drawing and beading and stuff. Here are some of our creations.

A dress I made for her

A necklace she beaded for me

A purse I made for her where she keeps her goodies including her GUM!!

Johari and I like to take a ferryboat ride to Kingston on Saturdays to go to a farmer's market there. There is live music of some sort and different crafters and food and veggies and stuff. She just got into the shaved ice there....Mmmmmm. Anyway, one crafter had made kids pants out of pillowcases. I had to try it. I also made a really cute skirt for her out of a ruffly pillowcase. (first picture on this entry) So I got a bunch of pillowcases from the resale store and made a pair of pants for each of the kiddos.

Ibrahim's Pants

Johari's Pants

Ishmael's Pants

Non-pillowcase pants for Johari

Johari picked out these buttons at the store. One went on her purse. Then a few days later she decided to make a necklace out of them for me. Very cool necklace!!!!

I made her celebration crown and marker cases out of felt from ideas in a book called The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule.

No More Nursing Party

2009-06-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Doing her nails in the parking lot

PINK FROSTING and BUBBLEGUM!!!

Playing at the Italian Restaurant in the Children's Museum

A crown to celebrate

The Last Nursing

One week ago, we had a "No More Nursing" Celebration. I had made a chart of 10 days to count down to the celebration. Each morning we crossed out another day. The No More Nursing or as Johari calls it "Stop Nursing" celebration was whatever she wanted to do that day. I had been asking her what she wanted to do that day. The first thing that she came up with that stuck throughout the process of figuring out what her celebration would be was PINK FROSTING. Was she just going to have a mound of pink frosting? Would the pink frosting be spread on top of something? In the end the pink frosting was on little cupcakes. Then she wanted pink bubblegum on top of the cupcakes!! A big wad of pink bubblegum. I think it almost made her choke once because it was so big and juicy. But she valiantly recovered to continue her chew. We went to one of the children's museums which she loves. She painted her nails afterwards in the parking lot with her sparkle nail polish. Then she napped as we drove to the other end of town to go the mall playground that she really likes. That's where we spent the evening playing.

She has been really into chewing gum lately. Maybe that is helping with oral fixations. Or maybe it is just fun to chew gum! She has been doing really well with no more nursing. A couple of breakdowns about it. Mainly though when she starts to ask for that if she needs comfort she actually changes what she is saying midsentence to ask me to hold her instead. She is incredible. The day before the end we were talking about how it would be for her and she told me, "Remember when I couldn't nurse because you had chemicals in your body. And I was OK." (She was referring to when I had contrast for an MRI and she couldn't nurse for 3 days after that because of the chemicals in my body.)

Spanish class

2009-06-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had our last Spanish class of the session. Johari was a total clingster every class except in the end of the last one she kind of warmed up and was dancing a bit. Of course!!! And although she hasn't been terribly warm to the class the whole time, she has been into talking about Spanish words. She asks me how to say things in Spanish. Yesterday night she kept singing something over and over from the class. I think it was "a saltar...a saltar..." from a song, "Ahora vamos a saltar...a saltar...a saltar." Luckily there is no class to sign up for over the summer. So I don't have to decide whether it would be a good thing for us to go to. I am glad it has inspired us to talk about Spanish more.
My take on class for Johari is that it is not a particularly natural environment for her. It is a structure that she is not used to. And there are many expectations of talking and performing for people that she does not really know. That's why I figured maybe by the last class she might warm up a little bit. And so it goes...

double shades

2009-06-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Bras

2009-06-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Johari has started wearing a bra!!! It is pretty funny. She has started to mainly get herself dressed. She often likes to pick out her own clothes and get them on herself. Sometimes she needs help with getting shirts on and off, but she would like to be fully independent on it. Independence is running strong through her veins. Anyway, she was getting dressed and she said she needed a bra. So I gave her one of mine. She wore it under her clothes all day long. Even the other night, she asked Stacy if she wears a bra to bed. Stacy told her that she doesn't. Johari told her that she does and she thinks it is fun to wear it to bed. Sometimes Johari get frustrated with her bra though because it doesn't quite fit her. Sometimes it will end up hanging out the side of her shirt and it gets frustrating to figure out how to get it arranged back under her clothing again. Maybe I should make her a bra just her size. My next sewing challenge, perhaps!

pink bubblegum ice cream

2009-06-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Johari had pink bubblegum ice cream for the first time from Baskin and Robbins. It tastes exactly how I remember it when I adored it as a kiddo!!! And the gum is still hard to keep in a chewing piece unless you store up enough pieces of it. She gave me a nugget or two of the bubblegum and after a few chews it stuck to my molars.
Johari is really into chewing gum as well these days. She got her first taste and sensation of it about a month or so ago. She seems to find it enjoyable. Now she keeps it in her own purse.

Dancing Series of clips

2009-05-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

We recently discovered these weekly free concerts at a bookstore. Johari getting her dancing groove on.

Grandma Johari

2009-04-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Grandma and she made me Grandpa. (A resale shop find!)

Purple Girl!

Carmel and Johari at hospital to meet Carmel's new baby sister, Eva.

Holding hands with Eva

Rhyming QUEEN...Fo Feen

2009-04-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Johari loves to say things in rhyme. She makes up the words that rhyme with what she is talking about. It is fun stuff. Let's go to Target Barget. She went through a period where everything she said had a rhyming word after it. It has fizzled bo bizzled out a bit now but the rhyming mood still strikes her every so often.
We have gone to the swimming pool a couple of times lately. She is building confidence but still pretty cautious in the water. She doesn't like going under. She has a blast when we go to the pool. At the swimming pool is where she got turned on to showers instead of baths. She really likes showers now. She likes to stand and let the water hit her back and do some dances with her arms in it. She can stand in a shower for quite a while.

To the zoo and family square dancing....

2009-04-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

The crew at the zoo

This past Sunday we had a whole lot of fun on a beautiful sunny day.
We went to the zoo for the first time in a long time. We got a new membership there. I think we will try to get there often. We had fun checking out the "orangee-tangs". Johari said we were at an "Orangee-tang party." We saw the baby gorilla growing up. Johari went on the carousel. We tried dipping dots ice cream for the first time. An interesting twist to ice cream. Some super freezing process that makes it ball up into tiny pellets. Johari wanted the rainbow kind. She enjoyed feeding it to Ibrahim as well.

After the zoo, we headed to a family dance. Square dancing!!!!! Yee-haw. We had fun, but wow, that is a workout. Especially doing it while holding Johari in my arms. She enjoyed it but wasn't ready to do it on her own. Once she got comfortable she did her own freestyle dancing for a bit. She likes to run and kick her leg out to the side and twirl around. I don't think I have done square dancing since I was in elementary school. It was a good time.

Swinging

2009-04-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

This is what Johari calls her playground in her own backyard.

Our house in the middle of our street....

2009-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

View from the kitchen sink

Office/Den/Hang out room

Playroom

Living Room

Stacy, Ishmael and Ibrahim's room

Johari and my bedroom

Kitchen from living room

We have been living in our house for at least a month now, I think. Probably a little longer. It is wonderful. It is a great space. It feels good. We have an amazing backyard and front yard. Johari loves to just run in circles in the backyard. We put up a couple of rope swings on our big tree in the back. They are awesome. I had to make the swing pretty low and now it is perfect because she can do it all on her own. And she does!!!!
One huge blessing that moving into our house has been that we don't have a TV here. It is the chance to wean from watching her DVDs everyday. What an amazing difference! She spends all of that time creating, imagining, pretending, hopping, running, exploring, singing, and so much more. I love it. We read so many more books. We have been hooked on Alison Lester books lately. It started with this really cool book that we borrowed from the library called Ernie Dances to the Digeridoo. Then we saught more of her books. We both really enjoy them. They have travel and imagination and different kids enjoying life in different ways. They are super fun.
We have tons of colors on our walls inside of our house and now the outside has begun to get painted. Just the front for the moment. The comments of neighbors and passers by.... "Your house really looks different than it did." "You won't have any trouble telling people which house is yours." "Now, I can tell people I live next to the orange house." "I like it." Along with people pausing to check it out from the corner. It is sunshine on a cloudy day.

A first....

2009-04-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

It is a lifetime of firsts, right? But after they are happen a few times it all just becomes normal. Johari just crawled into a bed and went to sleep on her own for a nap. WOW!!! Incredible!

something i haven't done in 2 1/2 years....

2009-02-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Today, I went alone to a cafe and wrote in my journal for a bit. That used to be my regular gig. I used to do that almost on a daily basis when me was just me. I haven't done it since I had Johari. Very nice to have a moment off on my own. Even though I am blessed with all the moments with her.

Done with Diapers!!!

2009-02-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

How exciting. We are done with diapers. Daytime. Naptime. Nighttime. It is lovely to not need those anymore. For a while before bed, as a ritual, she would say to me, "I don't want a diaper. I don't want a pull-up." That's cool. Especially because she didn't need them either.

Borrowing and returning and loving

2009-02-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

Johari has been REALLY into borrowing. She likes to borrow something from her friend's houses. Toys, dolls, clothes, candles. And sometimes she is into returning the items too. Sometimes she even thinks of bringing stuff for her friends to borrow. I think it is a pretty cool process because it keeps things circulating and yet not this strong material attachment.
The other day we were over at Jordan's house. Johari and Jordan were totally off in the other room playing together, having their own conversations and negotiations. It was so cool. I love listening to their conversations. They were really having a blast together. Earlier that day, we were walking down the street with Jordan coming back from the park and Johari asked her something. Jordan answered very quietly and Johari said, "I don't understand what you said. Can you speak louder?" Jordan is pretty quiet when we are babysitting her, so she reluctantly and quietly repeated herself. It is fun to watch their friendship grow.
Johari is talking a whole lot about love these days. I LOVE it! She says, "Mom, do you know I love you?" Or "I love you. I love Barney. I love Grandpa. I love Grandma. I love Merlin." and on and on. Or the interconnectedness of the love. "Grandpa loves Barney. And Grandma loves Barney. And Barney loves me. We all love each other." It is so wonderful to hear her love and feel loved. The other day when Carmel was over, Johari said to her, "Do you know I love you? Do you know I love your teeth? Do you know I love your earrings?" I believe Carmel's answer to all of these was "No." Pretty funny. This outpouring of love from Johari was also between various pushes and hair pullings and things that she has been doing to her friends sometimes when she gets too amped up. We are working on that side of things. But I know that in her heart of hearts, she has love.
Johari likes to do this back and forth where she tells me to say "Yes" and she will say "No". We just say yes and no to each other over and over. Then she will chang it to me saying "Yes" and her saying "Yes" and after we do it a few times, she says, "What are we saying yes to?"
She is interested in last names now more. So imaginary friends now sometimes have last names. The other day she asked Hyon if she knew Cheryl's last name. She did not. So Johari tells her it is "DogParker". Perfect!!! Cheryl's last name is Parker and her business is taking dogs to dog parks.

the house....Before...

2009-01-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

We are still in the "before" stage. Just getting things started. But I thought I would post some pictures of what it looks like now.

Johari looking out the window from the downstairs "rec" room

Upstairs bathroom

Master bedroom with hot tub out on the deck...won't be a bedroom for us

A Bedroom

Another Bedroom

The deck out back

Front door

Kitchen

Dining and Living Room Space

Downstairs "Rec" Room

Garage

Downstairs bathroom and laundry

Front yard

I didn't take a good picture of the backyard which I love. It has at least one apple tree that is still full of rotting apples that didn't fall for some reason. The birds and squirrels are loving them. I am not sure how to take a good picture of a small room.
I have been taking down the one wall of wallpaper in the entry way. And Stacy took down an oogly border in one of the bedrooms.
I can't wait to move in. I really like the space. It feels good. And it will feel even better when we get the ceilings done and paint it and do the floors. I would like to do some other things but we'll see what is affordable when we get the basics done. Exciting stuff. Johari keeps asking me if the house is fixed yet. Every time we talk about the house or go there, she asks me if it is fixed. She must be ready to live there too. I asked her what colors she wants our bedroom to be...black and white. I don't know that I can hang with that color scheme. It might make me dizzy!

teddy bear shorts and bubble bath

2009-01-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

She has been wearing a tank top around even when it is chilly out. And these are a teddy bear's shorts. They just barely fit over her little butt but she made them work!!! Unbelievable.

One Ponytail do!

First Bubblebath!!! Fun. Making bubble beards.

And eating bubbles!!

Smile on, sweetness!

Did you know that?

2009-01-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

Tutu Magoo

Flour Girl

Johari really likes to play with a bowl of flour and a spoon. Great fun spreading it around and swirling and making designs.

Mama on the shiatsu massage machine

Johari has been exploring Grandpa's massage machine. She and I were trying it out as well as baby dolls.

She loves it when public bathrooms have chair accommodations for the kiddos

Taking out Grandma's braids to ring in the new year.

Learning the mechanics of a vacuum with Grandpa

Johari with her new (resale shop) fairy cabbage patch doll

I totally tried to resist the cabbage patch doll when we were in the resale shop but then I gave that up for some cheap fun. She was totally into this doll. She undid her twisted ponytails. And loved the fairy outfit that is so much like her fairy costumes.

We also got this lucky find in the resale shop. Mr. Potatohead and Junior Potatohead!!!

A cool feelings game that her Uncle Doug got her. She doesn't seem to be lacking in the ability to talk about feelings, but it can't hurt to have even more things to look at to talk about feelings.

In fact, last night I was upset about something. And Merlin (our big dog) slipped and hurt himself the other day so he has been crying when he moves certain ways. So when I got upset and sad, Johari said, "Are you like Merlin?"

Johari's new sparkle shoes

Johari and Merlin in the back seat of the Honda

Johari and Spiderman...another cheap resale find that she was fascinated by. He looks a little like a Spiderman Yogi sitting in meditation.

Johari has been having a whole lot of fun practicing her "mean" faces. It cracks her up, really. It cracks me up, too.
She found some lacing toys that I had waiting around for the right time for her. And she got really into them. She calls it "kneating" like knitting. The way she ends up looping the stuff around has a part that looks like a strap so she calls her creations purses or collars for the dog.
Her new line after telling me all kinds of stories and thoughts and anything that might pour out of her mouth is, "Did you know that?" And then she tells me something else and "Did you know that?"
We are nearing the diapers end. I thought we were there for a few days. No diapers or wetting at night even, but that was followed by some night pees. When I thought we were done with diapers, it was a very cool thought. Not needing to carry those things around anymore. But I am patient and we don't need to carry them around during the day so I don't even have to schlep around the backpack if I don't want to. It means I slack on carrying the snacks often but how nice not to always be attached to a backpack full of stuff. And when we are out we still often have to visit a public bathroom many times before she is really ready to use it.
She just discovered the fun in wearing a pillowcase in many different ways. Primary way is to walk around with a pillowcase over her legs and tied around her waist. Then last night she tried it a shirt. And then it was a head dress and she called herself an "African girl". Then she said she was carrying water on her head and would I like some?
Fun times.

clippage

2009-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

Here Johari is nursing her baby and then pretending that her baby bites her nyo-nyo and telling the baby that she can't do that.

Helping Grandpa fix the vaccuum cleaner

Baby doll massage

JUST

2009-01-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

I will hear Johari saying something at times and respond with, "What was that?", figuring that she is talking to me. She tells me, "I am just talking to Ahdji-Oudjou!" Like I should butt out of this one. Or "I am just talking to myself!" She is singing and I try to join in or inquire about what song it is, "I am just singing!" If she is up to something that I might ask her not to do, she comes up with some "JUST" explanation.
She likes to sing. Sometimes she makes up her own songs about things. Often she sings "I am a little Tea Pot". If she sings the alphabet song, it loops at X back to the S because I guess those letters sound the same to her so they are both S.

bandaid trauma.....

2009-01-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

Johari has had cold after cold since we came back from Togo. She had a small bout of pneumonia as well. She got to experience the joys of going to get a chest x-ray at the hospital. In any case, I decided to get us flu shots to see if we could get a little less sick. I am not sure it has made any difference really but no biggie either way, hopefully. In any case, when we got our flu shots, they quickly put a bandaid on the spot of injection. Well, that bandaid was the source of much drama and stress for Johari. I am not sure what she had come to believe about that bandaid but she was unable to take a bath because of it for many days. She would start to get undressed for the bath and then see it and immediately change her mindabout taking a bath and want to get dressed again. Or even if she thought about undressing for a bath she would think about the bandaid on her arm and change her mind. So after about a week of this, I knew we really had to get over it. A bandaid will eventually fall off, I guess but those were 'good' bandaids that seemed it would take a long time to deteriorate. So we had a dramatic ending to the bandaid where she ends up in the bathtub with her fairy costume on. And then she wrapped her arm in a washcloth for a bandage when the bandaid was no longer protecting her.

new paint set...new fun

2009-01-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

It started with this cool tiny easel and canvases that Johari got from the Langfords (which I don't have any pictures of her doing). She had great fun with those little canvases. She talks about what she is painting. My face, grandma's face, Marvin's face and more. Then I got her a paint set for her big easel that I set up in the only safe place to do it...the bathroom. She enjoys painting the paper and herself. And last night she painted a picture on the shirt she was wearing.

Skirt time, snow time, fun time....

2009-01-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Johari and Ishmael having bed jumping fun!!!

Super smiley in the super snowy Seattle

A silly mean mug

Bouncing at Carkeek Park on a beautiful day...Ishmael, a boy that joined them and Johari.

In a doll crib pretending to cry in Missoula

Smiley in front of Grandpa Gary's house

The snow is disappearing although it is not yet completely gone. I got stuck in the snow once. The hills and lack of plowing or salt really do make getting around tough. We are back to typically mild Seattle winter weather for now.
I used to think skirts were ridiculous for Johari. I guess when she was just a crawler and newly walking but now we are going to enter a skirt phase. Layering the skirts on is fun. And they aren't hard to sew either. I just got a few more materials to make some more skirts for her. She will even layer skirts on skirts, a look some of you may want to try out yourselves.
Her new favorite movie besides Shrek is Akeelah and the Bee. She asks about emotions all the time. "Is she sad?" "Why is she sad?" So we sort through this emotional world and try to figure it all out. She is highly persceptive to it all. She often asks me, "Mom, are you frustrated?" or "Mom, are you upset?" It is pretty cool because it gives me an opportunity to step back for a moment and think about what's going on for me rather than just bottling it up.
Just as I wrote that the snow was gone and the "normal" weather is back, guess what happens....yes, it started snowing! We'll see how serious it gets. I didn't hear the pre-hype about this one so it probably isn't a big deal.

Pictures in Lome, Togo

2008-12-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

In Ghana before we head to Togo

Night scene

Johari and Carmel hit the beach

Christina and Carmel

Trying on a bra

Hanging in the compound in Lome

"CHEESE"

Johari sweeping and Carmel cheesing

Nawo's mom, Sister, doing her "MAMEY" game with Carmel

Johari, my girly-girl, getting her nails done by Christina

The prego cat who had its litter the day after we left, DARN!

Up on a roof of one of the international schools

Looking out over Lome from the roof

Carmel climbing up and Johari on her microphone

The international kindergarten. Johari and Carmel had a blast playing on this playground!!!

Merry-go-round

Rolling around squished together in the backseat.

Street scene

Hanging out while Dela does laundry

The goat arrived a few days before we were heading home and was part of our farewell party. He was fed well before his slaughter. Johari was also fascinated by the plucking of the pigeons that were also served at the feast.

Photos in Kpalime area of Togo

2008-12-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

Nawo's father, Raphael, while we drive to Kpalime

A waterfall stop on the way to Kpalime, Togo

On top of a hill while the others bargain for some bugs and butterflies

Johari checking out the bugs with her grandma

Carmel and Grandpa Raphael

Fruit from a Cocoa Tree. We sucked the yummy stuff off the seeds.

Baby Kofi that lives at the house of Raphael's medical clinic.
Johari loved her baby Kofi time.

Baby Kofi was sick with pneumonia. Resting on mama's shoulder.

People that lived, worked, hung out at the house and medical clinic in a village outside of Kpalime.

This statue at the house took some getting used to. At first I always felt like there was someone standing there.

A nap

Photo trip of Togo

2008-12-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

When we went up by Kpalime to visit Nawo's father's medical clinic, we were headed to see a waterfall. It happened that there was a pilgrimage to the river below the waterfall. The road there was packed with people walking to the river.

Snack on the way to the waterfall

Carmel and her Grandpa Raphael

Hanging out by the waterfall

Virgin Mary headed to the river and waterfall

Playing out behind a restaurant in Kpalime

Carmel and Johari having their first mac n cheese in a while!

Carmel and Johari on a turtle

Typical street scene of Lome, Togo

Two little frogs

Bahai Center by Nawo's house

Dela and Johari

Oh, NUTZ!!!

Where we spent many hours getting to and from West Africa

skeleton hunting

2008-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

going on a skeleton hunt in the neighborhood

Halloween was fun. A couple of days when we were strolling around we started looking for skeletons which mainly means looking at all of the Halloween decorations on the houses. So Ishmael and Johari continued to do this for three days. That was our main Halloween outing, strolling the neighborhoods and looking for skeletons. It was fun and doesn't involve acquiring high doses of sugar! I would even push the stroller really fast from house to house and we would scream!!!! We went to 2 doors at the end to trick or treat and those small morsels of chocolate were consumed immediately en route. While were walking about looking at the decorations, Johari said, "It is a celebration!"
Johari was a pumpkin. She wore her outfit on and off all day long. It was nice and snuggly on a chilly fall day. She would say, "I want to do Halloween now." And then we would get her costume on her. In the morning time she told me that I was Barack Obama and that she was my wife. So sometimes this pretend role play would come back up through the day. If I called her something else, she would say, "No. I am wife."

Tuesday playdates at Clearwater School

2008-10-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Stacy and Johari

Ibrahim eating dirt and leaves

Ishmael's tongue roll

Ish, Zoe and Johari

Silly faces

Zoe

We go to playdates at Clearwater School on Tuesdays. It is fun. Often we play with Zoe who goes to the school. I love her. She is great fun to hang with. We help feed the chickens and play on the playground and go inside to the active room.

ponytails...

2008-10-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Snacking on the car after playing at Magnuson Park

So I am trying a new hair style of ponytails. Not so much because it is cute although it certainly ends up being pretty darn cute but more so because it seemed that it would keep her hair from getting tangled up so quickly. And it doesn't take too much effort and pain to do it.
She is pretending up a storm as usual. We can turn into monsters...she is the baby monster, I am the mama monster and Marvin is the grandpa monster. The other night when we were walking the dogs she was pretending to have an additional dog with her who she named Whistler. Then Barney Boy transformed into being Whistler. Now, sometimes both dogs at Whistler. Merlin Whistler and Barney Whistler.
She was trying to identify where Barney had bones and muscles the other day. He had bones in his legs and his other legs and his penis and his neck and his stomach!
She likes to ask about what's in it. "What's in it?" referring to her string cheese. "milk, enzymes, salt." "I am going to eat the milk in it. Is there pepper?" "Nope."
She is totally ready for her trip to West Africa. She talks about going there. She can explain that we have to go to German(y) first and then to Ghana. She asks if we can drive there but I let her know we can only drive to the airport and then we will have many airplane hours and hours. She is excited to go see Nawo, Christina and "her baby" Carmel. We have even checked out the globe a bit. And one time she seemed to point directly to the Ghana and Togo spot on the globe. I think it may have been a coincidence but I am not sure.
The other evening we were in the bookstore and she picked up this book and brought it to me and asked, "Can you read me In A Dark, Dark Room?" I was very stunned and confused. This was the name of the book, but we don't have that book! And I had never seen it and I asked if Grandma had ever read it to her in the store which she had not. I didn't think she was reading yet so I was truly baffled. I think I have figured it out now though.... she likes to look at the back of her books and see the pictures of the other books that the publisher is advertising for. She asks me what each book is and I read the titles to her. I think it must have been one of those little pictures of a book on one of her books and she just remembered what it looked like and what I told her it was called. Ah-ha!!!!

dinosaur dance clip

2008-10-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Laurie Berkner's dinosaur song. Johari, Ishmael and Ibrahim having a dance party. Pure joy!

tea or coffee video clip

2008-10-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Tea or coffee?

This is a clip from when we were playing in Grandpa Gary's downstairs. She always asks me "What funny, mommy?" if I chuckle or laugh or smile at something. Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with a suitable explanation for why I am laughing. She is just cute, so I laugh a lot in the joy of watching what she is doing and saying and being.

who is the baby now?

2008-10-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

A couple nights ago, Johari and I started pretending that I was the baby and she was the mama. She took her job extremely seriously. I had to be discreet about helping her get her diaper and pj's on so as not to tread on the ego of the lil' mama. She even put me to bed and tried to wait a couple minutes quietly then she says quietly and in need, "nurse." She had to switch roles back for really going to bed. Then last night, her grandma was the baby and Johari was the mama and she decided that I was the "pawpaw". At first I couldn't figure out what she was meaning by this but then I realized that it is what Emma, Joey, and Julia across the street call their grandma, the Chinese word for grandma. She maintains the roles for quite a while, calling each person by their new title. If she starts to slip back to the real title, she will quickly catch herself.

Mr. Potato Head exhibit

2008-10-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Ibrahim with the potato heads

pics n Missoula and Spokane

2008-10-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Carousel in Spokane

Running statues in Spokane

Johari and Cousin Gale

Skyride in Spokane

The view from the skyride

some pics

2008-10-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Snuggling with Barney on the couch

Hardhat and fairy dress

Rummage sale score of trampoline in Missoula

Putting babies and bear to bead in their co-sleeper

love....

2008-10-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it really has been a while since I have posted. And I end up thinking that I have too much to post about to actually ever do it. But I want to get back to posting so I will just try to let go of all that I might have let pass and not updated about. I will try to be in the now with what is going on.
In the mornings particularly but throughout the day as well, Johari will hug Barney Boy over and over and say, "I love him." over and over and over. Then, she tells me to say it as well. She can't get enough of expressing her love for Barney. She is also starting to talk about loving me sometimes. :) That feels good. Yesterday evening we were talking about loving lots of people. She wanted make sure that I love Ahdji-oudjou and Ahdji-oudjou's grandpa. I do. Then, the question has come up, "Why do you love me?" Or why does someone else love her. I haven't figured out a good answer for that one. I am totally stumped on how to describe why people love her. Everything that I come up with seems so surface or just a miniscule part of the whole love picture.
We are totally into singing and dancing. We were doing the "Hokey Pokey" a whole lot after we came back from our roadtrip to Missoula, Montana to visit Grandpa Gary and Granny Em. Sometimes we trade off between "Here We Go Loobi-Loo" and "Hokey Pokey" over and over. She likes to put her whole self in the best! She is also really into, "Where Is Thumbkin?" "Wheels on the Bus" and "Twinkle Stars" are still in the mix.
Johari asks about "Who gave me that..." about anything and everything. I am not sure if that is what she is getting at or where something came from and how it came to be in the world. We can be sitting in the family room and she will ask, "Who gave me those lights (the ones installed in the ceiling)?" or "Who gave me the floor?" She will definitely keep me thinking with all her thinking.
I realized the other day that I can't even imagine all that this girl understands. She will say something that just blows me away and makes me realize that I probably totally underestimate all that she is getting and picking up on. She was talking the other day about how Barney was from a rescue and whether another dog was from a rescue. She hung out with her grandma this past weekend because I worked a temporary job for the first time. Things went really well with her and there was no real upsets. Anyway, Sunday, Johari and her grandma were heading to a Baha'i Center that was closing to buy a few things. On the drive there, her grandma offered to get her something. Without given any choices or prompting, she told her grandma that she would like to get a prayer book. This blew me away because her exposure to prayer books is not particularly frequent or direct just sometimes when she is around an event that her grandma is having or something we go to with grandma.
We finally got back to the Children's Museum in Seattle a couple of times recently. They have a fun Mr. Potato Head exhibit. I think we will start using it more often with the winter coming.
She told me recently that she wanted me to paint her toenails with her regular paint set. And then her fingernails too. She wanted to do this over and over for a few days. It doesn't stay on at all because it is just washable paint. I got her some "safe" nail polish and we painted our toes with Stacy one night. We all have sparkly beautiful toes. She said, "I need to paint my toes!" Who would have thought that my child would end up saying that at age 2? I am following her lead on this. She is the intiator. I am just the support and enjoying it immensely.
We have gone to 2 playdates at the school I really like called Clearwater. Although not many other parents and preschool kids show up, we both enjoy playing at the school and meeting kids that go there and talking to the staff and just beginning a relationship with the school.
Johari loves to tell the story of how things happened and kind of act it all out. When she was telling Stacy about me going to work, she said something like, "Mama go to work and she went out to her car like this." Then acted out a funny walk out to my car. She is quite a comic!
I know pictures are desired. I will get back with that soon.

A few quotes...

2008-09-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

A few quotes...
"We womans exercising." as she and I jog with our arms in position around the pond.
To Barney Boy who is barking a whole lot at anything that happens outside, "It's our neighbors." To me about Barney and his barking, "He's shy. He's shy of peoples. He barks at peoples."
"Is that Jill Bevington?" referring to a drawing of Grandma. I had never heard her say my last name before. The things that they know that you don't know that they know.
Last night on our drive home, she said to me, "Grandpa not have Signing Time." I replied, "No, what does he have?" Johari: "Grandpa has TV."

phone photos

2008-09-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Napping Snugglers

Barney Boy all tucked in by Johari

Jumping before bed

Lipstick encounters

Swinging Julia

I put all my photos from my phone on my computer and these are a few selections from that.

i like that dog video clip

2008-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00