Standing tall

Josie has been pulling herself up to standing every chance she gets.












She's not walking yet, but occasionally she lets go and free-stands briefly.












I have a feeling that we'll soon be posting some video of her first steps!

The lil'est, cutest Wolverine

Here's a kind of blurry shot from our trip to Ann Arbor last week. Josie is clutching a teddy bear dressed up like a UMich cheerleader. She had a hard time choosing which maize and/or blue hat to get.


We're still waiting to hear whether we should be looking into getting her some lifetime season tickets to the Big House...it's undergoing some renovations, so she's got time to decide which box seat she wants.






Later, back at the hotel, we played movie charades. Here Josie does a great impersonation of the scene from the Shining where the little ghost girls appear in the hallway:















The Bell Tower was directly outside of our window at the Inn at the Michigan League.
















You can see that there are some lights on inside the Bell Tower about half way down. We could see people in there, too...someone has to keep ringing the bells, I suppose.

Hail to the ch-ch-ch-Chief!

Just as President Obama was landing in London earlier today for the G20 summit, a "Collectible Presidential Chia Obama" landed in my mailbox!

I wish I could claim credit for the Hail to the ch-ch-ch-Chief line, but that's just one of the witticisms included, for free, along with some chia seeds, with this fabulous product.






I pre-ordered it in the "determined" pose months ago. The bust reads "Barack Obama: 44th President USA."

There is also a "happy" pose, and another Chia advertising witticism on the box points out that "Yes you can...collect them both!"







Chia Obama joins my herd of Chia rams and, um, a few other Chias I have collected over the years (let's just say that I'm not allowed to search Ebay for "chia" anymore. I received special dispensation from the chia-ordering ban to order the historic Obama chia).












I don't know what the appropriate collective noun would be for this many Smilin' Jim Chia's, but here are five of them (I think I have one or two more scattered about the house).










Mr. T is a natural inspiration to model a Chia head after...I've never actually tried to grow a Chia mohawk on him, though.

Josie on the Train

We took the train to Ann Arbor this week. Here's a short video. P.S. If anyone in the Washtenaw County area has seen a pink poodle, slightly gummed and beat-up, please contact us.

More scenes from the park

Josie does her best attempt at a Socialist Realism/Lenin impersonation pose.

Maybe her image will become iconic.

"To be, or not to be. That is the question." Josie practices her soliloquy.

We love the park!

This week in swinging

Josie is ready to go out and swing!

This new playground down the street is nice!

I like swinging!

Ready for takeoff!

Did I mention I like to swing?

Josie helps with the baking.

I made carrot cake cupcakes for Josie's birthday. She helped out by taste-testing the measuring cups.

Clang, clang, clang...where have you been hiding these fabulous toys?

Baking is fun!

Presents for Josie

Cousin Benjamin picked out this wobble penguin for Josie.  He has a very good eye for toys!

Josie got a dolly from Grandma and Grandpa.

Josie and her dolly have very similar eyes.

Josie is 1!

Getting ready to blow out the candle on her carrot cupcake.

Another Josie and cupcake shot (she didn't actually blow out the candle). 

Yum!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If you look carefully at some of the following photos, you'll notice that Josie is sporting green around her mouth (from the avocado she had at dinner).  Pictures from this weekend's mini-birthday celebration coming soon!  For now enjoy these St. Patty's Day pix!


Heyyyyy...what is that?

I can has Guinness?

Maybe just a sip in honor of my Auntie Pammy's birthday today (her initials spell PAT!  That is so cool!).  And maybe just another sip in honor of my Auntie Missy's birthday tomorrow (what a cool birthday!).  Oh, all right...and just a sip in honor of my very first St. Patrick's Day today and my very first birthday tomorrow!

Annual Report - Part Two

Here's the second half of Josie year one, featuring Noah, Zeeb and Benjamin:

Annual Report - Part One

I made two movies to commemorate Josie's first birthday. Here's the first one, co-starring grandparents, Oscar, Cassandra and Isabella

Return to Humboldt Park

I tried to take Josie to Humboldt Park this winter, but the paths were covered with snow and we got bogged down.

Now that it's warmer, we went back to the park today. As usual, Josie slept through the entire trip.

Remember to bear-proof

If I don't clean up fast enough, after meals Josie often manages to get back over to her high chair area and eat the dropped Cheerios and whatever else she's recently flung to the floor. At least the food is fresh. Here she takes a break from ransacking the campground.








I may have to start tying up the food and suspending it from a tree.

More swinging

Josie really loves the swing! Today the temperature rose above 60 F...she probably didn't need this coat on. But it was perfect weather for the playground.

Happy birthday, Nana!

Today is my Nana's birthday! Have a great day, Nana! March birthdays are the best!

Daddy's hat

What do you think?













Daddy's hat looks pretty cute on me, right?

The dirty clothes boat

...soon will be making another run.
The dirty clothes boat...
promises something for everyone.
Set a course for adventure,
your mind on some clee-ean pants!*

(*Sung to the tune of the "Love Boat" theme)

Josie's first cookie

Hmmm...what is this thing? (Note: It's not actually a cookie. It's a teething biscuit, but cookie is more fun to say).











I have to concentrate all of my energy on biting.













While we didn't get any pix of Josie smiling while eating her cookie, she did like it quite a bit. We quickly realized, though, that she likes to wave the mushy cookie around and rub it on her face and anything else in the vicinity, so the few cookies she's had since this one are being served at the table. Even there, the cookie mush gets all over her face and hands and then hardens into a sort of shellac.

Sunday paper

Hanging out, getting ready to read the Sunday paper.












Boy, I don't like reading about the economy these days.












Hmmm...now where is the Styles section? I love to read about the society weddings.












Don't you hate all of these ads? Crumple, crumple.












Done with the paper for now...I'll tackle the crossword puzzle later!