Weeks 100 and 101

Dear Jorie,

I'm having an awful time finding the time to write these letters to you. The past couple of weeks have been so full! We had a memorial day cook out at Nannie and Apas with a bunch of our friends and family, there were many trips to playgrounds, my birthday, and a few walks around the neighborhood. So instead of listing off all the things we did, like I usually do, I'm just going to talk a bit about how you are right now, and then let the pictures tell the story of the past two weeks.

Right now you are a force. You are a Toddler in full effect, running and laughing and screaming and tantruming. Climbing and jumping and always always running. You talk constantly, even though a lot of the time your Father and I can't understand you. You mispronounce "truck" and "clock" and a lot of other words in ways that make us fight back laughter. You melt our hearts with full on body hugs and many many kisses.

From the moment you wake up until you sleep you are in constant motion. You've recently discovered doll houses, and I have my fingers crossed one shows up for your birthday, which is coming up way too soon.

You are stubborn little girl. And strong. Very very strong. You can hang from the rings at the play ground, and use the couch and the coffee table as "parallel bars" to swing back and forth. You seem to constantly want to be doing something, to not want to miss anything, ever.

You are a big kid, tall and muscular. I think people think you are older than you are when they see you. You love to play with the bigger kids at the playground, although a lot of the time you'll run towards them yelling "Kids!" and then stop when you get close and stare at them shyly. The exception of course are your friends, like your cousin Wesley, whom you knocked flat on his back with a flying tackle hug at the playground last sunday.

Potty training isn't going so well. You sit on the potty, but don't use it. You tell us you have to "go potty" all the time, saying "I sit potty!" but you almost never actually go. We've been showing you "potty videos" to keep you sitting on the potty for longer, and you have a few favorites, like the elmo potty song. Hopefully time will just work this out.

You tell us elaborate stories, usually about your friend Zetta. Most recent was "Zetta scream! Zetta Run! Zetta 1 -2 -3! Zetta Hide!" After which you laughed hysterically. It was adorable. But you often also tell us stories about the baby doll "Baby poop, oh gosh. Oh gosh."

You've picked up a couple of mannerisms from someone at the daycare I think. One of them is the "oh gosh!" the other is every now and they you say "EEEEnough!" It's really cute.

You've settled in nicely at the new Daycare now, drop offs are relatively easy, with minimal coaxing needed to get us out the door.

Speaking of getting out of the door, let me tell you, you do not make it easy to leave the house in a timely manner. You insist on walking yourself, although not always in the correct direction. You don't want help either insisting "I do myself!" even on the steep front steps. It's kind of like herding cats, without letting them know they're being herded.

We also turned the carseats around to face front last week, which means you get to climb up into them yourself, although most of the time that means you crawl into the car and quickly find someway to squirm to the other side of the car where one of us has to extricate you and put you back in your seat. Although sometimes you let your Father bribe you with the right to "buckle in!" yourself.

I love you so much Jorie Bear.

And now: the pictures!