Fast post, because I’m still very sick and want to get to bed.

– Tooth #9 is making an appearance. Lower left first molar.

– Colors! She will point to a whole bunch of things of the same color.

– Drawing. She will draw if you give her paper and markers. She will even draw mostly on the paper. Other popular media (mediums?) include her face, her mouth, her hands, her clothing, and anyone within reach.

– Caps! Her latest favorite game is to put caps or lids on things. I need to obtain more containers that have lids. If any of my readers have tang containers, coffee cans, or anything else with an easy to put on and take off lid, I’d love to take it off your hands.

Okay. Bed for me. She’s on the mend from her cold but I’m still very sick.

– Tooth number 8 is pushing its way out, and it’s a doozy. Lower left first molar, and her gums look terrible. Red and purple and very swollen, with a little ridge of tooth peeking out.

– When you ask her, “Where’s Josephine?” she will get a big grin and point to herself! I also showed her a picture of herself and she pointed to her picture and then to herself. Same with the mirror! She’s definitely getting a concept of “me” which, at least to me, implies that she’s also developing some sense of “not me.” Sometimes when she wants something I have, she will point to it and then to herself, as if to say, “that is for me!”

– She’ll sometimes point out “Mama” and “Daddy” in pictures. But more often, if you ask her to point us out, she’ll point to herself. She is very excited to point to herself :).

– Running away! She loves to run and explore and is definitely testing her boundaries when it comes to independence.

– She has started pointing at things and then clapping when she wants them. She’s pretty good at communicating even though she doesn’t have many words!

– Learning how to use a water fountain. She is figuring out how to drink in a variety of ways, from cups to baths (yuck!) to water fountains.

– new word: bye bye! She will say bye bye to her toys when she puts them down, to people when they leave, or it seems like whenever she’s leaving something behind. This includes when she is done with her food. She will throw it on the floor and shout, “bye! Bye bye bye!” As if she could banish it.

– Her teachers have started calling her their classroom greeter. Anyone that walks into the room is greeted with a cheery, “Hi!” And seen off with a, “Bye bye!” And a grin.

– I have volunteered to be a classroom parent. It’s intimidating but if I want to get involved with her schooling I might as well do it now.

– She has started giving the best hugs. She will wrap her arms around your neck as only a child can do, and lean her cheek against your shoulder or cheek. It melts my heart every time.

– She now insists on walking out of school by herself. I let her walk to the door, but still insist on carrying her to the car.

– tooth number 7 arrived this morning, and it was a rough one. Lower left lateral incisor.

– Gentle touch: she definitely knows what gentle is. If she’s patting you and getting too rough, you can tell her to be gentle and she’ll immediately start stroking instead of patting, then resume her patting with less vigor. She usually gets excited again pretty quickly and you have to tell her to be gentle again but it’s not too bad.

– this one is all mine: I’ve finally gotten back to the gym! I went yesterday and it felt great. I’m looking forward to having regular exercise again that isn’t chasing her around.

Writing these updates on my phone is hard. I left my iPad at work.

Sorry I missed last week. Lots is happening!

– Running. She can now run (sorta). She only gets a few steps before her legs don’t move fast enough and she faceplants, but it almost never matters to her. She gets right up and starts running again!

– Her “baby.” At school, every baby has their own doll, which they call their “babies.” J will go and pick up her baby, rock it, sing to it, and then lay it face down on the ground and start patting it on the back. That’s how they put her down for naptime. Now, if you tell her to find her baby and say night night, that’s what she’ll do. She loves it.

– Climbing. She loves to climb everything, anything! The sofa, the chair, mom, dad, into the tub, up on to the table, anything she can! It seems like every week we have to watch her more closely instead of less.

– Gentle touch. She’s gotten very good at being gentle. She almost never grabs the cats fur or ears. When they let her, she will pat them gently and try to give them a hug. She tried to pick up Chen once, which didn’t work so well, but no one was hurt.

– Argh there’s so much more! It’s time for me to start keeping a list.