Catching up

I think I'm just going to ramble for a bit, then let you look at some pictures. The bed thing has continued to go well. She really didn't want to go down today for nap. I actually had to go in and take away a noisy toy from her. I sure didn't want to hear "The music train is on the tracks..." one more time, and I was pretty sure it wasn't soothing her to sleep. Her naps have not been great lately, but that's pretty standard when Joanna is sick. I feel like she's getting over it, though (more on that in a sec). She's been sleeping pretty normally at night, having a little more trouble than usual getting to sleep (wouldn't you, if you suddenly had a million distractions and things you could get into that you couldn't before?). She actually slept late this morning -- past 8:00! Consequently, so did I!!!!! I know my days of that are numbered, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts, for sure. Back to Joanna's cold: I feel like it hit full-blown cold status on Saturday, before that I would've believed it was allergies. She seems to be cleared up today, but she was still grouchy. Sunday was one of those days when I REALLY would have liked to be able to let Joanna enjoy the nursery. Alas, I could not. It was our senior pastor's last Sunday to preach and also our little friend Emma's baptism, so we couldn't just play hooky. So off to the sanctuary we went. I am really proud of Joanna, I must say. It is really really hard to sit still and be quiet when you are almost 1 1/2. We wandered around before the service, then sat down and played with some of the stuff in the children's folder. Joanna played with pipe cleaners, colors, stickers, stencils, and pamphlets. The stuff is really for older kids, but it worked out okay for us, too. We also brought snacks, water, and lunch. She did pretty good eating her lunch on my lap. I figured it was lunch time anyway, so instead of her being antsy AND hungry, I fed her in the pew. She held it together through most of the service, just falling apart toward the end of the sermon. So we left. Then that evening we had a farewell reception up at the church for Rev. Joe and his family, which of course Joanna got to attend. I didn't feel like she was sick enough she couldn't be around people; she was just sick enough not to be getting her germy snot on toys and other babies. Having said that, if you held/looked at/played with Joanna this weekend and now have a cold, I'm really sorry, and I will make you some chicken soup. She did really well at the reception, too. We were in the gym which has a lot of exits, and there were a TON of people, so I couldn't just let her run wild, but we had fun.

A new development: Joanna is sitting with us at the table. What a big girl! For a while she was just way too messy for this, but recently she has started to reign it in a bit. I'm thinking of putting away the dining room rug for a while though. That way I can just sweep up after meals. Our first rose in a while. I think it's been too hot for them, but with the rain it has been a little cooler, later.
We got some ivory toddler sheets for Joanna's bed:
They're very soft and very cute. I love the way the bed looks all made up with the quilt. Add some babies:
And the cutest baby of all:
We were just practicing here, for actual night, she slept with her head at the bottom, the quilt all bundled underneath her. She's cute, that's for sure.

She has started this new thing where she shrugs her shoulders when you ask her something and she doesn't know. I'll go, "Joanna, where's your shoes (or whatever)?" and she'll shrug her shoulders and turn her hands up. I'm going to have to try to get a picture. It is really really cute. Today we've been very into playing with stickers. It's lucky I have like 5 million sitting in a drawer (I was a teacher.), because she loves to have me peel them off so she can stick 'em all over herself and my nose. We're working on the ability to peel the stickers herself.