We have a family here in Boise whom we really enjoy getting together with. It helps that they have a child exactly Josephine's age. A month ago we were over at their house and I found some flash cards in their book drawer and Josie, her friend, and myself started going through the pictures. Josephine really enjoyed this, so we decided to get her some flash cards to look at. I was a bit disappointed with what I found, and started to make my own. I took my handy-dandy cricut and cut out shapes in different colors so we could practice learning them.
Josephine has really enjoyed the focused one-on-one time this brings. She likes the discussion, the sorting, the quizzing, and the new words she's learning. It's funny to hear a two-year old say "rectangle". Over the last month she has learned her colors and can identify them about 90% of the time. As for her shapes, she knows how to say about three of them, but can match two of the same shape. This is the rewarding side of parenting.
As for the not rewarding side of parenting: four hours of sleep Monday night. I wondered why I couldn't stop crying and when I counted my hours of sleep I realized the answer. It doesn't help that I'm six months along and can hardly sleep anyways. Throw in a toddler who got enough REM during nap time and welcome to the dark side.
We also managed to get pink eye the week of Thanksgiving. Not only do I have three people staying here for a week, but tomorrow we'll be surrounded by family of all ages. Awesome!
Now that I'm writing about it, it all puts a smile on my face, even the bad stuff. Funny what makes the heart grow fonder. Or perhaps I'm just impressed that I'm still standing to tell the tale.
This year I hit a jackpot for Josephine at the Quilt Group Christmas party. During the gift exchange I chose the present with beads, bells, wire, and thread. This is for creating embellishments on a quilt (in case you were scratching your head). However, as soon as Josephine saw what was in the bag she wanted access.
