Smorgasbord

The past couple weeks have been a joy and blessing with Janna.

Anyone who is a parent understands the vast array of ups and downs you have with your children. There are days or even weeks that can be so overwhelming and frustrating that you wonder why you ever wanted to embark on the adventure of Parenthood. On the flip-side, there are the moments when you are so wrapped up in love for your child that you wonder how you ever lived without them.

It's appropriate that I write this today considering it's been a rough one so far...lots of tears. ;)

We've really seen Janna's personality exploding, as well as her vocabulary, the past couple of weeks. She's been extremely happy, eager to play, explore, and learn. She does really well at learning, repeating, and remembering how to use new words. 

A fun concept she's been grasping is the negative of something...let me explain. It began with Janna pointing to a picture of a man on the cover of a book. She said, "Daddy." I said, "Not Daddy." So now, a male is either Daddy or Not Daddy (unless of course she already knows them by name). Same for her friend Josh. Little boys are Josh or Not Josh (more on him later). Some others: cold-not cold, hot-not hot, touch-not touch. You get the idea. Anyway, she's been learning lots of new animals along with their sounds. Her favorite right now seems to be a cow. It helps that we pass a pasture with cows on the way to church. She knows they will be there and always says "cow," "moo," or both when we go by.

She's really beginning to remember people and put names and faces together, which is especially nice for family she doesn't get to see all the time. She recognizes their face in a picture, so when she sees them, hopefully they aren't a total stranger.

Well, I just wanted to share a few videos and pictures from my phone that have been piling up so you can see what Janna has been up to the past couple of weeks.

Janna hugging Josh....certainly her first love. They're so funny around each other.

"Helping" rake leaves.

Getting creative with bathtime!

Just because I thought it was cute and funny.

Helping the Friyes and the Salvation Army.