Junie has recently discovered belly buttons. She says "hee hee" when she pokes her little finger into one (Cody taught her that one). This also brings to mind a new concept she has just learned which is "off" and "on". She uses it in conventional ways, such as the light or some other electrical appliance being on or off, as well as taking clothing off or putting it on. In terms of belly buttons, when I have let her have a peek at my belly button and the novelty has worn off, she says "off" as she is pulling my shirt down back over it. Interesting the way a baby's logic works.

After years of wishing I knew how to play the violin I have finally begun taking violin lessons. My teacher tells me all the time how quickly I am catching on - after 2 lessons, I get to start actually playing. Although I'd like to feel flattered, I must remind myself that the rest of her starting students are two or three years old. I'm kind of glad I didn't try starting at a young age - I don't think I would've had the patience to make it past the months of simply holding the violin, holding the bow and making sure my feet were in the right position. Cody was mocking me as he took this picture of me just standing there, holding the violin under my chin... "oh, you're 'practicing' the violin, are you?"

This basket in Junie's room is becoming a favorite spot for her in the rare moments that she actually prefers to be alone.

A new favorite mommy-Junie activity. She has now added the words "bubbles" and "dishes" to her vocabulary. The other night I made the mistake of inviting her to wash dishes a little too close to her bedtime. When Cody took her to get ready for bed before I was done, she cried nonstop for the next 10 minutes, wailing "dishes! dishes!" over and over.

We had an impromptu visit this week from Jeremy Fraley (a childhood friend of Cody's) and his family en route from Boston back to San Diego.


Junie has a collection of mini-board books that highlight each letter of the alphabet. She adores these and sometimes will ask us to read each book, one right after the other, without tiring of it. She has surprised us recently by being able to recognize and say about 15 letters. She has maybe 5 to 10 that she always gets right, and some that are hit or miss. Her first letter that she recognized and said with regularity was "F". She now amazes us by spotting and saying letters on signs, our shirts, food packaging, etc. Perhaps this is normal, but each jump in development for her seems almost miraculous to us. The following video is of her saying a letter and also shows off how many pictures/symbols she recognizes and for which she often has words or signs. It's also funny to note how words that sound similar to others have become permanently fixed in her mind as the similar sounding word. For example, in the "I" book, there is a picture of an iron. Every time Junie sees this picture she makes the sound of a police siren - get it? Iron vs. Siren. In the video that follows, she sees the number 8 and makes the sign for "eat". This also goes for visuals: she regularly confuses W with M and C with G. Can you tell I like to talk about all Junie is learning?