January Rules: Bundle Up

You have to make sure the baby is warm. People generally frown up letting your baby run around in little-to-no clothing in the dead of a Utah winter. Still, this may have been overkill:

And if she had her way she would absolutely have tried to go on this expedition to the park in just her diaper. Maybe some socks. 

Holiday Rules: Get Some asleep

I've seen so many people today express a 'good riddance' attitude about the closing year. 2013 wasn't completely kind to us but it wasn't totally unkind either. 

We won some and we lost some. 

Perhaps, as they say, all's well that ends well. That being the case,

 I am off to bed, for surely there is no better way to end a year! 

To sleep, perchance to dream! 

Food Rules: Bring a friend

I had dinner with two lovely ladies tonight. 

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Jo got this doll for Christmas. I'm thinking of naming her Harriet. She's quickly become a VIP around here. Jo brought her to dinner - quite the little socialite is Harriet! 

Jo's also been spied singing to her in the rocking chair, reading to her in Jo's chair and putting her (more like dropping her -over the railings) into the crib for naps. As Mr Bogart said 'I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'

Holiday Rules: Celebrate, Good Times!

 Jo wishes young and old a Merry Christmas.

Or she would if she could say that.
I choose to believe.

Holiday Rules: Jingle All the Way

More evidence of why unchecked parental authority may be a bad idea..

In my defense she did seem to think it was funny. As much as a 19 month old thinks anything is funny..

Jo Rules: Books are the Best

Jo loves books. She's a little obsessive. In the mornings she gets dressed first and I will often put her on my bed with several books to entertain her while I throw on some clothes.
This morning was one of those days.

She will happily 'read' aloud for quite some time. Once she is done with any particular book it gets launched across the bed in favour of the next. Most of the time the books are now the right way up. It was darling when she used to read them upside down.
She will transport books around the house in order to get you to read them to her. She will follow you, book in hand and she can be persistent. We literally have her books in every single one of our 5 rooms. Sometimes, if your reading isn't satisfactory, she will wrench the book from you and begin the process herself.
One of her favourite books at the moment is "Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb." We can recite it without even opening the book. She calls it the 'dum dum' book because of the drumming involved in its pages. She also really likes "Time for Bed" and requests it by saying 'mouse' over and over because the first characters to appear are the mouse and they are also featured on the back cover.
All books are called "a book" and they are frequently the first thing requested upon waking up in the morning or from a nap.
She also really likes the advent books we are working through. I've had to take measures to secure the bag they are kept in because she will go and help herself to a new book whenever she feels like it throughout the day.
I hope the love sticks. She does have readers on both sides of her family so I'm optimistic. The wonderful world of books awaits! I am looking forward to a day when they will either stay in, or at very least return to, her room.

Baby Rules: Small Things Rule

Jo has been loving chairs that are small enough for her to climb into lately. We were at Ikea today and she was thrilled with all the couches that were at her level. She has a chair from there that she loves to get into and read to her bear in. It's also become a handy tool for her to get to things on my desk. Not my personal favourite...

Here she's trying to squish herself into her chair with a book and a bear who is clearly too big.

But this is my favourite. The 'mushroom' chair at Irene's house. She looks calm and collected in this picture but it doesn't convey the hilarious (to me) 10 minutes before when she was trying to get out of the chair. It was just a little too deep to facilitate an easy escape. The acrobatics she resorted to were second to none. She finally gave up and settled for just being right side up.

Hilarious enough to make me want to buy one for our house. Almost. Some people in attendance thought I was being unnecessarily cruel as I let her struggle to figure out the chair. I say - character building!