You hear it all the time - kids this age learn through imaginative play. I can't tell you how many of Josie's "leaps" have taken place at the Museum Center. We had some big strides there at the end of last week - first she finally "got it" at the water table - filling, spilling, splashing, pouring,etc. This transferred over into bathtime which is now a much more "productive"activity of spilling bottles with water, emptying them into cups, etc. Here's Josie partying in splash-zone.This was a BIG deal! We've been going to the museum for months now & week after week I break my back lifting Josie to the top of the slide 100 times and cupping the back of her head so she doesn't slam it on her way down. Well, I think she got some courage from Aoife last week, because this week she got daring and wanted to do it all by herself. I stood back and down she went. And, I'm not kidding, she clapped for herself and said "Yay" at the bottom. Here she is before going down for like the 30th time...No exaggeration -she spent a solid half-hour marching up the stairs, positioning herself at the time, going "weeeee" the whole way down, clapping at the bottom, saying "yaaaay", and marching back up the stairs again. She was literally getting out of breath. Check out these action shots. I love how she looks scared to death but just kept doing it.

In other news, she learned how to properly use the shovel to fill the pail with sand in the sandbox as well. I love playing with Josie and watching her grow. It's amazing! She's just growing up so fast. We actually went to our first "school" tour over the weekend as well. We're trying to figure out whether we'll do Waldorf, Montessori, etc. so we went to the Waldorf School Open House. We definitely haven't "drank the kool-aid" yet, but it looks like a great place for at least pre-K. Really, it's just unbelievable that we have to be thinking about schools already, but since we live in the city, it's a lot more complicated. Whew - wish us luck! :)

Here are a couple of other loose ends from the past week:

This one is from my birthday last week. Carissa worked on trying to teach Josie to say "Happy Birthday" all day long, but gave up on the "Birthday" part and substituted "B-day" instead. But, for some reason, Josie thought "B-day" was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. Every time we'd say it, she'd crack up. This is late in the day, so it didn't get quite the same reaction, but you get the idea. Enjoy!

Here are a couple of photos from our niece Morgan's Ice Recital. Josie was very impressed. Here she is clapping and cheering for the girls - She was especially proud of Morgan leading the pack during their big number - And I'll leave you with this quickie of Josie with her cat puppet, because we think it's hilarious. Enjoy!