Little Junie Things ::

A few days ago June turned 19 months old. I missed her 18 month letter writing (see 17 months old and 16 months old and more of course) during June days. Now I have a lot of updates to report, though I suppose the origins of the little June-isms may not be super-accurate.

Lately June is a chatterbox. She mimics us physically too, but the most astounding thing is her language acquisition. She says her name very frequently, often it comes out Junie, a little more often it comes out Goonie. I'm trying not to say it that way myself! Her first four word sentence happened a couple weeks ago. She said, Daddy bring Goonie cheese. As she said it he was bringing it to her. Now she says quite a few of them, and my favorite is actually a question, which comes in the form of her favorite game: Where did Junie go?

(You can't see her in the picture right?) She often hides in pretty obvious places, like behind the slats of a chair. I humor her completely and pretend to look for her all over the place. While hiding she stands very still and is very quiet, in marked contrast to most other times.

A funny little thing is that she has learned how to say "yep" and "nope." When we peek down the back of her diaper to see if there is any uh, poop, in there, she'll declare, "Nope!"

Tonight I took a bath with her and she turned around and looked at me, turned around again and looked at me. She patted my hair and cheek and said, "Mommy pretty." That was the first time she ever did that.

She drank a little bowl of salsa a few weeks ago. She has at least the tips of all four pointy teeth. And the teething was hell! I hope the rest of her molars come in easier. Her appetite fluctuates wildly. Sometimes she eats as much as me, especially if it is pasta. Other times she won't eat a bite.

She learns names so fast. And repeats them often. I love this, and I love seeing my family members light up when she says their names. In the picture below she is with her uncle Tom.

Last night, so Adam tells me, he had a nice moment with June. But first a preface: he was putting her to bed on the futon on the floor and just lying beside her. And he had two days of stubble, which on Adam is pretty thick and scratchy. June has a hard time still going to sleep without me (and nursing). Sometimes it takes far too long, but it eventually results in sleep. June has lots of stall tactics. She also likes lots of comforting, and she'll plaintively cry out Mommy Work, Mommy Work, over and over. It is heart melting. At any rate, Adam was lying there on his side feigning sleep. June leaned a centimeter from his face. Less than that. And said, Daddy kiss? More kiss? She gave him 40 kisses. But! She also said, Yucky Dirty. 'Yucky Dirty' is one of her big expressions. And the reason for the yucky was Adam's beard stubble that was all scratchy. I think this is a great story.

Adam also told me the two will give each other little deliberate forehead bonks, and June will give an extra push at the end. It sounds like a forehead hug to me, if that is possible.

The cinnamon on a cinnamon roll was also called yucky dirty the other day.

June loves to sing and Adam tells me she mouthed along to the ABCs tonight. We've been reading the Dr. Seuss ABC book, and June will say, "ABC" to me when she looks at it.

The other day I videoed her singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She can do the hand motions to the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and her right leg can do the hokey-pokey like a rock star.

One of my absolute favorites is the "Hello Junie, Hello Junie, Hello Junie, We're glad you're here today" song. June will sing this out multiple times a day, though she only does the hello part, and substitutes different names, like Daddy, Mommy, Kitty, Tail-o. (Tail-o being what she calls tails.)

She saw a moose and knows how to say that too.

She held snow.
She took a bite out of a clover flower.
She can say stuck and help and she got some new orange shoes! She is obsessed with these shoes.

I may post some videos soon that show her doing some of these things we find so marvelous.

We love our little June!