Three is a magic number.

I can't tell you why but it appears even at Julia's 16 months three is a magic number. Since she was a small crawling baby she has needed things in her hands when she moved. We've seen anywhere from 1 to 4 items in her hands while she motors around the house. Sometimes, and maybe even most often, it is a bulky item...gallon jug, large book, giant stuffed frog.

Two seems obvious but not for her. Three is what she likes. When she has some finger food, pretzels or cookie chunks, she wants one in each hand and one in her mouth. When she plays with her rings or we go outside and play with Johnders' tennis balls she has to have three. No matter how awkward, she must have three. She will let you hold an item while she readjusts the other two but she will manage to get three as quickly as possible.

The ancients were on to something and it is verified by the randomness of my daughter.

Julia, You Cannot Sit on Daddy's Head

That alone is a funny title!

However, many times Julia tries to sit on Jai's head.
She thinks it is OK to do and of course we laugh, then tell her not to do it.
Confusing! : )

We think it is part of her large motor development.
Julia's trying to figure out how her body works and moves and what she can do with each part.
It's pretty funny to see though I don't think Jai really enjoys it! : )

Pam the Yarn Doll

My aunt Pam is a great knitter.
She made the purple hooded sweater for Julia.
It has the zipper in the back which is AWESOME!
She knitted some slippers, too - still too big for Julia.

Pam also knitted a doll.
With brown skin and a purple pants and black "wavy" hair ... just like Julia!
Julia loves it!

We kept referring to it as "the doll" this and that, "go get it" or "let's pick it up."
That got tedious quickly and soon we realized that the doll needs a name.
As creatively as when Tara was 4 & named our family's cat "Kitty" I came up with "Pam" for the doll's name.

However, it works. Julia likes it too.
Hopefully she'll remember that her great-aunt Pam made it for her.

I hope my aunt Pam doesn't mind being the name of a doll. : )

First Ice Cream

vegan chocolate ice cream at Pied Piper Creamery - yummy!

Aunt Niki scoops this great cold stuff at PPC on the weekends.
She convinced Mommy to let me try it even though I'm not supposed to have chocolate for awhile. At least it was vegan so Mommy was OK with me having a taste.

I really liked it and hope I get to try it again soon.
Mommy and Daddy talk about getting an ice cream attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer.
That would be AWESOME - ice cream all the time!

Fathers are key to toddler development | DIYFather.com - It's great to be a dad!

I read this somewhere a while ago but its nice to see it in print again. Yea Me (and men like me)!

Fathers are key to toddler development | DIYFather.com - It's great to be a dad!:

"As part of the investigations, kids aged 12 to 18 months (accompanied by a parent) were placed in three different risky situations: social risk (a strange adult entered his or her environment), physical risk (toys were placed at the top of a stairway), and a forbidden activity (parents were forbidden to climb the stairs after the child succeeded the first time). "We found fathers are more inclined than mothers to activate exploratory behavior by being less protective," says Paquette. "

"Paquette is convinced that mothers and fathers intervene differently in the education of a child and these complementarities benefit a child. 'Even if both parents change diapers and give the bottle, they don't do it the same way,' says Paquette. 'By stimulating exploration, controlled risk-taking and competition, fathers provide something different to the child who will benefit greatly from this singular contribution.'"