Thursday, June 17, 2010

reaching


Juniper is becoming complicated.  It is both daunting and exhilarating.  She is so smart. Everyday, I'm amazed at how smart she is, how smart we are.  Humans.  Who'd a thunk it?  Not me.  Before J bug, I was pretty convinced that our species was just plain dumb.  What other reason do we have for treating the things necessary for life (food, air, water) in the destructive way we do?  But with a child, you can see the potential for brilliance and it is so damned hopeful.  Choosing to procreate is choosing to hope for the future, to be the change you seek in raising the next generation.  We're working on it.  

Last week, Juniper "read" a book on her own.  At first, she just quickly flipped through the pages.  Then, she slowed down and stopped to feel each dog (it was a "Puppies" book--and, yes, technically it was upside down).  I was amazed.  She's been playing on her own with books for some time, but usually ends up chewing on them.  This was definitely different.  The other amazing thing is how unimpressed she is with her own breakthroughs.  Just like that.  She reads a book.       

Then, J bug started playing peekaboo on her own.  For many months now, my man has been trying to "train" her to pull a cloth off her own face so she won't suffocate and we combine this regimen with a game of, Where's Juniper?  She's been pulling the cloth off her face for some time, but now, she puts the cloth OVER her own face.  It's the funniest damn thing because it looks like she's trying to smother herself. Plus, she holds her breath and kicks her legs all around and it really does look like she's trying to do herself in.  But all in good fun, because then she pulls it off.  Peekaboo!  There she is!    
And now, whenever we lay her down, she grabs whatever is in reach: a pair of pants, a diaper, a sock and holds it over her face, sucks in her breath and kicks.  It reminds me of a dog dropping a stick at your feet, ready to play.

::  And, drumming...

And, wing-beating...

And, reaching...

Reaching...

REACHING...

R E A C H I N G

(That's J bug's super-sleepy face.  The tongue is a tell-tale sign.)  


:: My girls.  Reaching, rolling, back-scratching...


:: June bug started swimming lesson this week, which it so cool.  I am impressed with how well those little babes can swim--they are like little seahorses running underwater towards the instructor and their prize: the rubber ducky.  Juniper treats her ducky the same as she does at home: she hugs it to her chest and does not let go and if you take it away, she cries.  In lessons, she floats on her back, clutching her rubber ducky--like a sea otter with a clam (minus the rock they use to smash the clams).  There is no other toy she treats with such tender possessiveness.  I don't know what it is about that ducky.  She must get it from my dad, her grandfather (re: Senior Pato).           

:: And, walking between storms...


Tickling ourselves with blades of grass...

:: We are off once again.  First a rendezvous with many good friends, then a flight (our first) to visit Juniper's only living great-grandparents and see fireflies and luna moths and sit on the porch after dark sipping mint juleps.  My first time to the southland in the summer, oh my.     


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