Have I mentioned it’s been getting harder and harder to get a smiling picture of Joy lately? It’s not that she’s smiling less, just that she’s more and more busy and interested in everything, hence less and less willing to hold still AND smile long enough for me to get a shot. Oh, well, she’s still cute, even in passing! : )

The other day I read that kids Joy’s age should by now know between 10-50 words. : ). That seems a little low to me, so I wrote a list of the words Joy knows and uses on a regular basis.

It’s hard to be sure of an exact number, since I could easily repeat or miss a word. Also, some words she uses in the correct context but might not know the exact meaning (like good morning). Also, I chose not to include letters or numbers. Letters aren’t really used in conversation, and while she knows some number names, I don’t think she understands the concept of counting, so I decided not to include those (even though I love listening to her count: 3,4,8,9…3,4,10!!!…3,4,6,10! (the number ten always gets extra emphasis)).

The number I came up with is 204. Joy knows and uses around 204 words (lets just say 200 for simplicity sake). In reality, its probably somewhere between 190 and 215, which, either way is a whole lot of words. Wow! : ). Go, Joy! I’m glad you are loving learning language!

It’s a little hard to see what Joy is eating here (it looks a little like she’s nursing a beer) but it’s applesauce. We got a gift certificate to Applebees and had a nice meal. Joy fed herself this whole cup of applesauce without help and without spilling much. Way to go! Way to work that spoon!

Joy has figured out how to undo the cabinet latches. (sigh). I’m both impressed and dismayed. Thankfully, I already had the foresight to move dangerous chemicals up higher, but I guess now I have to move the trash higher, too!

Joy tried ketchup for the first time today!

First, she dipped her hotdog in it like I was doing. Then, she gave up on tv hotdog but kept on eating the ketchup!

On Wednesday, Joy and I managed to get to a park!! There were some hills, and Joy wanted to go down them. She thought about it, then proceeded carefully down on her tuckus. : )

This morning, when we were getting ready to go, I got Joy in her coat and hat and then turned away to put on my coat. When a turned back, she was wearing a different hat! Haha! In that quick moment, she made up her mind and just made the switch!

This morning:

Joy woke up and said, “hi!”
I said, “hi!”
She concentrated and said, “how are you?”
I said, “good! How are you?”
She wasn’t sure what to say next. : )

Upon picking Joy up at the YWCA’s drop-in daycare:

I said, “did you have fun?”
A minute or two later, she looked at me, smiled, and said, “had fun!”