Jovie loves brother

Our family enjoying rare, lovely weather in August at Taylor's Hot dogs,
which is one of my favorite places to eat during both pregnancies.

I love my girl...so much. Life with her is so much fun. Her personality and awareness just keeps growing. Lately, she loves to sing and dance, loves to play with playdough and draw, and LOVES to touch my tummy and talk to her brother.

Jovial decided to draw with markers on herself this morning.
She is pointing to her legs and saying orange and red.

This afternoon we made playdough. She loved cutting into it
with the cookie cutters and plasticware. I loved the way it made my
kitchen smell and how it calmed her down. It was pretty therapeutic
for her to manipulate the dough, a very good pre-nap activity.

Throughout the day she will just stop playing and remember brother. She will walk over and (if we're not in public) pull up my shirt and say, "Hi,brother! Hi, baby. Lub you." She will kiss my tummy repeatedly, and rub and pat and then finally shove her finger into my belly button and yell, "pop!" Which is exactly what it looks like it's going to do. I have learned to say, "brother is moving" as oppose to "brother is kicking" because she thinks that is an invitation to kick him back.

She has become so quirky lately, mostly involving food. She isn't one of those kids who will only eat chicken nuggets or mac n cheese. Meals seem to be totally dependent on her mood and whim. Lately, she only really wants food if it's presented in an exciting way. Carrots cut into thin circles, nectarines cut into tiny triangles, apple sticks... it's a good thing E Dutton got me such an amazing knife for my b-day. She's REALLY into dipping and eating with chopsticks. She is insistant that she has her own fork or spoon (sometimes both) and wants to eat every bite with them. She even insists on eating even fresh baby carrots with a fork. I finally put my foot down when she wanted to eat goldfish crackers with a spoon. Her favorite meal? Miso soup, potstickers (dipped in soy), edamame, and rice. She also loves pizza or really anything that is covered in parmesan. She doesn't like cupcakes or ice cream but bring on the cookies. And if we have anyone over for dinner it wouldn't matter if we were eating all of her favorite things in the world, she just wants to play. I am getting kind of tired just writing about it.

Jovial eating chicken and dumpling soup minus any dumplings.

Also, I know I have mentioned this before, but my daughter has begun to love dinos and I love her for it. I definetely had a dinosaur obsession for a time when I was little but I don't think this little. She finds them in stores, on signs and in books. The other day I was walking through Winco and she yelled, "Dinos!" Then I realized she needed the Dinosaur fruit snacks. This is her Halloween costume.

Playdough recipe

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 Tbsp. oil
2 tsp. cream of tarter
food coloring

In a large skillet whisk your dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl whisk your wet ingredients and add to dry. Mix well before you turn on the heat. Constantly mix while heating on medium. When the dough starts to stick together well pull out and knead. Keep in a large ziplock for a couple of months.