Of Steps and Stairs, Mice and Rainbow "Sherburts"

Gabriella spent some quality, uncommonly quiet time in her room this morning. It turned out that she was happily cataloging the contents of the changing table and her clothes hamper. Later, in the afternoon, G took three steps, letting go of Lisa's legs and tottering unaided over to her stand and play toy where she drops plastic balls down little chutes.

Yesterday took Josiah to the book store to purchase something with the gift card he received for his birthday. Not one to be limited to a single story line, Josiah chose this adorable three-mice-in-a-box puppet. Today he laid out a tasty luncheon of cheese for them. When Lisa reminded him that puppet mice should not eat cheese he assured her that he planned to eat it for them :)

This afternoon Lisa asked Josiah to put on his socks and hurry downstairs so that they could go pick Ben up from school. Ten minutes and several reminders later, he finally scampered down the stairs, socks on, ready to go. Lisa asked him what he had been doing and Josiah replied,
"I was hiding from the Rainbow Sherburts."
"Why?"
"Because they chop up little kids and put them in their soup. You don't need to hide from them because you're too nice, and Gabriella doesn't need to hide because she's too cute. But they like to eat little kids like me," he explained.
"Who are the Rainbow Sherburts?" Lisa gamely inquired.
"They are very tall with rainbow stripes and have yellow sherburts on their heads and they are very nice." ???
Perplexed, Lisa tried to clarify, "They're nice? I thought they ate little kids."
Josiah replied without missing a beat, "No, I misspoke. They eat sunflower seed soup."
Lisa patiently pursued, "Then why were you hiding from them?"
And Josiah brought the story to a close, "Because I didn't have any sunflower seeds for them and I felt bad."

I almost spit with laughter when Lisa relayed that story. Hope it brings a chuckle to your day too...

Meanwhile, Gabriella continued to push her limits, stretching her locomotion skills with four unassisted steps from mommy to daddy when I got home from work this evening. Later, during bedtime, she worked on her upward mobility with two (mostly) unassisted trips up the stairs (Unassisted, but not unprotected: note my fingers in the lower left as I poised myself to capture the moment or catch her if she slipped).

BTW - at some point today Gabriella said, "Ella." Not sure if she realized she was saying her own name. "Daddy" comes out pretty clearly and regularly -- she tends to say it whenever the phone rings. Yesterday Ella was quite enamoured with a picture of Scooby Doo on an empty box of fruit snacks. She also gets wildly excited while eating her YoBaby, giggling and greeting the babies pictured on the label. Last night or this morning she was hugging the ceramic pig that Ben gave her for Christmas. She likes to point and giggle at it, who knew she'd find cold pink glaze snuggle-worthy?