Jojee Ann Po

That’s who she is to her daddy anyway. They even have a song they sing together stating it. It goes: “Jo-jee, Jo-jee Ann Po!” repeated several times. They both sing it over and over, and they love it.
There is so much that I could say about my Jo, but these pictures are Josie.

Josie loves her daddy.  She thinks I’m pretty neat too, but there is something magical about the way she looks at him.  Maybe he is magic.  His most amazing trick is that his mere presence brings pure delight and joy to his children’s faces.  All of them.  Magic.  Strong magic, the kind that makes the mommy love him more and more just because he came home.

On this particular day Josie kept putting on her hat and her backpack to tell me she was going to school.  She would give me a chubby–fingered wave and then out the door she’d go with a sweet, “Bye Mama, I’ll see you soon.”  This went on all day.  It was  a good day.

Do you see that look on her face?  That is the look she gives me when she has been very stubborn, and insisted on getting her way.  When I get this look I’m pretty sure she is saying to herself, “You are so soft mommy, but trust me—I know what I’m doing.”  And in this particular case, she went on to say to herself, “now you be a good mommy, and follow behind my lead while I push Jameson.”

There is a post from when Isaac is about this same age, and he had done several funny things around the house.  I’d link it, but I can’t get it to work.  In one of the pictures he had taken several spoons and had them sticking up out of the silverware drawer.  When I found it I thought it was so funny, and I knew that one day when my kids were grown I would miss those kinds of things.  You can imagine how much it warmed my heart to come into the kitchen to find all of my drawers pulled open, cabinet doors swung wide, and two whisks hanging from the drawer pulls.  I love being a mom

Josie loves her brothers.  She gives them a hug every day when they come home from school, and kisses them goodnight before bed, always on the cheek or forehead.  She loves to be right where they are-all three of them.
We love her hair.  You know that weird part in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy gets a makeover and she asks, “Can they even dye my eyes to match my gown?”  I remember thinking that was so strange as a kid, but in Dorothy-esque fashion, my Josie has hair that perfectly matches her personality.  The messier it is the more Jo is showing.  Love it!
It’s hard for me to write about Josie.  I can’t capture Josie with words.  She is feelings.  If I think about Josie then I feel.  I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for being that little ladie’s mom.