We have a great park down the street from our house (and many others within walking distance). Josie now likes the bucket swings and we’re in them almost every day. Her favorite game is to try to kiss you at the top of each swing. She also enjoys the great vantage point it gives her to watch the other kids running around.

One of Josie’s favorite toys currently is her set of plastic stacking cups. She likes to hold them, eat them, and knock down stacks that I build with them. These pictures are from about two weeks ago, and the outfit she is wearing is no longer remotely big. She’s been growing like crazy lately!

George put himself in a quandry overnight. He was playing with his favorite toy and apparently threw it so high in the air that it landed in the middle of the dining room table. He is well trained to know he is not allowed on the table. Therefore he walked around the outside of the table reaching as far up as he could from each direction and pulling things down. In the end he stole 4 baby toys off the table, but couldn’t get his own. I predict the confusion between what is a baby toy and what is a cat toy is going to run both ways in this house!

Josie has learned now that we adults put our mouths on things like glasses and water bottles for some unknown reason. She likes to do it to despite not getting anything to drink actually. These photos show a common sequence of events as I try to hydrate myself.

Josie has been working on some major new tricks lately. Now with a back pillow support she can sit up for a couple of minutes and she can sit completely unsupported for a little while too! It has opened up a whole new world of play for her and dramatically reduced her frustration level.

Early this morning she surprised herself and me as well. I put her down on her back on the mat while I washed my hands post-diaper change and when I turn back towards her, she’s grunting and laying on her stomach. She seemed very confused and it really woke her up (4am boo!) but a little more nursing and she settled back down. She also did a great job sleeping for 5 hours straight last night which was great, it’s been more like 3 hours at a time lately.

Last weekend we also went into town to the feast of Saint Anthony in the north end. It is a big street fair with music and tons of vendors and is an excuse for the normal restaurants to jack up their prices even higher. Our friends Craig and Alyssa live down there and they graciously hosted us for the afternoon as we popped in and out of the heat and crowds. We walked around and found probably the only non-Italian food (although I don’t suppose fried dough is Italian either) and ate cachapas and plantains. Later we had yummy aronchini (rice balls with spinach and cheese) and canollis.

It was also out first attempt at a stroller-less outing. We had one baby carrier, and one diaper bag, and we did it all on the subway and bus by handing her and the bag back and forth and using the carrier. It was very successful actually and I did not envy those people trying to push strollers through the mobbed streets of the north end. It almost felt like before we had Josie because we weren’t lugging huge amounts of paraphernalia with us!

Last weekend we went to Franklin Park Zoo in Dorchester. It is bigger than the Stone Zoo and has some pretty cool animals like zebras, lions, gorillas, and butterflies. Josie enjoyed it a lot and almost stayed awake throughout the entire thing. As usual she preferred to be carried in the carrier as we pushed her empty stroller around. The giraffes seemed to attract her attention the most. I thought the gorillas were particularly cool. Especially the mom gorilla who had a baby nursing from her, and that baby refused to let go (from its mouth) even as the mom was walking around. Thankfully my baby won’t still be nursing by the time she’s half the size of me. Sadly we didn’t take too many pictures.

Josie went to the doc this morning and here are her new stats. She weighs 13 lbs 9 oz and she is 25 and 1/2 inches long! That puts her around 40th percentile on weight and 81st percentile on height. No wonder her clothes suddenly aren’t fitting.

Our friends Wing and Jen came to visit in early July when Josie was just over 3 months old. He’s got one major camera and took these gorgeous photos!

I’m a little late, but last Friday Josie turned 4 months old! She is growing wonderfully, particularly in the last few weeks she has really been racing through her clothes. What’s new and different?

• She is wearing 9 month size clothes right now almost universally. We’ll get a weight-check on Monday at the 4 month checkup.
• Her grabbing skills are about 75% accurate and she likes to grab my hair, my neck, and the skin under my eye (ouch!). She also grabbed the neighbors dog by the fur on the side of his mouth a few days ago, thank goodness the dog just wimpered in response as they were nose to nose! She has grabbed her first cat tail as well, George sat right in front of her with his back to her and swished his tail tauntingly. She grabbed it and gave it a little tug. George was surprised, but didn’t bother to move.
• Josie gives me big wet open mouth kisses, often times trying to eat my nose.
• She makes screeching noises now and shrill squeals of delight. They are sometimes hard to differentiate from upset cries, but we’re getting the hang of it. She also does raspberries. She seems to pick one noise per week to practice and ignores the other one.
• She can sit upright by herself for a few seconds before toppling over. She can sit upright surrounded by the boppy for a long while. She also is pushing herself forward with her feet while on her stomach to reach toys that have fallen away. She can also stand a couple of seconds without falling over, although she doesn’t yet really grab onto things for balance, I have to hold onto her.
• She enjoys other babies a lot. Especially other ones that can also stand and grab at her. She grabbed our neighbor Zach (2 weeks younger) by the mouth (ouch!), thankfully Zach didn’t mind either.
• She swings in the bucket swing in the park, has been doing so for a few weeks.