The Janester is on a roll.

With Janie, it always seems like she has spurts of development. She'll go for months doing the same old same old when all of a sudden she starts doing a whole batch of new things for us to ooh and ahh and giggle and coo about.

And then she turned 3. And it just keeps getting better.

One night months ago I decided that [by George!] I was going to get her rolling around more by having her roll to books I had strategically placed around the room. I had to help her a lot, since she would almost always roll to one [her stronger] side. When we got to a book we would read it together, and since she lives for books it was a win-win. We did this for a few nights over a week or two.

And after that it was like something in her clicked. Suddenly she had the motivation she needed to get her to work hard enough to gain the muscle strength she needed to roll on her own without help. It was like she was suddenly empowered by the understanding that she could get things on her own if she kept at it. It was a humbling experience as her mother, because I didn't feel like I had done much to help her come to that realization, and it seemed like it happened almost overnight [read here: oh. wow. um, should I have done that sooner?]

Now she rolls all over like she owns the place. And she is pretty fast when she sees something she wants. She even ventures into the kitchen when she sees her yogurt cups scattered across the floor [yes, right where you left them, highness].

*singing* ... health to the princess, wealth to the princess, long live the princess Aurora...

[She always smiles really big when we sing that song. I think she thinks it's about her.]

...hail, Aurora! hail Aurora! Hail to the king, hail to the queen, hail to the princess Aurora!...

[Which may or may not be because we sometimes replace "Aurora" with "Janita."]

...Hail to the princess Aurora! All of her subjects adore her!...

Roll out the red carpet.
[close the basement door and watch the stairs for heaven sakes!]

-because, by George!-

Here she comes!