Julia's Future Career Options!

After watching Julia for about 14 months now, I have come up with a few potential job options based on the things she loves to do right now.

1. Shoe Saleswoman- Julia loves her some shoes!! She loves her shoes, anyone else's shoes and even saying the word 'shoes'! If I am wearing flip flops, she will take them off and put them back on me over and over again! Sometimes she will even bring me my shoes when I don't want them! She even likes picking out which shoes she wants to wear each day. If she isn't going to be a shoe sales woman, she is definitely just a woman....I think she will have lots of shoes when she is older!!

2. Furniture Mover- Julia loves moving the furniture wherever she wants! She moves the coffee table, her little recliner...anything that she can, really! I was folding the laundry the other day, so we were both upstairs and she was playing in her room (which we have been letting her do more of recently). So she was playing by herself and I would check on her every now and then. I went into her room at one point and we have a trashcan that we used to use for diapers that we haven't used in a while. That was across the room from where it normally was!

3. Farmer- She loves animals. Real animals, plastic animals and stuffed animals. She even knows what many animals say. Someone (I think Uncle Louie) gave her a barn for her birthday and she loves playing with it! She plays with it almost every day! She loves putting the animals into the barn and then taking them out of the barn! She also loves our kitty, Mia. She would chase her around for hours I think! She has even come to like dogs. Over the summer, we made several trips to Councell Farms, the produce stand near my parents house where I worked for many years. They have pygmy goats there. The first time we stopped, the goats didn't want to play. The second time we went, Julia was all excited! She was feeding them and they were licking her fingers and she would squeal with delight! She loved those goats!!

4. Horseback Rider- Anytime we are laying on the floor, Julia enjoys climbing on top of us and bouncing up and down. Apparently we made the mistake of bouncing her up and down on either our belly or our back when she was lighter. Now she climbs on and does the bouncing herself. Although now that she is getting bigger, it can get painful! She is a rough-houser!!

5. Race Car Driver- My parents bought Julia a car that she sits in and it has a handle that comes up from the back for someone to push her. She loves riding in this car. Grandmom and Pop push her all over the house! Over the summer, my nieces Ellie and Anna were pushing her and she loved it! The rougher the better! The were pushing her real fast, popping wheelies and shaking the car from side to side...all at the same time. When they would stop, she would laugh and laugh. She is gonna be a tough girl!

6. Doctor- I think all parents hope that their child will grow up to be smart and rich (which we do), but Julia loves thoroughly examining (make that poking) our eyes, noses and mouths. And trust me, she knows where your eyes are!

7. Janitor/Maid- Julia has developed some type of cleaning OCD. We aren't real sure where she developed this from, but we really aren't complaining!! After we clean her up from her meals, I usually set the washcloth on the table. Well she can now reach stuff on the table. So I will turn around and she will grab the washcloth and start washing the side of the stove, the floor, the cabinets...whatever! She now will go over near Mia's bowl and pick up the little crumbs of Mia's food and put them back into her food bowl. She knows how to say trash and knows to throw things away in the trash. She will also pick up anything off the floor. We were always worried that she would eat whatever she picked up, but she just hands it to us. I am attaching a video of her sweeping our new kitchen floor.

(Apologies for the lines on the video...our camera has been acting up lately!! Also, not sure what we were listening to. I'll blame that on Andy!!)

8. Food Critic- She loves eating!! Perhaps she can be the next Padma Lakshmi--host of Top Chef! Now that would be awesome!

She also has a new love of bags. Purses, her lunch bag, shopping bags...doesn't matter! She wants to carry them! She loves going through my purse. She does it all the time. Then she puts it on her shoulder and says "Bye" while waving!

So maybe she will be one of these, or maybe not! We just want her to be happy and right now, I think she would be happy with any of these jobs!!

~Courtney