Julia's first journal

January 1st, 2001  Julia is 3 1/2 years old.

Dear Julia,

You are so wonderful.  We watched a movie last night about two missionaries finding a family to teach and baptise.  After it was over we talked about Uncle Bill being baptised last Friday night.  Then you said Dad baptised Lark the same way.  You noticed, understood, and made those connections on your own!

We've been busy cleaning house.  While we've been doing that you squeezed out about 1/3 cup of glue.  Luckily Lark saw you and luckily it was in a plastic container we could throw away.  You also rubber stamped your arm with a red-ink Christmas tree stamp.

You will hardly eat anything but candy and chocolate.  You are very adept at finding anyone's chocolate.  You do like eating meat and drinking a commercially-made sweet carrot juice.

Daddy ran a bath for you tonight (you insisted).  He observed that you washed yourself all over with your new scrubbie.  While he was doing that I was putting away yours and Lark's laundry.  I remarked that it was time to go to bed and you said you didn't want to.  I said if you went to bed now I would tuck you in.  You got right under the covers for that.  Then you said we needed to read the scriptures.  So we all gathered in your room, chatted about the upcoming week and read scriptures and had family prayer.  By then you were asleep.

(On these journal pages I traced Julia's hands.  I drew an arrow to her right hand thumb with the note "Julia sucks this thumb".  On the first page of this journal Julia made a journal entry in her own three-year-old cursive writing.
Between this date and October 2002 she made twelve more pages of various attempts at cursive writing.  She traced around her hands seven times.  She made twenty pages of drawings.)

I made a second entry in this journal on October 8, 2002.  Julia was 4 1/2 years old.

Dear Julia,

Sometimes I read to myself at night before going to sleep.  Since Daddy works at night you sometimes join me.  While I am reading you draw in this journal.  I confess I haven't paid much attention to how much you've drawn or what you've drawn.  I now wish I had so I could interview you about each picture, write your comments, and put your age and the date. 

Love, Mom

Beneath this entry Julia printed "I like being me.  Julia"

On the next page Julia wrote I I I I I ! ! ! ! ! i i i i  i and then filled every line on this and the facing page tracing each line.

On the next page (alas, undated) she wrote possibly her first story.  Here it is:

Hello.  My name is Magic.  I am in a world of cats.  And here's how it began.  Mom woke me up today with a loud meow.  Mom said, "Get up.  Today is your special day."  She was right.  I went to my friend's house.  Thunder and Lightning. 

(Thunder is the name of Trina's cat and Lightning is the name of Lark's cat).

There are no more entries in this journal.