Peek-A-Boo

It is interesting how the littlest things amaze young children. You don't even need an expensive toy or gadget. With Joshua, all you need is a simple cloth, your hands, or a door.

Joshua's favorite game is Peek-A-Boo. He loves to play, and he has several different versions of the game. I bet you didn't know there were several versions of Peek-A-Boo. We throw a cloth of some sort on his head and say "where is Joshua"? He pulls the cloth off his head and we say "peek-a-boo. There he is" and Joshua smiles real big. Then, Joshua takes the cloth and puts it back over his head, and that is our cue to say "where is Joshua"? He then pulls the cloth off his head again waiting for us to say "peek-a-boo. There he is". This goes on and on. If we didn't stop, Joshua would probably be pulling the cloth up and down over his face all day. He never seems to get bored with it. This game can also be played when Joshua hides behind doors and then pops back in the door "peek-a-boo". The third game is with your hands. We will cover our eyes with our hands and play peek-a-boo. Joshua will then cover his own eyes with his hands and want to play. A lot of times, he will cover his face so that his eye is still peeking through so that he can really see. Joshua is quite the character.

"Dis"

Joshua is so curious. He wants to know what everything in the world is right now. He goes around the house pointing at everything saying, "Dis, dis, dis". "Joshua, this is a fan. Joshua this is a light. Joshua, this is PJ the kitty."
"This is the drink that Mommy desperately needs after a long day of work and even longer night at home".

Soon, he will be able to fully repeat the words we are saying to him. Right now, it is a lot of babble. Joshua is so happy and very talkative. He just babbles to himself all day long. It is so cute. I am going to miss it once he starts speaking in real words as he will prbably stop randomly talking to himself. When he is babbling to himself, I wonder what he is trying to say?

12 Month Check Up

Joshua had his 12 month check up today. He is a healthy, growing boy. Joshua is still a little peanut at 18 lbs 5 oz weight (3%) and 29 1/4 inches height (25-50%). He is following along the same curve he has been for awhile, and the doctor said that he is moving along nicely. Keith was a very skinny kid, so Keith is not worried that Joshua doesn't weigh very much. Joshua had his 12 month shots as well today. Usually, I am pretty good when he gets them. However, for some reason, the shots bothered me more than they bothered Joshua today. I was the baby. :)

1st Birthday Party

Joshua celebrated his first birthday with a big party at the house. It occured on Saturday September 13. 2 days after his real birthday. Joshua had lots of people there to celebrate with him. Joshua loves Elmo, so he had an Elmo themed party with lots of decorations and a really cool cake.

1 Year Today

Today, in my world, it is a great day. There may be sadness around the world mourning for what occurred 7 years ago today. But, in my world, I am celebrating the most joyous occassion. I am celebrating the one year birthday of my son.

Wow! OMG! I can't believe the day is here. In my music class with Joshua, a lot of the other kids turned 1 in the month or two before Joshua. Each time the music teacher, Karen, would ask the mom, "How do you feel?" each mom would reply, "I feel great." I don't feel great. My baby is growing up. I feel kind of sad. This year has flown by, and it has been kind of a blur now. Thank goodness for my blog. Apparently, Joshua used to be this small.

This picture was taken when Joshua was 4 days old. Now, he looks like this.

Look at my little guy. He is so handsome. He is such a cutie. I am totally in love with him. I get stopped on the street by people telling me how cute Joshua is and how beautiful his blue eyes are. Question for those of you out there reading this blog. Is my son really that cute or do people say that about all babies? I would like to think my son is adorable. :)

Getting Joshua to sit still these days and smile at the camera for a picture is near impossible. He just doesn't get that the pictures taken today are going to represent him as he was as a baby. (Or maybe he does realize this, and doesn't want the pictures to haunt him).
I had to lore him with a book to make him sit still.

Joshua loves the Peek-A-Boo books and knows how to lift up the flaps to find what is hinding underneath. (Yep, I am raising a genius).

This the very first picture of Joshua. What a great year it has been. Full of many wonderful surprises. I can't wait to see what the next 12 months bring.... (a little sister? just kidding, Keith - or am I?)

Cheerios

In previous posts, you have heard about Joshua's love affair with Cheerios. I'm sure you didn't realy understand how much he loves Cheerios, so I decided that I would show you for proof. Everytime, we show Joshua the Cheerios box or say, "Joshua, do you want Cheerios, his face lights up". It is the biggest smile I have ever seen.

Up Up Up

The other day Joshua climbed up one step, and I was amazed. Today, Joshua climbed up the whole flight of stairs from the living room to the hall outside our bedrooms. I stood right behind him to support him. However, he did real well. I was truly impressed!

Sippy Cup

Up until 6 months, Joshua has only been using a bottle and the only liquid that Joshua was drinking was milk. (Breast milk for those of you who were wondering whether it was formula or breast milk). When I saw the pediatrician at 6 months, she told me that I could introduce the sippy cup. She told me to take out the valve of the sippy cup and give Joshua some water that way. By taking out the valve, it would be easier for him to drink from the cup. For months, I tried to give him the sippy cup, and he would take little sips if I held the cup for him. However, he would not grap the cup on his own, and he would only take a few sips.

This went on for a few months. Then, all of a sudden, he started spitting out the water when we gave him water from the sippy cup. (Did it come too fast? Was it too cold?) The little frustration we had was that he would not hold the cup on his own. He made us hold the cup for him. If we put the cup in front of him, he would just watch it as if it was an interesting inanimate object. A little while ago, we reintroduced the valve. A sippy cup without the valve can get messy, especially when you leave it in your bag and the cup turns upside down. Oops. With the valve in place - no problem. Joshua's sucking is good, so there is no reason now why he can't use the sippy cup as it was intended.

While we were at the beach, we went to a restaurant and there was a family sitting at the table next to us who had a little boy around the same age as Joshua. That boy wanted some milk, so he picked up his bottle and drank his milk. Admiring the skill from the little boy, the mom told me that she just left the bottle in front of him and if he wanted to drink, he would learn to pick up the bottle, and he did. Hmmm. Nice thought. Is that like tough love for babies? Maybe I should try that with toilet training in about a year. "Joshua, you want a clean diaper, empty it yourself in the toilet".

Anyway, I decided to try this baby tough love method. Day 1, "Joshua, your sippy cup is in front of you, if you want some water, you can pick it up". Nope, no takers. Day 2, same thing. Day 3, same thing. No dice. Day 4, I decided to try something new. I put apple juice in the sippy cup. Joshua has never had apple juice before. I put the cup to his mouth and let him try the juice in the sippy cup, and he loved the juice. I put the cup down in front of him. The next thing I know, Joshua is picking up the cup and sipping the juice on his own. :)

Visit with Friends

Before we left the beach for home, we found out that a friend of ours was going to be at the beach. (Or as they call it in Jersey, "the Shore"). What great timing. (Thank you, Facebook.) I haven't seen this friend since I spent the weekend with her and her baby in January. My friend, Hannah, has a son named Daniel who is 11 weeks younger than Joshua. She was actually also 11 weeks behond me during pregnancy, so it was just ironic that we both ended up delivering exactly 2 weeks early. Below is a picture from then and a picture from now. Back in January, Daniel was a little shy of 2 months and Joshua was a litle over 4 months. Now, Daniel is 9 months and Joshua is 11 1/2 months. Back then, we could just plop them down anywhere, and they would stay. Now, we found it quite challenging to keep them still to take a picture together.

JANUARY 2008

AUGUST 2008