Halloween 2008

Cute Spider torturing his first prey - Elmo!

Halloween 2008 is actually Joshua's 2nd Halloween. Last year, Joshua was 6 weeks old at Halloween. His Halloween consisted of putting on his halloween costume for 5 minutes of pictures, and the the rest of the day was spent eating, sleeping, and pooping. (The typical day of a newborn). This year, Halloween was a lot more eventful. In the morning, Joshua had a halloween party at his music class. After class, a lot of the people in the class went to lunch together with our kids in costume. Then, it was back to the house for a nap to gear up for the evening festivities. Around 5pm, our new friend in the neighborhood came over. She has a daughter a few months younger than Joshua. What was really funny was that she had the same exact costume as Joshua, and we didn't even know it when we picked them out. Around 5:30pm, we walked around the neighborhood and did a little trick-or-treating. However, we really had to wait until it got dark before people would really open their doors. It seemed like some people weren't even answering their doors until 7pm. When I was a kid, we started trick-or-treating right after we got home from school. I guess times have changed. At 7:30pm, we went to a "chili" halloween party at our neighbor's house and Joshua partied until about 10pm! He was a real trooper.

Twin Spiders

All Done

One of the many worries in raising a baby is the whole feeding issue. One always wonders whether the baby is eating enough and how much to feed him or her. When Joshua was exclusively nursing, there was the worry of whether he was getting enough and how much to give him. Over time, I realized that 10 minutes on each side was the key. He started out at 15 minutes, and then gradually moved into the ideal amount of time. Part of it was trial and error too. If he got 12 minutes, he would spit up. 10 minutes was the perfect amount.

Moving on to solids, the "how much" came up all over again. I always wondered how much he was supposed to get and whether he was full and getting enough. He can't exactly say, "Mommy, I am full and don't want to eat anymore". All he could do was turn his head to the side and say "don't put that spoon anywhere near my face, I won't take it". So, I started giving him more and more food until he turned his head, and took that as the cue that he was all done. As he started getting older, I decided to try some basic baby signs for feeding. Each time, he was going to get milk, I asked him "do you want some milk" as I squeezed my hands into fists. For months, nothing happened. Then, one day as I was buying sneakers in Sports Authority, Joshua looked at me and squeezed his fists. I knew exactly what he wanted and gave him some milk when we left the store. He was a happy camper. I have been trying the signs for eat, more, and all done, but milk seems to be the sign of choice right now. For the "all done" sign, I took my hands and pushed them out as if to make the "safe" sign in baseball. Every night as dinner was ending, I would say, "Joshua, are you all done?" and make the "safe" sign. Joshua decided that he was not going to use that sign but was going to create a sign of his own. When Joshua is all done eating, he takes his bib off, pushes his hands against the tray on the highchair as if to move it away, and sometimes even throws some of the pieces of food on the floor instead of putting them in his mouth. That is his sign for "All Done". So, I think I will go with that. It works for me. They say that kids eat when they are hungry, and if they don't eat, it is really ok. So, I feel ok now with Joshua's eating habits and now know exactly when he is "all done".

At the Pumpkin Patch

Today, we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends to pick some pumpkins for Halloween. We went to Homestead Farms in Poolesville, MD. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. It was a fun, bumpy ride. Joshua really enjoyed it. In the pumpkim patch, there were pumpkins all over the place attached to the vine, and you could pick any of them off od the vine. We picked 2 nice large, round ones to take back to the house. After the hayride, we went apple picking and picked some pink ladies. It was a great time and definitely something that we will want to do again next year.

Shoe Shopping

Joshua is not walking yet, so I didn't exactly think I would be blogging yet about shoes, but today we did go shoe shopping for the very first time, and this is a blogging moment.

My Nanny has been bugging me for about 2 weeks to buy Joshua a pair of real shoes. He has Robeez (the soft soled slipper type shoes also known as "crib shoes"), however, he doesn't own a pair of real sneakers. Well, I can't say he doesn't "own" any, because he has about 10 pairs of shoes in his closet that are hand-me-downs from his cousin Max and cousin Jonathan. (I still am unsure about whether Joshua will ever wear these hand-me-downs. Clothes are one thing, but shoes are not something you are supposed to really share - kind of like underwear. I guess with baby shoes, the school of thought is that their feet grow so fast, these shoes are hardly worn. Good point, but the shoe still got molded to the child's feet even if they only wore them a dozen times).

The shoe store that I took Joshua to is one of those Mom & Pop shoe stores that specialize in children's shoes. It is called Shoe Train and located in Potomac, MD. Ed, the owner, has been in business for over 40 years. It kind of reminded me of the shoe stores I used to go to as a kid called DiGulios or Zellniks. The shoes at the store were so cute and so little. Ed was worried at first that Joshua's feet may be too little for shoes. However, he did find a pair of cute sneakers that fit Joshua well, and they came in a cute, little shoe box.. He even got to wear them out of the store. (Remember the excitement when you were a kid and got to wear your new shoes out of the store?)

Unfortunately, Joshua didn't have the best shoe shopping experience. When Joshua was sitting on my lap getting fitted for shoes, he was upset and crying. He didn't like this strange, old man touching his feet and putting these "things" on his feet. Poor little Joshy! Once the shoes were on and tied, he was fine. The sneakers look so cute on him.

13 Months

13 Months. Joshua is still our bundle of Joy. He is such a good, easy baby, and we are very very lucky. He eats well, takes naps well, sleeps through the night well, hardly ever cries or puts up a fuss. (I am sure if we have #2, we will not be as lucky). He is a happy baby, and we are so happy to have him in our lives. Joshua loves to go to the park and crawl around the jungle gym and go on the swings and down the slide. At 13 months, he is continuing to be exposed to new foods with different tastes and textures. He is starting to have preferences and spit out those foods that we give him which he doesn't like. He is starting to pick up a vocabulary and distinguish things as opposed to everything being called "dis". There is "Dada", "Mama", "down", "dog", and "phone". Joshua has 4 teeth now, 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom and continues to teeth and want to put everything in his mouth.

Cruising

2 Months later, and Joshua has the cruising part down now too. He is not just pulling himself up to a stand, but he is now holding onto things and moving around the room. He is almost 13 months at this point. He definitely doesn't seem to be ready to walk yet. I know it will be soon enough. I love when he pulls himself up on my leg. It is so cute to look down at him smiling at me. This time next year, I probably won't feel the same. He will be pulling at my leg and this time whining, "Mommy, Mommy". It won't be so cute then.

Letting My Guard Down

Changing a baby's diaper can be a tricky endeavor. Changing a little baby boy's diaper, even trickier. (See Keith's addendum to my post about diaper changes from this time last year). However, I think over the past year, Keith and I have gotten the process down real well - almost to an exact science. In addition, Joshua has gone from peeing and pooping all over us and his clothes to keeping bodily fluids nicely in his diaper. (I can't even remember the last time he had a blow out... Yeah, probably just jinxed myself). Anyway, with the semi-neatness that has developed over the past several months with diaper changes, (I said neat not nonsmelly. With solid foods entering Joshua's world, diaper changes become a whole new ball game). I have probably gotten a little more lax in covering him up when changing him. Lo and behold, Joshua peed on me today. I guess you can never let your guard down.

Daddy's Glasses

Joshua loves to pull Daddy's glasses off of his face. This has been going on for awhile now. If Keith has his glasses on, Joshua reaches for the glasses. Thank goodness the glasses are pretty flexible, because Joshua likes to pull at them and play with them. Yesterday and today, though, we noticed something new. Joshua took Keith's glasses off of Keith's face and put them up to his own face as if he was wearing glasses. So cute!