Joshua With A Green Thumb

This weekend, we finally decided to do something about our front yard. It was in need of a good spruce up. I am not sure who the landscape architects were who designed the front yard when the townhouse was built in 2004, but they obviously got their degree from a Cracker Jack box. It was so green and boring and just plain blah. So, yesterday, Keith and his dad, with a little help frim Joshua, got to work on making our yard look great. Due to their wonderful efforts, we now have the best front yard on the block.

Grandmom & Grandpop Visit From Florida

Joshua had so much fun when his grandparents from Florida came to visit. He can't exactly say Grandmom yet, but he called my father, Pop Pop. He enjoyed their visit so much that after they left, Joshua walked into the spare bedroom and said "Pop Pop". It was really cute. Grandmom also taught Josh to get in touch with his inner dance moves as he danced and clapped with Grandmom to Abba, especially "Mama Mia".

20 Months

20 Months - May 2009. I was just looking at pictures from last year and can't believe how much Joshua has changed in the past year. He is getting so big. His hair is finally starting to grow in. It seems like just over night he went from almost no hair to tons of curls. It is almost getting to be time for the first haircut. We are trying to hold out as long as possible.

Joshua is doing really well now with walking. He is no longer the wobbling toddler. Gym class has been very good for him. He is climbing on everything. He is starting to run, and it is just a matter of time where he gets to the point that it is going to be really tiring to run after him.

Joshua has really good verbal skills for a 20 month old toddler. Of course, his favorite word is "NO". He probably has over a 100 word vocabulary. He runs around the house labeling everything. It is really cute. What is not so cute are the mini temper tantrums that are starting. They only last about 10 seconds, but he is giving me a taste of the terrible twos. Joshua is really smart. He seems to understand everything. When we tell him something, he knows exactly what we are saying. When we ask him to do something, whether he does it or not, that is a totally different situation.

Sister or Brother

Joshua is really too young right now to understand the concept of Mommy having a baby in her belly and a baby being added to the family. He is also too young to understand the concept of being a big brother. However, we do make mention of it and as my belly starts to really get bigger, we will start with the "new baby" thing or whatever you are supposed to do to ease the 2 year old into the transition of the addition to the family.



Just for the fun of it, I asked Joshua "Are you going to have a sister?" Joshua replied "No" and shook his head. Then, I asked him "Are you going to have a brother?" Joshua looked at me and replied "brother". Hmm. Interesting. Of course, I was hoping for a different answer, so I repeated the same question again a little later and got the same answer. Ugh. I figured I would try one more time. "Joshua, are you going to have a sister?" He shook his head and answered "No". "Joshua, are you going to have a brother?" He shook his head and answered "No". Joshua, are you going to have an alien?" He shook his head and answered "No". So, who knows. The sex of the new baby is still up in the air for now. We will see if Joshua is right at the end of the month. I can't wait!

I love You

Joshua is in the language phase where he is picking up words and small phrases very quickly, and he can also repeat things you say if you ask him to say it. (Within reason. Everyone has their stubborn streak where you don't want to do something). Every night before bed, we sing Joshua the nite nite song and then give him kisses. He now knows after we give him kisses that he gives us kisses back. It is so so cute. In addition, we say "I Love You". Joshua is learning to say "I love you" also. Right now it sounds like "I woo". It is so so cute!

Toilet Training Day ?

I lost count. I think it has been a little over a week. Every night before bath, we would sit Josh on the potty and encourage him to go. The first 4 nights, Josh peed and pooped in the potty. No fuss, no questions asked. He just sat down and did his business. I was delighted as I thought this was the next phase of my happy, easy, mellow baby doing something new. Wrong! After 4 nights in a row of success, we haven't seen another successful night. Many of the nights it is Joshua sitting there reading his Elmo Potty book and then getting up saying "all done" without doing anything. Other nights, it is Joshua saying he is all done and then peeing on the bathroom floor after getting up or even peeing in his diaper as I am taking it off to put him on the potty. Oh well. For now, we are going to continue the potty at bath time and as he does start to get the hang of it, we will add additional times during the day. We are in no hurry to toilet train Joshua and didn't expect to start him this early, but if this is what he wants to do, then we are more than happy to teach him.

The Obsession - Clocks

Every day Joshua's vocabulary is growing. He will learn a new word, see that object and then find that object in a variety of different places and say the name. Over the past month, Joshua has learned the new word, "clock". Joshua has actually become obsessed with clocks. My inlaws have a grandmother clock and whenever Joshua goes over there, he looks forward to hearing it chime. His grandmom and grandpop often change the time just so Joshua can hear it chime. Joshua now points to any clock that he sees and says "clock". Thank goodness over the past 2 weeks, it now really sounds like "clock" and not what it originally sounded like "cock". He will point to clocks around his grandparents house, at gym class (he actually likes walking over to and pointing to the clock and saying the word more so than some of the gym equipment), at stores, and in books. Joshua knows clocks when he sees the roundness of an object with the hour hand and second hand. (He doesn't know a digital clock is the same thing yet). However, there are other things out there that look similar to clocks that Joshua thinks are clocks. One thing he calls clocks are watches. OK, not very far off. However, it was pretty funny when we went to Whole Foods yesterday. Joshua pointed to the vegetable and fruit scale and called it a clock. He also pointed to the vegetable thermometer hanging above the vegetables and called it a clock too. Close enough. It is pretty smart that he can recognize things like that!

Tiolet Training Day 3

I didn't mean for it to turn into official potty training. I am still in denial that we are actually potty training our son at 19 months. (Joshua is growing up so fast). However, Joshua seemed to take an interest in it, so we have introduced the potty to him as something new. For the past 3 nights, we have put Joshua on the potty right before his bath. This is the only time we have put him on the potty so far. All 3 nights, Joshua actually went poo in his potty. It is absolutely amazing. I never knew I would get so excited about poo. Strange thought. We will see how the next few days go. If all goes well, we will add an additional time for Joshua to sit on the potty.