First Bath in the Big Tub

Can you believe it has taken over 20 months to put Joshua in the big tub? For the longest time, we have had Joshua in the infant tub. It said that it goes to 24 months, so why not? It was a great way to confine Joshua and he didn't seem to mind either. Last week, we took away the infant tub and starting giving Joshua baths in the big tub. He loves it now. Each night, he runs into the bathroom and up to the tub, tries to put one leg in and says, "in, in, in". It is nice to see Joshua get excited about baths. He didn't used to always be that way.

Temper Tantrum

Terrible twos here we come!!!!

I have seen little bits and pieces of the terrible twos temper tantrums over the past couple of months. However, I had seen nothing like I had seen the other night. I think each time you experience it, you learn better and better how to handle it. The first true temper tantrum Joshua had that I can recall was about 6 weeks ago in Target. (We do think it was attributed to the fact that he was tired and hungry, but a temper tantrum is a temper tantrum, right? How did Keith and I react to said temper tantrum in Target? We looked at Josh and laughed. Yes, you read correctly, we laughed.) Anyway, back to the other night's winner.

Joshua was playing with our grill brush. (The grill brush is the long brush that you keep by the grill to brush on barbeque sauce.) I am not sure why Joshua was playing with it in his high chair, but he had liked playing with it before and Keith and Grandpop had given it to him. I took it away so that we could eat dinner knowing that he would eventually forget about it, and we could continue with our night. Wrong.

As we were finishing dinner, Grandpop gave Joshua back the brush. "Noooo" I thought. I tried to take the brush away as we were cleaning up after dinner, but Joshua wouldn't let go of the brush. I tried to pry it out of his hands, but he wouldn't let it go without a big fight. So, I brought the brush up with us to the bathroom. He held onto it as he went on the potty, and he held onto it as I took off his clothes and prepared the bath. Each time I tried to take it away, he put up a fight. Joshua, then used the hook on the brush and put the brush on the door handle. I thought we would be ok then. I put Joshua in the bath, and all of a sudden, he got hysterical for the brush. We are talking bright red face and tons of tears. It made it virtually impossible to give him a bath. So, I pulled him out of the bath, grabbed the brush, and put him back in the bath with the brush. (I was starting to get a little afraid that he was going to sleep with this brush. I also had another thought come across me that I was "giving in". Now, if I start to give in, Joshua will think that all he has to do to get his way is have a temper tantrum. Fun fun fun. There was no winning with this one.)

Joshua had fun getting dressed with the brush, and he had fun reading a bedtime story with the brush. Finally, I pryed the brush out of Josh's hand, told him that the brush was going "night night" outside his room. Joshua put up a small fight, but it worked and he didn't sleep with the brush.

I know this was the first of many "real" temper tantrums. I know I am not supposed to give in to the tantrums. I don't plan on really giving in to the tantrums in the future. Please just let this one slide, OK? I have my reasons, and I am still new at this toddler thing.

Where's Joshua?

21 Months

Looking at pictures of Joshua now, maybe it is time for his first haircut. Keith and I are trying to hold out for as long as possible. Probably until Josh's second birthday. However, I am not sure we will be able to last that long. Joshua's curls are really starting to come in.

Joshua's vocabulary is great. He says over 100 words and is starting to put a few 2 word sentences together. He is also starting to learn verbs and will look at me and say, "bite" when he wants a bite of something. He also comes in our room each morning, grabs the remote and says "TV". (It actually sounds like "tb". How friggin' cute). He then says "Blues Clues" which sounds more like "Bu Ku". I am so thankful for Blue's Clues, because it lets me get ready for work in the morning.

First Scraped Knee

How Joshua went almost 21 months without a scraped knee is amazing. I am sure you are thinking that is impossible and we must keep him in a bubble, but he just hasn't had a scraped knee before. It might have to do with his walking. Joshua was a late walker. He didn't walk until he was almost 17 months old. So, when he did start walking, he was a little more careful than others. You hear about babies that start walking at 9 months. They are the reckless ones that, like Nike says "just do it". These babies do anyhting, they fall, run away, etc... Joshua is more mechanical in his thought. He always wants to know how things work. So, maybe that has to do with him being a better walker now. Joshua didn't seem to fuss too much when got got hurt. He likes to point at his knee and show me his "boo boo".

Silly Face

I have no idea how this started, but Joshua now makes a "silly face". Any time that we say, "Joshua, show us your silly face, " he makes the face. It is pretty funny. I tried to get it on camera, but I wasn't as successful as I would have liked.