22 Months

I can't believe Joshua is almost 2. We just booked his 2 year birthday party. We are going to have it at My Gym. They do everything and all I have to do is really show up. That is exactly what I was looking for this year as I am going to be 34 weeks pregnant and who wants to be hosting a party with all the preparation and clean up, etc.. when you are over 8 months pregnant?

Joshua is getting big. If I wasn't pregnant, he would still be light enough to carry often, but being 25 weeks pregnant at this point, he is getting heavy. I am so glad that he can walk up and down the stairs. He doesn't always like walking up the stairs. Joshua likes to walk up a couple stairs, stop, and then lay down on the stairs. With this practice, it could take 20 minutes to just go up 1 flight of stairs. So, we have a new games. He likes to chase things up the stairs. I will throw his stuffed dow up a few stairs and he will chase after it. When he gets close, I pick up the dog and throw it a few more steps up. Joshua thinks this is funny and likes to go up the stairs after the dog. Whatever works, right?

Joshua's language is exploding. He is definitely well over 100 words and is forming 2 word sentences. We are still working on "please" and "thank you". He will say them, but only after I tell him too. He still answers every question pretty much with the word, "no". If he doesn't want to do something, and wants to have a tantrum, he will very angrily say "nite nite. Bye bye". It is pretty funny.

Joshua also graduated from the Montgomery County Infants and Toddlers program. That was pretty exciting. In January, Joshua entered the program, because he was not walking at 16 months. Of course, the day that the therapist came was when he took his first steps, go figure. (Not that not walking at 16 months is a big deal as they don't get concerned until 18 months. However, the program is there and available and our pediatrician recommended us to do it). Joshua is walking very well now and hit all his milestones for this age, so the therapist graduated him from the program.

July 4th

I don't remember what we did on July 4th last year at night, but I know it didn't involve watching fireworks. I am pretty sure we put Joshua to bed around 7:30pm and Keith and I went to bed like lame asses by 9:00pm. (I guess when you have a child under 1, you can't expect much more).

Now, fast forward 1 year. Joshua is almost 2. He is still a baby, in my mind. He still has a 7:30ish bedtime and still is on a very predictable routine. I am 24 weeks pregnant. So between Josh's early bedtime and me being pregnant, we weren't exactly going out drinking all night long. My friend had a barbeque and after, we were going to walk to the fireworks. Of course, the fireworks don't start until after it gets dark, so they weren't going to start until 9 or 9:30pm. We weren't exactly sure if we could keep Joshua up for them, and we also weren't sure how he was going to react to the loud noises. So, we decided to play it by ear. Staying up past his bedtime. Check! Not freaking out at the fireworks. Check! Check! Joshua loved the fireworks. He kept smiling and reaching up to the sky and saying "boom boom". It was really cute. We really lucked out. (The only issue was that Joshua didn't really want to sit still on the blanket. He wanted to walk around.) Joshua stayed up until about 10:30pm without a fuss. He loved the fireworks, and it was a good night all around.