J's 18 month update

Happy 1/2 birthday Joshua!  You truly are a gift given to me by God!  You have taught me so much about love and laying down my life for another person.  You have also given me many opportunities to grow in patience. 

You make me laugh every single day with all your sill antics.  I love how affectionate you are.  You love to hug kids at the park, rough house with dad, and cuddle and read books with mom.  I love the sweet kisses you give me between the bars on the playground and the surprise hugs I get on the back of my legs while I am doing the dishes. 

You re a light in my life and I pray you will be the light in this dark world. 

All My Love,

Your Mama. 

Here are some fun things that Joshua is doing at 18 months old...

*Still loves his sleep.  He heads to stairs whenever I mention nap time. We are in the process of transitioning to one nap.  

*He is learning colors, although every color right now is blue (boo or booey).  We have a lot of conversations like this:

• Me: What color is this?
• J: Boo
• Me: No, it is red.  Can you you say red?
• J: Wed
• Me:  Yea good job! It is the color red.
• J:Wed
• Me: What color is it?  (same object)
• J: BOO!
  Ha-ha! 

*He also knows a few shapes (oval, heart, square, and diamond).

*His favorite thing to eat right now is peanut butter sandwich with either banana or apple sauce in place of jelly.  If I serve him something he doesn't want to eat for lunch he will ask over and over for peanut butter.  So he goes without lunch some days because he refuses to eat anything but a PB sandwich and I am not a top order chef .  :)

*He is really into lotion.  If you give him a bottle and tell him it's lotion he will act like you gave him a million bucks. 

*He loves to be chased.  Right before you "get him" he will sometimes stop running and just lay on the floor as a way of surrendering. 

*He does really well eating with a spoon.

*He will go and get something that he is not suppose to have, bring it to you, and say with a real serious face, "don't" or "noooo."  Then when we say, "yea, we don't play with that. Go put it away" he trots off to go put it back.  He also likes to bring us things he isn't suppose to have and say, "away, away, away" for us to tell him to go put it away. 

*He gives a cheesy smile when you tell him to smile. 

*When he prays he folds his hands and says real fast, "Amen!"  Shortest prayers ever but I know he is sincere in his little heart.

*He loves spinning around.  He gets so dizzy but it makes him laugh and laugh.  After spinning sometimes he tries to point to things and his sense of direction is so off.  He also likes to march, walk on his tippy toes, and walk backwards. 

*He is obsessed with football!  Whenever football is on he raises his arms up and yells, "GOOOO!"  He will bring me the remote and raises both hands and say in the most pitiful voice, "gooooo" as a way of asking me to put football on.  He even recognizes it on the radio.  Daddy is proud!

*He is my little reading buddy.  He loves sitting in my lap and reading book after book.  And he only really does this with me.  I love that we have "our" own thing.  It sure is hard to deny his cute little face when he walks up to me while I am doing something and he says, "book, book."

He loves playing with his sensory tub.

When I lay down the mat he runs over and sits on it and waits patiently for me to bring him his tub.

 

I have worked really hard at teaching him to keep the corn kernels in the tub.  When he sees some that spill out of the tub he immediately picks them up and puts them back.  The only thing he does that gets the tub taken away is putting the kernels in his mouth.  Sometimes he just can't seem to resist those tasty kernels.  

   I can't wait to put together a Christmas one for him.

Silly boy!

 

Loves taking walks. 

 

He loves holding my bags when we go shopping.  What a gentlemen. He thinks the reflection on the lights on the floor is so funny and tries to step on them.

 

Waiving to the manikin.

 

Helping me dust baby sisters crib.  He took the cleaner, put it up to the rag and made a "ch ch ch" sound. 

 

Helping Mom in the Garden...

We found a carrot.

 

Taste test!  He approved!

 

One of his favorite days is trash day!  He loves watching the trash truck.

What a good Bronco dog!

 

I was putting groceries away one day and I looked over and saw Joshua laying on the TP.  It must be really soft or he was really ready for nap. 

 

We got this doll to do some roll playing before the baby comes.  Right now we are focusing on comforting the baby, being gentle, talking about body parts, basic baby care and of course not poking the baby's eyes.  Once we get the nursery all set up we will put the baby down for naps.  He makes a crying sound for the baby and then puts it over his shoulder and "shhhh's" it. He likes to cover her up with a blanket and set diapers on her. One day there was a baby crying on the TV and Joshua immediately went to his toy box and got his baby. Such a sweet boy! 

Practicing being a big brother!   

 

Football face!