Hide and Seek

Joshua just loves playing hide and seek and being chased.  These two games are sort of a two and one package in this house.

The first thing he does as soon as he hears Daddy's car pull up in the drive way is stop what he is doing, run over to me in the most giddy way and say, "get you, get you!"  Meaning, "daddy is home and he is going to get me.  Protect me Mom!"  So of course the first thing Daniel does when he walks in is come over and "get" Joshua. 

Many nights we spend the time between dinner time and bedtime playing hide and seek with Joshua. Joshua covers his eyes and counts, "1, 2" and then comes to find us.  He is so funny because he always goes to the last place that we hid.  Once he finds us he cracks up and takes off running for us to chase him.

Counting

 

Sometimes he will run over to the couch and press his whole body up against it like it makes him invisible. 

He also loves when we pop out of our hiding spots and surprise him.   

Of course he gets his turn to hide too. 

Under the table. 

 

Getting a little better

Daniel is the one who does bedtime with him every night.  About half way through their routine I head up to kiss him good night.  When he hears me coming he get so excited, and says, "Get you, hide.  Shirt" Translation: "She's coming to get me, hide me under a shirt."  When I walk into the room this is what I see as he snickers under his pj's.  Once I "find" him he just laughs and laughs and asks for more.  So we do it a few more times. 

When I open the car door to get him out of his car seat this is often the face that I am greeted with

 

He has very recently started hiding objects for us to find and he will usually hide them in the same place or show us where there are but he thinks it is funny every time we find his hidden object and we act surprised.  He also puts things behind his back and will ask, "where is it?"  These games never get old to him!


The best part of playing these games is hearing the sheer delight in his giggles and squeals which get us laughing pretty hard as well. 

Joshua's 22 Month update

Time is flying by and before I know it this sweet face will be two years old!  My oh my! 

 

Here are some fun facts about Joshua at 22 months old...

• He is talking, talking, talking.  He tells stories and recalls events all throughout the day.  It is quite exhausting some days ;)  but I wouldn't have it any other way.  He also has a great memory.  One day I was eating some nuts.  When he wanted some I told him he could have them when he was older.  A few days later he told me, "nuts, older."  You tell him something once and it is forever in his memory. 
• He understands the concept of big and small.  When you show him two items and ask which one is big/small he will usually point to the correct one.  He will often point things out and say, 'big ball, small ball" etc. 
• Mama and Dada are slowly becoming Mommy and Daddy or Dally as he says it.  So cute!
• We have been working on sharing and taking turns.  Before we go to playgroup, play dates, story time etc I talk to him a lot about sharing and what it means to take turns etc.  He wanted to take his toy screw drivers to a play date one day.  These are one of his favorite things and he has a hard time sharing them.  I told him that if he brought them then he would need to share them with Mason.  I went over this with him multiple times on our drive there.  Once there I gave him the option of leaving them in the car but he insisted on bringing them.  The first thing he did when we walked in their house was walk right over to his buddy and handed him, not one but ALL FOUR of his screw drivers.  I was so proud!
• He still loves reading books and going to the library.  Right now he is really into books about opposites.  We read them so much that he can sit and read them by himself now.  It is really cute to hear him say, "Long, short.  Empty, full." as he points to the pictures.
• I am so excited for him to meet his sister.  Sometimes when he is "reading" a book or singing I hear him say in a dramatic high pitched voice, "Kayla, Kayla."  He also likes to tell you about how Mama goes to the doctor and they listen to sisters heart.  One day he was playing with a tape measure and he was measuring his belly like he sees them do to mine. 

I know I say this almost every update but Joshua loves his "Dally" so much!  He copies things that Daniel does and he thinks its funny when they both wear their hoods on the jackets and put their hands in their pockets.  One morning during breakfast we were talking about who is a boy and who is a girl.  When I told Joshua that he is a boy just like Daddy is a boy he looked over at Daniel with the biggest smile on his face.  When I get him up in the mornings usually one of the first things he will ask for is Dada.  When Daniel comes home from work he gets so excited!  Daniel gave Joshua his empty chap stick and it has become one of Joshua's favorite things.  On the weekends Joshua will say many, many times with a smile on his face, "Dada, home!"

On the weekends Daniel likes to eat cereal.  So now Joshua asks to eat cereal when Daniel is home.  If I have cereal during the week he doesn't ask for it, only when Daniel is eating does he want some.  It is like it is a Joshua and Daddy's thing.  So cute!

Snuggle bugs.

 

Joshua is always asking to see this picture on my phone.  He will say, "see dada park." 

 

He loves this Bee Game! Mom and Dad however, not so much. It takes 10 minutes to set up and 1 minute for us to play it. 

 

He likes for our like items to be together... 

His ball popper (aka vacuum) gets stored next to mine.

 

                                                         His laptop belongs next to mine. 

His shoes next to Daddy's shoes.

Playing cards with Omah and Papa.

 

Concentrating very hard on getting those Cheerios on the toothpick.

 

Checking out his library books.

 

I picked up this bike at a garage sale last season for a whopping one dollar!  We thought it would be fun to put him on it.  He loved it!  Of course he can't pedal or steer yet but he loves being pushed around on it.  When he pedals he usually pedals backwards. 

Gotta love Colorado weather.  We are in snow garb one day and playing with water, blowing bubbles and going to the park the next...

Eating the snow off his car.

This is how we roll on snowy days. 

Give him a bowl of soapy water and a few containers and he keeps busy for quite a while.

 

I love the look of pure joy on his face!

 

He randomly spells parts of his name.  Sometimes we hear "J-O", sometimes it is "J-O-S" but his favorite is "O-S O-S"  Very recently he has started pointing out the letters O and S in books, writing on our shirts, with his bath letters store signs and anywhere else there are letters. 

 

Look who found the O and S all by himself on the library's magnet board. 



He likes to dip his food.  Sometimes when I am getting breakfast ready he will ask for Ranch or sour cream.

He thought we needed some ranch with our pancakes. 

"HHMMM, so I am going to have one of these soon?"

 

Almost every night when Daniel and I get into bed we lay there and talk about how fun Joshua is and how he is just the funniest, cutest kid ever!  We sure do adore you Big Man J!  

Creation Crafts

Lately Joshua has been really interested in the sky, sun, moon, stars and clouds.  So I thought I would take advantage of his curiosity and start doing some creation crafts with him. 

We started off with making a sun which he absolutely loved.  When he was finished with it I taped it on our sliding glass door and his little face just lit up. 

Showing off his finished product

He wanted to keep "crafting" so next we made a cloud by gluing a bunch of cotton balls on a cloud shaped piece of white paper. 

He wanted me to make this one with him so we took turns putting our cotton balls on the paper. 

 

J's master pieces hanging next to his Easter Cross he made a few weeks ago.   

 

When he was done he wanted to make another sun.  So, we made another sun.  He kept pointing to his sun saying, "glue" to which I responded, "the sun is yellow not blue." I finally got it, duh mom!

 

While making his crafts we talked about how God created all things that are good and how He made each thing we were making. 

 

Here is a video of J making his sun.  The last part makes me smile because the day before we made these crafts I asked him who made the sun and he said, "Kayla."  Right before starting our crafts I asked him again who made the sun and he said, "Anna" (his aunt).  But he is finally catching on.  

 

Creation today, different tribulation views tomorrow ;)

Joshua's 18 month Well Baby Visit

Joshua had his 18 month well baby check up today.  Yes I know he is almost 22 months but this was done on purpose.  I did not want to take him to the very place where sick people go during the height of flu season. 

Here are his well baby stats and some pictures:
Weight-55%
Height-75%
Head-75%

Waiting for the doctor.  When the doctor walked in he said, "hi doctor!"  after being prompted by Daddy.  She got a kick out of that.

 

Don't worry Joshua, this is how I feel when I have to get on the scale too.

 

Joshua told the doctor all about how his snowman melted and turned into water.  He told her, "snowman melted.  Turn water."  The pediatrician looked at me shocked and said, "Wow, that is really impressive."


I started prepping him for his visit yesterday.  When I told him that he was going to get a shot he said, "cry."  Then he talked a lot about how the doctor was going to listen to his heart.  His Amah got him a doctor kit so he is very familiar with all the tools that the doctor uses.  I love when he puts the stethoscope on his heart and says, "boom boom boom."   When you ask him what sisters heart sounds like he rubs his belly (mimicking the fetal Doppler) and says "SSSHHHH." 

 

 After the pediatrician let Joshua hold her light he handed it back to her and said, "heavy."  Daniel and I looked at each other and started laughing. The pediatrician, looking rather impressed, said, "I am not at all worried about his communication."  We aren't either ;)

Some kids get to go out for ice cream after shots.  This one got to go through the car wash.  Something he really likes and talks about a lot.  He cried for all of 2 seconds after his shots then started saying "car wash." 

I can't believe the next we will be in this office we will have a newborn.

 
 

Dear Joshua,

I can hardly believe that our time of just us is almost over.  I have really enjoyed the last 22 months of staying home with just you.  You are so much fun!  You love to cuddle, read books, help me cook, play outside, play hide and seek and be chased.  You also love to be carried a lot.  I have tried to meet  your "carry you" request even at 8.5 months pregnant knowing I wont be able to carry you all the time much longer. 

 

Right now our days are filled with book reading, playing in the backyard when the weather is nice, going to the park, taking wagon rides, going to story time, attending play dates, singing songs, playing with play dough, coloring, painting, crafts, doing lots of errands which you are actually fairly easy to run errands with and going to the zoo.  You are my little sidekick and I have so much fun with you.  You have such a fun personality and you make me laugh a lot.  

I am excited to see you walk out your role as a big brother.  I know you will be such a kind, helpful, and caring big brother.  I know you will love having a baby sister.
 

Our time of just you and me might be coming to an end and you won't have my constant attention like you do now but I promise you that I will still love you the same, I promise to spend one on one time with you and take you on Mommy and Joshua dates, I promise you that you will love having a sister, constant friend and playmate and I promise you that I will always love you with all my heart.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for making me a Mom and being my first little Man! 
 

You are a true treasure my son and I will always love you with all that I am!

 

All my Love,

 

Your Mama

 

 

Terrific Twos

Your toddler might be headed into the terrible terrific twos if...

...they refuse to let you put on their shoes...

He has however (thankfully) just about mastered this skill. 

Perfect timing too since it is getting harder and harder for me to do it

for him these days with this big belly.  He even tightens and Velcros them. 

 

...Mom and Dad retire your booster seat because you refuse to sit in it.  After all, you are a big kid now and you don't need no stinkin' booster seat...

...Mom finds you in your crib half naked after naps...

 

...and you prefer to stay that way...

 

...chairs aren't an option for sitting...

...When mom gives you a sippy cup of water you say, "other one" meaning a regular glass with no lid...

...you are determined to get into things you aren't suppose to (yes he constructed this all by himself to get into the forbidden drawer)...

 

 ...you want to zip up your own jacket only to get frustrated because you can't...

 

And last but not least your mom hears one of two phrases multiple times a day, "Joshua do it" or "do it" as in "I want to do it myself".

 

Joshua, your mom is drop dead tired at the end of the day from trying to keep up with you but she wouldn't have it any other way.  You make life so much fun and make me laugh so much!