Monday, June 24, 2013

More about Josiah

Josiah says and does such interesting and funny things every day (at least they interest and amuse me, his mom). Lately his sense of pretend has grown exponentially. He loves when Jer or I bring out the "hello guys," our hands pretending to be little creatures with funny voices who say "hello" to Josiah. This started at the table during some meals, when my "guy" would ask to eat Josiah's food or toes, but now Josiah says, "Hello guy! Hello guy!" quite regularly to get us to bring out the guys. He likes to scare them with his snake, read books with them (sometimes more than he likes to read with us!), kiss them, move them, play hide-and-seek with them, etc.

Jer took Josiah to our nearby fire station during an open house one Saturday. Since then, Josiah has enjoyed wearing his fireman hat (see below) and pretending to be a fireman. He sprays houses, toys, parents, grandma, the babies, etc. and makes siren noises. He calls himself a "fi-men."



Apart from being a fireman, Josiah loves to spray (or pretend to spray, in lieu of actual water) most things every chance he gets. He follows Daddy around the yard in the evenings and "helps" with work. When I water the garden in the mornings, he sticks his watering can under the hose and dumps water on plants and the patio. Usually he ends up soaked, too.

He also has a passion for picking our produce, often on the sly before it's ripe. We have to watch him carefully outside so he doesn't get into the tomatoes, peaches, or grapes. (He likes to roll cherry tomatoes around in his mouth, but he doesn't actually like to eat them. On the other hand, he loves the little, sour grapes on our vines.)



Last week when we were playing outside one morning, Josiah was just so cute. I asked him rhetorically, "How much does Mama love you?" He replied, "Big one!" and raised his hands high.


Lately Josiah has been a big eater. He had a banana for a snack the other day. He likes me to start the peeling process for him, but he takes care of pulling it all off. Once he had finished most of the banana and mauled the last little bit--about two bites' worth--he told me he was all done. I told him he needed to finish eating the banana. He thought for a second, looked at the mauled piece on the table, and then touched it suddenly and pulled his hand back. "Hot!" he claimed. I said no, the banana wasn't hot, and he wasn't going to get out of eating it because of that. Then he said, "Dross. Dross." While I agreed that it was a bit gross by now, I held out and made him eat it. :)


With Grandma C. here, Josiah has enjoyed new games and more attention. He typically favors Grandma over Mama as his chosen diaper-changer, playmate, bath-giver, and personal chef. Yesterday she named his plastic armadillo "Timmy," and he's been quite enamored of Timmy. It's fun to hear him say, "Hi Timmy!" He remembered Timmy this morning first thing and wanted to play with him much of the day. Timmy even "helped" Josiah get un-stuck from various places behind the couch and bed. (This was Josiah's idea. He'd place Timmy by his hip and then haul himself up.)

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Park Outing

We took the kids to the park last night, and it's a wonder I'm getting these pictures on the blog today!



 Not the most flattering picture of the girls, but here they are in their double stroller.

Lydia making a funny smile

Sweet Abby

Abby

Lydia

Josiah wanted to swing most of the time we were there.
 

He did finally (with some convincing) do the slides and had lots of fun with three-year-old twins on the playscape area. Perhaps most thrilling was watching some dogs catch balls. His newfound friends and he sat on the edge of the sidewalk to admire the dogs for quite a while.

And then we had to come home, and much sorrow ensued . . . by the time we got through our front door, all three children were crying. Such is life these days.
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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Turning Two

(I know this post is more than a month late . . . whoops!)

We built up Josiah's birthday for a few weeks before the event, explaining that he would turn two, get to eat cake, see Pa and Grandma, etc. Every day I'd ask him, "How old are you?" or "How old are you going to be on your birthday?" Typically he'd reply, "Three!" and attempt to hold up some number of fingers (usually the pointer fingers of both hands). Then I'd say, "No, not three. How old?" He'd say, "One!" Once we affirmed that he was already one, we'd finally get to "TWO!" as his upcoming age.

Jeremy has occasionally lit candles for Josiah to blow out, sometimes making me nervous and almost certainly encouraging Josiah's natural bent toward pyromania. So Josiah knew just what to do with these birthday candles. He loved seeing the burning candles and cake come toward him as we all sang "Happy Birthday," and he eagerly blew them out (getting just a little too close!).

 
 
 

"Yay!" (He claps his hands spontaneously when excited about things.)
 

Carrot cake with cream cheese-yogurt frosting. He ate the frosting off and didn't want the rest of the cake.

He was very eager to open his presents--here he's pointing at them as he finishes his dessert. He watched them pile up as aunts, uncles, and grandparents arrived, and he asked several times before dinner about getting into them. A couple times we had to pull his hands away from the tissue paper.

Opening presents--here a caterpillar sprinkler for hot summer days.

Musical instrument toys are the best! Thanks Aunt Anna and Uncle Justin!
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