Grass Lover

Josiah has always loved being outside, and now with his skill of sitting up on his own, he's found a new love: grass. He kicks his legs back and forth to feel the prickly blades, but most of all, he concentrates on grabbing the grass. Up till today he stuck to picking it--but today he tasted it, too. Apparently he liked it well enough to pick and eat every chance he got (when we looked away for a second). I had to pull soggy blades out of his mouth and wash him up when we came in!

When he's down in the grass, hardly anything can induce him to pay any mind to the camera. I only succeeded in getting him to look a couple times. 

 

 

 

 

Woolly Boy

Our six-month foray into cloth diapering has been as much an education in diaper-speak as diaper use! So far we've used fitteds, prefolds, PUL covers (snap and aplix), snappis, inserts, a random pocket diaper or two, cloth wipes, and now . . . wool! We heard great things about wool covers as an alternative to the synthetic PUL covers, so we decided to try one out. 

When properly lanolized, wool doesn't leak but still breathes. I was skeptical, but Jeremy jumped in with a will and washed and lanolized our Disana cover when it came in the mail. So far we've liked the wool cover, but it definitely has pros and cons. I love that the wool doesn't retain the pee smell like the PUL covers, and I like that we don't need to wash it as regularly. Some moms told me they only washed their wool covers once a month (if they weren't soiled). I've found Josiah manages to soil or spit up on his wool cover about once every week or two, though, so we've been washing ours more frequently. I like the ease of throwing the PUL covers in the washer; washing wool definitely isn't as easy. Jeremy's the expert on it here, though, so I guess I don't have much experience to speak of. The other night he had to correct my wool-washing techniques so I didn't accidentally felt the cover by changing water temperature too quickly, running water directly on the cover, scrubbing it to harshly, and whatever else I was doing wrong.

In my opinion, the major con to wool, though, is its bulkiness--even more so than the typical prefold + PUL cover. I know Josiah's cover is still too big for him, but I still can't imagine trying to fit clothes over the wool "shorties" (yes, that's what they're called!) once he does grow into them. Still, for days at home, the shorties pair just fine with a shirt. I'm even considering the purchase of a pair of "longies" for the upcoming winter months--we'll see.

Meanwhile, here's Josiah in his wool shorties, which are really halfway between shorties and longies on him at the moment.

He loves to play on the big bed . . . especially when the scratchers are out to get him! (The "scratchers" are just my fingernails on the bed sheet.) Josiah laughs and waves his arms as the scratchers come near, and then he tries to grab them and put them in his mouth.

Watch Out--He's Driving!

Josiah has hated car seats almost since he was born. When he was between one month and three or four months, I dreaded even a ten-minute trip because he screamed almost as soon as we buckled him in. His aversion seems to have lessened a bit since then. Nowadays he'll put up with routine trips to the store without much fussing, and we can usually even get to church (a 30-minute drive) without a meltdown. But the Little Guy still much prefers being out of the car seat than in it!

One Sunday morning Jeremy let Josiah sit in the driver's seat. First he had to get his bearings . . .

. . . and then find out what he could grab.

I think the steering wheel was a hit. Looks like he's ready to rev up and go!

Just One Sock On

The Little Guy loves to be free of his clothes! He managed to kick off one sock and I let him play naked for a bit after a diaper change a week or two ago. He had quite the time rolling and moving and growling and laughing on our bed! Thankfully I didn't let him go clothes-less long enough to end up with a pee spot on the bed. (This past weekend we let him play naked for a little bit, and we underestimated his holding powers . . . I ended up having to change after he let loose on me!)

Pre-Bedtime Fun

Some nights we just hang out on the big bed all together . . .  Josiah loves being the center of attention and having both of us to gnaw on at his leisure. He readily goes after our fingers . . .

And he likes to add some spit-up to the fun just to mix things up a bit.

Another favorite game is to grab faces. Daddy's hair and beard make him especially happy (when he can get his hands on them), but any ol' cheek works, too.

He likes to be tickled!

Do I have two cute boys or what?!

Josiah also loves to eat faces. He's fine-tuned the trick of whipping his head around and latching onto a chin, cheekbone, nose, etc. He can chomp down hard with those gums!

Josiah and Mama!

Oh do we love this little boy.

There Was One in the Bed

Josiah's relatively new skill of sitting up is nice for us all. He loves the upright view. It gives some variety to being stuck on his stomach (when he's desperately pushing up to check out the world, or ploughing his head down to inch forward) or his back (when he's often intent on rolling over or staring at the fan). Also, it gives him wider range of motion--he's pretty adept at reaching toes, toys, pillows, paper, and all sorts of other things from his sitting position. He has learned to balance himself well, and he's even starting to maneuver himself around while sitting. Right now he mainly just pivots around in a circle, but it looks like he'll figure out fairly soon how to actually get somewhere by scooting on his bum. Yikes!

Well, back to the benefits of sitting up: one is that I can plop him in his crib after changing him while I rinse his dirty diaper(s) or attend to the laundry or some other quick task. He stays happy looking around and playing with his toys, whereas if I laid him on his back or stomach in the crib, he'd get antsy sooner (probably afraid I'd abandoned him to another nap).

You can see how happy our little sweet pea is to be such a big boy sitting up in his bed!

Ha--I love his quizzical little face.

Happy kid with Scary Green Monkey!

I don't imagine that little pouch tasted too good, but it didn't deter Josiah from biting at it for awhile.

On the Porch

Last week we FINALLY got some gorgeous weather that hinted at the beauty of fall in the east. After months of heat . . . and heat . . . and more heat, suddenly the first week of October swept in with a bit of a chill! We actually had days in the 70s and nights dipping down into the 50s. We turned off the AC and opened our windows for the first time since early June. (Unfortunately the weather is back up in the high 90s-100s this week. Oh well.)

I broke out some of Josiah's long-sleeved and long-pants (pantsed?) outfits during the cold spell. We both enjoyed spending some time outside! Josiah likes to look at the reeds, water, and especially fish in our pond. The other day he growled at the fish for quite awhile when we sat by the pond. Here he is on the bench outside our front door, right in front of the pond.

Too sunny!