We're struggling a bit lately with getting a real smile out of Joshua. As soon as he sees a camera he does this.....
You may say it's funny, but believe me, as a mom trying to get a good picture of her son, it gets old fast. I suppose it's still better than some of the expressions we get, though. The dazed look is also popular..........
(Notice the shopping cart, I had to buy that after Joshua visited my parent's house and was pushing Naomi's pink baby stroller all over the place. Papa, Daddy and Joe all told me that we couldn't have that, so it was on to Mr. Hooper's Sesame Street grocery cart. I fail to see how this is much more manly.) But back to pictures.
My personal favorite is the picture that needs to come with a sound effect. Yelling really loud for no apparent reason.....
Although I am a Halloween humbug, I did make one small concession this year. I bought a pumpkin. I love to encourage Joshua as he tries new words and he would go crazy every time we walk into D&W past the pumpkins for sale. I decided that it couldn't hurt to have a pumpkin in the house, so I got one. I was wrong. Joshua loved the pumpkin until he figured out that he couldn't lift it. And if he can't lift it, that means......mommy has to lift it. Over and over and over and over. And over. I realize that I could have just said no, but really, which is worse? Lifting a pumpkin? or listening to your child scream "Munkin!!!!!! Munkin!!!!! Uuuuppppp!!!" while crying as if someone was tearing out his toenails?
So I bribed him with bunny grahams and bought him one of these.
Now the normal-sized pumpkin is "Mommy's munkin" and the little one is "Yosh-ya's munkin". Daddy doesn't have a pumpkin, but I don't think he cares.
I chose the title for this post because I love the song by Third Day of the same name. It talks about all of the things the lead singer is: "Son of a good man, father of blessings, singer of a love song,..." but then goes on to ask if that is all he is and asks God to make him so much more. It's good, if you don't have it on your iPod, you should spend the $.99 for a little inspiration. It's a bargain if you ask me.
As Joshua turns into a little person and leaves the "baby" behind him, I often wonder who he will be when he grows up. Here are a few of the ideas he's given me so far:
Landscaper:
One day Joshua and I helped Paul pick up some sticks in the yard and it was as if Joshua had found his calling. Every day he wanted to go outside and pick up sticks. As many as possible at the same time. He's lucky because our back yard is a stick heaven with all of the huge old trees.
I've been trying to keep up with watering our flowers and plants, so I'll bring Joshua out in the front yard and let him wander around while I use my watering can. He decided that the plants were tired of getting boring old water and thought they might like some orange juice instead.
He also likes to use the rake, or I should say TRY to use the rake. It's about 4 times bigger than him which means he can't really move it. So he just stands there holding it. So maybe he'll be a lazy landscaper.
Musician:
Joshua has some "skeels" on the piano if I do say so myself. He must get that from me. Here's a little sample. He's no child prodigy, but he plays with enthusiasm and it makes him smile. Plus he can say "piano", so that must count for something.
Joshua's cousin Jed probably has a much greater chance of being a musician since both of his parents are very talented with various instruments. I'm really the only one with any musical experience in our family. Paul never played an instrument growing up. He did show a brief interest in learning guitar while we were dating. I was kind of excited about that, so after we got married I asked if he'd like to take some lessons. "Nah, I've got a girl now, I don't really need to play guitar." Dang!!!!! I should have played harder to get until he learned to sing me a few songs.
Civil Engineer:
Joshua and I took a trip to one of my favorite places, Schuler's Bookstore. It was the first time I've ever spent any significant time in their children's section. I hadn't even noticed they had a big Thomas the Train set for the kids to play with until Joshua was quite fascinated with it. So I'm sure after playing with it he was already designing roads and railways in his head.
And I had to take a picture of the sign they have on the register in the children's book area. If you can't read it, it says "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a puppy."
I thought about testing them since I've really been wanting another Viszla puppy, but I was too afraid of what an espresso would do to Joshua, so I thought better of it. I think my friend Callie would have felt exactly the opposite. She's not a dog fan.Football Player:
Of course, this is Paul's dream for Joshua. So far Joshua seems quite interested. He is fascinated by any kind of ball, but balls used in a sport have a special fascination for him. Footballs, baseballs, basketballs,......he loves them all. And since he can't say his "f"s yet, he also calls them all the same thing: buh-ball.
I got him a squishy football (not technically a Nerf, it was only $4), but he loved that thing. You'll notice I use the past tense, and I'll get to that in a minute. At first Joshua seemed a little confused about what to do with his football and spent most of the time trying to eat it.
He did not succeed at eating the ball, so Junuh finished the job for him. Well, he didn't technically eat it, more like shredded it. And thus I realized I don't really need a puppy because I already have one. He may be almost 10 years old, but don't tell him that.
So Joshua graduated to the REAL football a bit earlier than planned. He likes it just as well, and still thinks it might be good to eat. I don't think he realizes how long his dad has had that football and all of the places it might have been.
So these are my early guesses for some of the things Joshua might want to do with his life. Actually, he could do all of these things, at the same time or at different times. Or he might do none of them. I've seen alot of parents turn their kids lives into the lives they wished they had. However, I have had a great life, so I do not have any plans for the directions Joshua will go. I'm praying that Paul and I can stay out of the way well enough for God to be able to mold Joshua into the man He wants him to be. It's much more important to me the kind of man that Joshua is than what he does for fun or a career.
Joshua and I had kind of a lonely weekend, Paul was on call and apparently people were having alot of heart attacks this weekend because he wasn't around much. So I was thinking that it would be fun to spend time outside with Joshua, but we also had on and off storms all weekend, so I decided to hit the malls instead.
For some reason one of our local malls designed their kids play area with huge breakfast items. Now I wonder who thought to themselves one day...."I know! I'm going to make some giant squishy eggs so that kids can run around on them!!! Brilliant!!!" Actually, it does appear to be brilliant because all of the kids in the mall want to be in the play area. Joshua included. And yes, that's bacon in the lower right corner, if you were wondering. Because as our friend Chris says "Everything's better with bacon." That's usually true. It also makes a good slide.
He may have been the smallest one in the bunch, but that just meant all the girls wanted to coo at him and try to get him to smile. It worked. He likes attention.
The next day I felt like it would be kind of silly for me to go to the same mall again. So I went to the mall that connects to one of our local grocery stores. I figured I wouldn't be tempted to do much more than grocery shopping there, so it was safe. There wasn't any play equipment, but they have these big decorative balls sitting everywhere. That was also brilliant in Joshua's mind, because he spent about 30 minutes just walking around going "Ba.....Ba.....Ba....." and looking at me for approval. And looking at the older couples out mall-walking for approval. He usually got it. There's just something about kids his age that is irresistible.
OK, you'll have to go to the end of the post to see the video that should be attached to the above paragraph. Crazy blogger won't let me move the video up. Grrrr..........
Ball was his first word, and DaDa was his second. Stick followed close behind, and then dog. Now he can say lots of words, but usually without the last consonant. Dog is "Daw", stick is "sti", and so on. Except for shoes, he takes after his cousin Naomi and says it backward "oosh". Of course this means he's brilliant, just like her.
This smaller mall also has a small fish pond. It's quite pretty, and Joshua likes the sound "sh", so he thought fish were cool. I wanted a cute picture of him looking at the fish, but it's a little blurry, because for a little guy he can move pretty fast. He was making right for the water, so I had to stop worrying about focusing the picture and make sure he didn't end up as fish food. I dropped my phone in the process and it almost became fish food too, but I stopped it just in time. The older couple walking by had a good laugh about that one. Joshua just smiled at them and said "ish".
Joshua has moved up to the "Young Toddler" room at daycare, or the "Orange Room" as the cool kids call it. He loves it. He gets to play outside, has WAY more toys, eats at a table and sleeps on a cot. That's right folks, he's sleeping at daycare again. On a cot.
???????
Don't ask me, the kid is a weird napper. Apparently this was such an amazing feat that the teachers in his new room called the teachers in his old room to tell them they got Joshua to sleep. And they actually came over to check it out for themselves. So I'm thinking my child is brilliant because of all the words he can now say, and they're amazed somebody got him to sleep. Having been around Joshua plenty when he doesn't get enough sleep, I suppose I can see why.
In my previous post I mentioned how much Joshua likes to eat, especially yogurt, and I have proof this time! I was getting something out of the fridge, and Joshua saw the open fridge from the dining room and bolted for it. It may look like Joshua is reaching for a carton of lettuce, but don't let him fool you. Look what is on TOP of the lettuce, that's right, yogurt. He can be very resourceful for a 13-month old.
And here's what happened the second after the first picture. 
He did end up getting some yogurt, so I'm probably encouraging his behavior. I have still more evidence. I was trying to bake cookies for a friend of mine, and I had Joshua in his high chair in the kitchen because I couldn't figure out how else to keep him out of trouble while I was busy baking. He was content for a little while to play with different things I handed him, but pretty soon he got mad. Really mad. I tried giving him Cheerios, which he promptly threw on the floor. This is what he really wanted.....
I love watching Joshua as he tries to be like daddy (actually daddy really likes yogurt, too, so maybe that's the explanation for Joshua's obsession). Tonight Paul got home from work and put his hat on him, Joshua just had a huge beaming smile on his face and kept taking off the hat and putting it back on. Paul also let Joshua behind the wheel. Before anyone calls CPS on us, it's only from the driveway into the garage, but Joshua gets SOOOO excited.
Joshua also takes after Paul in the way he can't sit still for very long. But I did catch them lounging together on the chair for a bit. Probably only 15 seconds, but it was cute while it lasted.
We're on our way to Illinois for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to spending a long weekend with everyone! Naomi's going to be so surprised to see her "Baby Joshua" walking around. That's right, he's finally doing it. Walking is starting to be his preferred form of movement. His first long walk was from the kitchen through the dining room and into the family room. Joshua and I had just gone to the pet store to get some dog food and I picked up a couple of vanilla rawhide bones for Casey and Junuh. Joshua got to hold them on the way home, and I had him hold them out for the dogs to take, but he wasn't very thrilled about giving them up. So he just followed the dogs around the house until he got one of the bones back. Strange things motivate him.
I'm starting to think I might be able to keep up with this blog thing!
So I've become quite disheartened by all of the Chicago sports teams that I really like. The Bears got Jay Cutler, who I think is a big whiner, and he's done nothing for them so far. The Bulls were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs and fired their coach. Granted, there's talk of them getting LeBron James next year, but I'm not getting my hopes up. And then there's the Cubs. Need I say more really?
So I'm sitting here on a Friday night watching the Chicago Blackhawks, who have a real chance at winning the Stanley Cup. If you know anything about me, you know that I've never liked hockey and am praying daily that Joshua won't ever want to play. That's how desperate I am at this point for a decent Chicago sports team. Also, Paul's out with some work friends at a restaurant downtown that I REALLY want to go to, but Paul has never wanted to go to with me. It all seems very unfair.
But enough about my sports problems. Last weekend was beautiful here in Michigan. Paul, Joshua and I spent a wonderful day on Saturday, walking down to Reeds Lake and having a picnic. I always thought while I was pregnant with Joshua that I would walk down to the lake regularly on my maternity leave and just hang out with Joshua down there. My plans never came to fruition because my son was not a very laid-back baby. If I stopped the stroller, even for a couple of minutes, he would wake up crying. He likes to be moving. I am continually amazed by my friends' children who can be transported anywhere in their carseat and stay sound asleep for hours at a time, whether they are moving or not. So last weekend was actually the first time I went to Reeds Lake with Joshua.
Joshua has become quite the eater. He pretty much will eat everything we give him. He has his moments with vegetables, but does pretty good in general. He will easily eat as much as Paul and I in a sitting. Tonight he had a piece of chicken, some rice, some bread, a banana and a yogurt. I think if I had an endless supply of yogurt he might never stop eating it. We're going to make the makers of YoBaby very rich. So anyway, we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Gaslight Village to pick up some food for the picnic. I've noticed that, as a mom, I am usually the one feeding Joshua......from my own plate.......and I don't get to eat until everything is stone cold. Maybe if I let him sit there screaming for a minute, Paul would notice that his son needs to eat too. My grocery bill is going to be a nightmare in a few years between the two of them. But I did actually catch Paul giving Joshua a bite.
And here he is after we ate, thinking to himself "I wonder if there's any more food in that bag????"
Joshua still isn't a very adventurous walker. He's very able to do it, but he gives up easily. He still prefers to hang onto things while he walks. Paul is very disappointed about this, and tries to work with him on it all the time. I personally think it's really cute that he prefers to hold our hand while he walks, since I know that soon he won't want anything to do with holding mommy and daddy's hands. Here's Paul trying to convince him to take more than a few steps on his own.....he's not very successful.
My sister Emily called yesterday to tell me that her husband applied for a position at the new aviation high school here in Grand Rapids. He's a flight instructor at Southern Illinois University right now. I am so excited about this that I am already looking at houses for them. It's the one thing that I don't like about living in Grand Rapids, the fact that we don't have any family here. Emily and Caroline both say they want to live here, but I've noticed neither one of them does..........hmmmmmm. I'm still working on both of them. We've tried with different members of Paul's family, too, but we haven't talked anyone into it so far. Maybe it's just a matter of time!
I'm baaaa.....ack. At the request of Joshua's many fans (OK, my mom and Alison), I have decided it's been long enough and I will be posting regularly again. I figure at least once a year.
So much has been happening that I am not going to try to catch you up to speed. I'm just going to start with what's been happening the last couple of weeks and go from there.
Joshua and I were very lucky to have a visit from my friend Krista, who was my very first college roommate, and her 3 beautiful kids. Seriously, they seem like the happiest children I have ever met. Everything you said to them was met by huge beaming smiles. Apparently life on a New Zealand dairy farm does wonders for your outlook on life. It was so good to catch up with them, even for a short time. It left me wondering (again), how all my friends ended up in so many different places. I could use up 5 years of vacation time just visiting them.
Joshua can walk, but he doesn't think he can. He will take 5 steps toward me and do a dive-bomb the rest of the way. He also hangs on to one of our fingers and drags us around. He prefers to run, but can't quite get his feet moving fast enough to keep up with his upper body. He does climb stairs though, here's a video from the first time he did the whole staircase. I love the panting, it shows you how hard he's trying.
One of Joshua's very favorite activities is going out in his stroller. No matter how grumpy or tired he may be, that can always cheer him up. He doesn't like to lean back on the seat, oh no. He has to be sitting up holding on to the tray in front of him. However, when he gets tired, that means he doesn't have a nice comfy seat to lean on. He goes face-first into the tray.
Joshua got his first diaper rash and I was a little at a loss about what to do. His diaper cream didn't help, so I was trying to find other things to help him get better. One of the things I tried was letting him go naked so he could air it out. It wasn't that effective, but it was humorous. Only later we found out that he had Hand, Foot Mouth disease and that's why I couldn't get rid of the diaper rash. So here's Joshua in the buff with his books. (He is healing nicely now, by the way.)
One of the gifts my parents got Joshua was a red ball for Valentine's Day, he's pretty fond of it, and here's a video of one of his new tricks, throwing the ball. I love how excited he gets about each new thing he learns, it makes me appreciate life more as well.
Joshua has a thing for boxes. He likes opening them, chewing on them, pushing them around, and the newest thing discovered is that he likes lounging in them. He had taken one of his Pampers boxes and pushed it all over the house. He finally got it wedged inbetween the couch and the coffee table. First he got mad that he couldn't get it to move any more, and then he decided that after all of that pushing the box around, he was tired, and the box looked like as good a place as any to chill out for a bit.
I just took a quick Starbucks break, and I've decided it's time to drink my coffee. Downloading pictures and videos takes a looooong time. I'm sure the remedy to that would be posting more often, so there weren't as many pictures in one post. I'll think about it.
You may say it's funny, but believe me, as a mom trying to get a good picture of her son, it gets old fast. I suppose it's still better than some of the expressions we get, though. The dazed look is also popular..........
So I bribed him with bunny grahams and bought him one of these.
Now the normal-sized pumpkin is "Mommy's munkin" and the little one is "Yosh-ya's munkin". Daddy doesn't have a pumpkin, but I don't think he cares.
