General Update

Most of our recent posts have been pictures so I thought I'd give a little Joseph update.

Coloring - Joseph loves coloring now and we spend a great deal of the day poured over his Disney coloring book. It's definitely more fun when mama colors too and even more fun when we tell mama which crayons she can or cannot use. This leads to some great lessons on sharing and not grabbing. He is, however, very sweet when he grabs. (grab. . . "thank you" . . "you're welcome")

Spelling - Joseph has known all his letters for about nine months. He brings me his Doodle Pro and asks me to write "Jopha"often. And now, when prompted, he will tell me all the letters in order to spell Joseph Henry. It's quite a show and includes lots of additional sounds and gestures at high levels of volume.

Eating - Joseph has always been a great eater and will eat pretty much everything and anything put in front of him. . . except for peanut butter. I guess we named him appropriately because Grandpa Joe doesn't like peanut butter either. He also loves cashews . . . just like Grandpa. He will often come to tell me that he wants a snack. . and usually knows exactly what he wants. A moment ago he put a bowl in my hand and said "cheese!" . . . but that just as easily could have been "soup," "cake," "cookie" or "ravioli."

Potty Training - I haven't started this yet and I'm not in a hurry at all. Changing diapers does not bother me. However, Joseph is starting to have more interest and will usually tell me when he has "pood?!" (side note - pretty much everything ends in a question form). We also have long discussions on the status of his diaper when I change him. "pood?!" . . . "pee pee?!" "just wet?" So I sat him on my lap and we did some internet searching for potty chairs . . which apparently is hysterically hilarious to a 2-year-old. "potty!!" (giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle) A potty chair has been ordered. We'll see if he likes it.

Backseat Driver - Joseph talks non-non stop when we get in the car. The first several minutes usually sound like this:
"here we go!"
"go that way?!"
"yay! Pawpaw?!" (yes - we've been home from Indiana for a month and this little boy still holds out hope that he's going to see Pawpaw almost every where we go)
"yay! horray!"
"here we go!"
"go shopping?!"
"here we go!"
Then it turns into singing along with whatever is on the radio. . . including the station promo spots. "His, His, His radio!"
And then in the last few blocks before we get home"
"yay! home!"
"go that way?!"
"yay! home!"
"yay! horray!"
"home!"

Amazing Grace

It's also amazing how quickly this goes from being so incredibly sweet to so incredibly tantrum. . . . ah, two-year-olds.

The wait is over. . . .

As proved by previous posts. . . Joseph's hair is getting quite long. The great thing is that it can be styled in so many ways!

The bad thing is that the "girl" references are getting more frequent.
It was time.
At 2 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 5 days . . . . Joseph got his first haircut.

Many thanks to Miss Alison for coming to our house and giving Joseph his first haircut!

The pleasures and disappointments in the life of a 2-year-old

Pleasures:

hot chocolate . . . . Joseph loves hot chocolate and will bring me a "just add water packet" from the pantry about once a day.

cookies - we currently are trying out the Cars -Teddy Grahams

cake-cake - we currently are out of cake-cake so this also classifies as a disappointment

soup - "mmmm soup" which leads to "more soup?" . . . his favorite soup is "Hot & Sour"

coloring - especially if mama sits down and colors with him

"Little Joe" - we seemed to have moved on from watching "Cars" daily to now getting our daily fix of "The Ballad of Little Joe." Is it bad that I let him watch it on the portable DVD player and that he knows which buttons to push to restart it for himself when it's over?

Disappointments:

cake-cake - as previously mentioned

balloon - which started out as such a pleasure today. It was also a pleasure/thrill to watch it float up into the sky. For about 15 seconds. Then disappointment ensued. Loudly. For about 10 minutes. Then pleading. "please (sob, sniff, hiccup) mama (sob, sniff, hiccup) outside (sob, sniff, hiccup) get (sob, sniff, hiccup) balloon (sob, sniff, hiccup)." Then "Joe?!" . . . . and on goes the portable DVD player, out come the crayons and life just became pleasurable again.

The Hair

Remember almost 11 months ago when we thought this was long?

We hadn't seen anything yet. . . .

Not complaining. . . .

just saying that it's cold in Charleston today. and by cold - I mean - in the 40s. we're having a heat wave compared to our friends and family in Indiana & Tennessee. but this is a wee bit chilly for our Charleston blood and Joseph wanted to spend the morning bundled up on the couch watching "little joe."

Super Why!

God is Great . . .

Joseph loves to say prayers. His current favorite is "God is Great . . . " and he reminds us before meals that we need to pray.
"pray?!" . . . . . ."yes Joseph"
"God is Great?!" . . . . "yes Joseph"

At bedtime we usually say a version of "Now I lay me down to sleep."
"Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray thee Lord thy sweeeeeet, precious, daaaarrrling Joseph to keep. Thy love guard me through the night and wake me with the morning light."

Except now we also have to say "God is Great" at bedtime before we start "Now I lay me. . . " If we start the bedtime prayer first, Joseph just goes ahead with "God is Great" on his own.

"put your hands together Joseph. it's time to pray"
"God is Great?!"
"no. Now I lay me."
"God is Great?!"
"ok Joseph. God is Great"
"ok!"

Jan. 2 at Hollywood Studios

diaper madness

When I checked on Joseph during his nap, I found this -
somebody had a little fun with the diaper basket before falling asleep at naptime.

New Year's Day at Magic Kingdom