21 Months Old…Moving on Towards 2!

Oh my, my, my…Josiah has certainly matured quite a bit in the last 3 months.  I’m sure a large part of it is just natural progression as they tend to learn things daily at this point, but I think at least a good portion of it is due to him expanding his horizons and spending time away from me! 

Here’s Mr. Handsome Pants himself.  Last Sunday Josiah and I played hooky from church to rest and spend some quality time together since I have been working extra lately and missed my little man.  We braved the cold once the frost wore off the dead grass to go have some fun outside.

He started going to his sitter, Cindy, right at 1.5 years when I started my job.  He only goes 2-3 days a week, but just spending that much time without me and with Cindy and other kids (some younger, some older) seems to have made a difference.  He loves to go there, though some days I can tell he’d prefer that I stay, too.  Sometimes when we are interacting I stumble across things he has learned that I didn’t teach and I am pleasantly surprised by them.  I’m not sure how much of it is Cindy working with him vs. him picking it up from the older boys there, but it is nice either way.  Also, where the church nursery was once a dreaded place, he now has fun there.  It is so nice to drop him off and pick him up with no tears involved!  But don’t be misled, I gave him every socializing opportunity we came across during my 1.5 years with him.  I just think he needed a few more experiences without my presence :)  Overall, it has been a positive experience.

More hooky fun!  He loves to run for no particularly good reason other than to have fun like boys do.

Other big changes include his transition to one nap a day.  Cindy sometimes still gives him two depending on her day and how tired he is, but for the last month or so he has just been getting one when he is home (with me, that is.  Jacob still tries to take advantage of two naps a day when he has him.).  I can’t say it frees me up to do much more since we have to be home in the middle of the day, but it is somewhat easier, although when we are home it gives me much less child-free time to get things done!  Oh well.

While he still loves to ride in this wagon from Granny and Papa, he has grown quite fond of pulling it himself now that he is bigger.  You should see the things he collects.  Oh, and he tried to run over the cat with it the other day, too!  He just couldn’t resist it because she was frisky and chasing him around.  Good thing she’s fast!

Also during this time period, Josiah has gotten his canine teeth and his lower 2-year molars are starting to give him a fit and are huge lumps under his gums.  I love his little mouth full of teeth!  As usual, he still eats like a champ.  He is even eating some foods he has rejected before now.  Additionally, much to my dismay AND pride, he has mastered his climbing skills, though he did fall off the dining table once – yikes! – and he is doing all sorts of other things typical of little boys.

He looks very serious about this wagon pulling business, doesn’t he?  (I can’t believe he looks this big!)

Josiah is saying more and more words and has even renewed his sign language skills and uses them more precisely.  He understands way more than he speaks and follows directions pretty well, except “come here”, that is.  He has mastered his animal sounds, loves “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Ring Round the Rosie”, and makes everyone in the room participate when he is pretending to be an Indian.    We often catch him singing “ashes, ashes, ashes…” as he walks circles around toys in the middle of the room.  We are still blessed in that his tantrums are few and minimal, but seem to be most frequent at dinner time when he is supposed to be waiting patiently to eat.  We haven’t found a solution to that yet.

And last but not least, more good times in his faithful car.

As far as having a little brother goes…I’m not sure how much he gets.  He knows there is a baby in my belly, or at least points to it when asked where it is, but I’m not convinced he gets it.  We do know he loves babies, though, and does well with them at Cindy’s, so that is an encouragement.

I realize these pictures have nothing to do with what is written here, but I figured some random pictures of my cutie interspersed throughout would be a plus.  These are all from the last several days. 

It is hard to believe that the next time I write a three month interval update it will be for his second birthday.  Well, I guess it is time to start thinking about a birthday party!