January And February In Review

Well, I’ve totally neglected blogging in February.  That’s unusual for me, but I took a huge number of pictures and just wasn’t interested in going through them, though I did miss writing here.  We’ve been too busy for it to have any priority.  Now I’ll try to do a quick catch up on the mundane things and show my favorite pictures.

On New Year’s, Jacob made orange juice with the boys outside at my potting shed sink, then we took it to a get together at Mom’s to share.

So, it wasn’t exactly sterile juice, but the citric acid should have taken care of that!

Tart!

Airplane Mommy!

Some random fun in pictures:

No, Jacob doesn’t have a tiny head.  That’s just Elijah up there!

Yay!  It’s a beautiful day!

Sweetness.  (Ignore Josiah’s clothing, please.)

The boys have loved playing with my old doll.  They take great care of her:

As usual, we went on lots of Jeep rides:

I love this picture because they look so little against the trees and big blue sky.

And we extended many of our walks to visit the cows down the road. The cows always come to the fence. They are very curious about the Jeep.

Silly boys!

Have I ever mentioned that we love living here?  I can’t wait for our pasture to green up a bit!

More sweetness.

And we got to go to THREE birthday parties – for Henry, Nathan, and Ian.  I forgot my camera for two of them, but we had a blast.

Bounce house fun and a treasure hunt at Ian’s pirate party.  They still play with their treasure!

It was a busy weekend!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mr. E!

Well, our baby turns two today!  It has been such a fun year with Elijah.  The second year is by far my favorite age, thus far, and he has done it well.  He is such a delight to us and seems to bring smiles to everyone.  He’s a cute, sweet, and funny little man who is moving along so quickly in life!

These past three months since his last update, Elijah has been pretty mellow where his opinionated side is concerned, and very happy.  He still has definite feelings about his food preferences and he is a little too sensitive where Josiah is concerned, but we are learning to adapt.  I’ve just accepted that he is a picky eater like me and I’m learning to not stress over mealtime.  The only thing I insist on is that he eats veggies of some sort.  He is kinda weird about textures, too, so I’m STILL pureeing green beans and peas.  Will I ever be free of this?  Don’t tell him but I slip veggies into his smoothies and home made popsicles.  Currently, the only fruit he will consistently eat is strawberries and applesauce.  So frustrating!  As far as Josiah is concerned, he likes to fuss a little overzealously if Josiah does anything even remotely not nice to him and then he tells on him.  Poor baby!

He is obsessed with Bear, which all three are named.  He has to have them all to sleep, (and, apparently to drink his smoothie).  He started off with the one on the right that Granny gave him before he was born, which he loved dearly, then Granny got him the one on the left for Christmas as a backup.  Shortly after, he raided Josiah’s stuffed animals and found the one in the center, that Granny had given Josiah.  So much for backups!  They are all necessary. 

His pickiness does not apply to chili!  After finishing it off, he always paints his face with the juices left on his plate.  There is no way to skip baths on chili night!

He’s also pretty fond of cookies!  Say “cheese”!

Overall though, Elijah is as happy as a lark.  He has started to love dancing and will perform his “happy feet” dance upon request.  It’s very cute!  He and Josiah also love to have “magic shows” before bed which basically consists of each of them coming up with inventive and funny ways to fall on the ground.  It’s actually quite entertaining, but far from being magic.  His new favorite song is “The Wheels On The Bus” and he’s making great efforts to sing the ABC’s, too.  He has also started trying to pray with Jacob before meals.  He continues to have the most hearty laugh that makes us crack up every time he uses it.

I love this sweet face!

He entertains himself so well!  Sometimes he wakes from naps before Josiah and I am reminded of the days with one kid.  I never realized at the time how easy it really was!  (It wasn’t, but now it seems so.)

I decided I needed to organize my tupperware cabinet.  Elijah thought it was a great idea, too!

He loves his tractors.  For awhile there he’d entertain himself by lining them up in different ways in different places.

What’s better than playing with train tracks?  Playing in them!

He was so cute this day!  He kept cuddling with a blanket over his shoulders and had a puzzle magnet draped around his neck, too, while browsing a Harbor Freight catalog.  You had to be there!

The popsicle sticks and containers have been a favorite to play with.  The bowls inevitably get dragged out, too.

He will always and forever love this cat!  Hopefully Lilah will always reciprocate.  He loves having her on his lap but she’s really to big for his little lap.

Elijah’s vocabulary continues to impress us.  I don’t know if he’s really that advanced, or if we just love seeing our little man speaking his mind.  One of my favorite things he says happens when I stop at red lights and he says, “GO!”.  Josiah says, “we can’t”.  Elijah says, “wits a wed wight?” (it’s a red light?), and Josiah answers, “yes”.  They repeat this word for word until I say it’s green, then Elijah yells, “GO!”  The other thing he says that we love is, “I wud mamma/daddy mis much” as he spreads his arms out to show us how much he loves us.  At this point I love hearing him talk, but having been through this once, I know there will be a day that I just wish he’d hush :)

I know that I said after the New Year I’d spend some time potty training.  Well, I didn’t.  He may very well train himself before I get around to it.  The other night he was running around naked after bathtime and ran into the bathroom where Jacob and I were cleaning up and he said “pee pee”.  We looked at each other tiredly then went to find to wet spot until we realized he meant he needed to go now.  When given the chance, he performed.  He’s also pretty great at telling us he pooped.  He’s constantly wanting to pretend to poop on the potty like Josiah.  For the last month I’ve been saying we’ll potty train after we get back in town from Easter…but…that’s just a few days away.  We’ll see.

While it hasn’t been as bad as last year, we have had a few sicknesses in the new year.  Elijah tends to fair pretty well these days, but he gets ear infections with no symptoms except slightly disrupted sleep.  The pediatrician thinks he’s really tough because between a severe ear infection and ulcerated throat, all we noticed was the secondary pink eye!  I’ve started checking his ears routinely on my own and I’m getting pretty good at it!  It’s not a skill I wanted to have to have, though :)

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!  He’d sneeze and Josiah took it upon himself to make it his job to run over to Elijah and check his nose.  Usually he’d just tell us Elijah needed a wiping, but the nasty ones got a disgusted “ewww”.

Don’t be fooled, this down-and-out-sick look only lasted about 30 seconds.  And, yes, he loves baby.

We’ve so loved having this fun baby in our lives.  We delight in how much he adores his Daddy (when I come home from work with him in the car, he only lets Jacob get him out!) and I melt in him only wanting me to put him to bed.  Now it is time to enjoy him growing out of babyhood and into childhood.  I have the feeling it’s going to be a blast!  Happy Birthday, Mr. E!

Fabulous Four!

Doesn’t he look so grown up?

Josiah turned four today!  I am astonished that time could possibly pass so quickly and that this once newborn is a full blown kid.  He is a wonderful, kid, I have to say!  He is becoming bold, learning new things daily, thinking things through, is purposefully entertaining, and very sweet.  He also talks constantly with a booming voice that commands attention and runs around like a crazy kid.  We are beyond grateful for the little boy that he is.

Go get ‘em!  I feel like he’s racing into his future!

Right now Josiah is enjoying so many things.  He used to only be a truck and tractor lover, but while he still loves them, he now is enjoying a wide variety of things like his kitchen set, balls, learning toys, random little toys, any sort of “instrument” (real or home made), trains, and baby dolls…yes, I said baby dolls.  He went through a period a month or so ago that he begged for a baby sister and would tell me all the things he’d do with her, for her, and to her.  He said he’d let her sleep with him and get up with her to feed her at night when she woke. I’ll have to remember that if we end up going down that road!  It was so sweet.  He didn’t want a brother because he said he already had one of those and maybe a sister would love them both. 

He still loves trucks!

He’s also a tough soccer player…

…that “can handle dirt” and will stick his tongue out at you…

…and has great kicking form :)

And here he’s practicing for that baby sister he dreams of with my raggedy childhood doll.

Though they have their fights, he’s pretty good with this sibling already.

Anything can be enjoyable outside!

And running is still a favorite activity:

This is THE most food motivated kid!  He constantly wants to eat, preferably sweets, though he doesn’t get that many, but he cleans his dinner plate, too.  Here he’s enjoying a train lollipop from a birthday party.

He is also starting to love all kinds of t.v. shows.  I have mixed feelings about this, but will admit to these shows being nice when I don’t want to share my breakfast or I do want to walk on my treadmill.  Right now he likes Imagination Movers, Mickey Mouse, Callilou, Winnie the Pooh, any movie I let him pick from the library, and the “funny news”, a.k.a. America’s Funniest Home Videos.  We don’t have cable, but he has a wonderful aunt who sometimes records these things for him then we watch the over and over and over…  :)

But it’s not like all we do is sit around and play with toys while watching t.v.  Josiah loves to play outside and can get entertainment from everything from dirt and rocks, to the swing set, to his bike, to his Jeep.  He enjoys putting on “programs” which may consist of dancing while singing some made up song, or of running wildly through the fall leaves that Jacob only recently got rid of.  We also do structured (which he balks at) and unstructured learning time as well as crafts.  This boy loves to do crafts.  In particular, he is always so proud of the crafts he makes in Sunday School.  His teachers are so creative!

We were looking at this handout from Sunday School the other day when Josiah did math in his head for the first time!  You are supposed to compare the differences in the pictures and we had him count the flowers on the top (7), then on the bottom (5), then he exclaimed without a pause, “this one has 2 less flowers!”  He had no clue why we were excited and proud when we told him he’d just done math on his own.

Josiah has also started to say some of the funniest things.  One that cracked us up was when he started calling himself a man-boy.  He usually refuses to sing or do hang motions to songs in Sunday School and, try as we might, he just won’t do it and we didn’t know why.  He finally told us it was because Savannah told him man-boys don’t do things like that.  We pointed out that the Imagination Movers do and he has since thought differently about it.  He has used that explanation of himself routinely since.  I have mentioned before that Josiah almost always tells me that I am pretty when I put something on other than my “house clothes.” (What does that say about me???  It’s usually just workout pants and a top.)  The other day I wore a mix, though.  I put on jeans, a purple T-shirt, and a different color of purple slipper socks.  When I walked out he said, “Mommy, you are pr…you look like a rainbow!”  Ha ha!

He’s not so well dressed himself first thing in the morning!  This is his preferred mix.

I’m not sure why, but unicorns came up the other night while we were eating a meal with corn and I asked Josiah if he knew what unicorns are.  He said, “yes, it’s this,” and pointed to one piece of corn.  Well, yes, that is a uni-corn all right.

And apparently there is just something hysterical about a fake phone clipped to your underwear.

We have been looking into where to send Josiah for preschool next fall.  We are very close to making a decision, but it is not a fun process!  He loves every school we take him to but insists he’s not going.  It’s in his nature to resist change, but I’m confident he’ll love it once he starts because he’s always drawn towards groups of kids.  Schooling seemed so far off when we were anticipating having kids, but now it is upon us and I’m feeling a little panicky.  I’m not worried about them “leaving the nest” so much, but I’m just worried about making the right choices for them.  Poor Josiah will be our experiment.

I love this sweet face with the cutest round cheeks surrounding the most precious happy smile!

Josiah is such a bright spot in our lives.  We love his cuddles in the morning, his laughter during tickles and play, his jokes, his sweet comments, and his blossoming courage reined in by a healthy level of danger analysis.  This next year promises to be a big one for him and I am so excited to see him “at work.”  He always says he has lots of work to do, and he does!  Growing up is hard work!