Oh So Close!

To one year, that is.  My newborn is one month shy of a year.  It’s astounding…and sad…and sweet…and happy all rolled up into one sweet boy.  Joshua is growing and changing constantly.  He’s a favorite around here and his silly laughs are heavily sought after.

Our big boys love our little boy, but they don’t always take it easy on him, hence the ball Josiah kicked at his head as Elijah was trying to keep him from crawling away by grabbing his pants!

Joshua is still sporting a gummy smile.  At this point we’re not sure he’ll ever cut those teeth we can see  hanging out under his gums.  He’s sure been working on them, though.

See?  No teeth.  This is him being his normal noisy self while we were out on a picnic in our yard.

Last month Joshua could stand on his own, but he didn’t particularly want to.  Now he can stand up unassisted for as long as he desires.  It’s pretty cute and he looks so big.  We’re just waiting for him to gain interest in walking.  He’ll walk a fair bit holding our hands.  He continues to develop his climbing skills.  He has about a two foot tall basket full of baby toys and he loves to climb in it and sit on top of all his toys.  The same goes for climbing on top of all the dirty clothes in the clothes basket on laundry day.  He’s also taken to opening the drawers on his changing table and climbing up them – very dangerous!

Joshua isn’t really making efforts to talk, but Jacob did take it upon himself to teach him to sign “more” and he’s gotten quite consistent with that.  Sadly, we don’t really teach him as much as we probably should, but I have started working on his wave and of course encouraging him to say “mama”.

Doing the Gator Chomp!  Not really.

Our little man has become quite the eater.  He loves sweet peas and cheese and strawberries are a new favorite.  He enjoys pretty much anything we serve him.  He’s also a great napper these days.  He has been for awhile, but now I’m convinced the habit is here to stay.  He sleeps nicely through the night, too, but he wakes up screaming early in the morning every morning.

Yum, yum!  His favorite snack is mini whole wheat crackers.  I think he lives for them!

This little boy is SO sweet!  He was loving wallowing around on this sheet that was on the couch.  This particular day he was not feeling great so I set him up with the sheet, a couch pillow, his paci, and his favorite baby praise DVD.  He laid like this for a long time.

One thing Jacob and I love about Joshua is how he gets so incredibly happy and has the cutest giggly laugh when he first sees us when we’ve been separated.  He does a little happy dance when we pick him up from the church nursery or from Cindy’s house.  It’s so very cute!

Daddy’s boy!  (not really, he loves his Mommy, too!)

It won’t be very long now before Joshua is a year old.  We love him dearly and have enjoyed our time with this crazy little guy.  He’s passionate, loving, and funny.  He’s moving right along and I love watching it.