Happy Memorial Day!

We haven't had too much going on this past week or so, so sorry for the blog slowness. Here are some cute pictures to tide you over until we have more content :-)

Ready for some gardening

Planting a tomato :-)

Being a good boy at graduation

Josh wanted to wear his shoes and his coat and eat raisin bran...

Helping Daddy!

Going Away

Since the day Josh was born, I had seen him every day of his life.  Not always in the morning when he woke up, or in the evening when he went to bed, but everyday I had seen him.  So when the idea of me going away for a business trip came up, I had a lot of mixed emotions and things to consider.  Margaret had gone away for a few weekend trips for skating and I took care of Josh while she was gone.  I knew how hard it was to be a "single" parent just for a weekend so I was very concerned about leaving Margaret home with Josh for almost two weeks.

We considered many options including Margaret and Josh coming on the trip but in the end we decided I would go alone.  Margaret was extremely supportive the entire time and never made me feel bad about leaving her to deal with our little trouble maker.  We talked to friends and family to help out while I was gone to ensure Margaret wouldn't have to do everything on her own.  Margaret's biggest concern while I was gone was taking our cat Jeter to the vet (she goes weekly for fluids).  Thankfully my dad was willing to take care of that chore.

Leaving was difficult for me, I was worried Josh would not remember who I was when I got back (I figured Margaret would probably still remember me).  I don't think Josh really understood what was going on so that also made me feel bad.  While I was gone Margaret sent me lots of pictures and videos of Josh and kept me up to date of what they were doing.  We Skyped several times and Josh always seemed happy to see me.  I sent Margaret a video message of me talking to Josh which she played for him.  Going away was difficult but we were able to stay in enough contact so I never felt too far away.

When I got home Josh was already asleep.  I was very excited to see how he would react to me being home.  When he woke up in the morning I went to get him.  He looked at me but didn't really react.  I wasn't sure if he didn't know who I was or if he didn't realize I was gone for a while.  In either case he didn't have any trouble spending time with me.

Josh did make a few advancements while I was gone.  He no longer throws his food on the floor.  When he would do it we would take away his food and he seems to have gotten the message.  He also will push you in the direction he wants to you to go.  He gives hugs now when asked (sometimes).  I can tell he understands more and more.  He's growing up so fast and I'm very glad to be home to see it all.

Special thanks to my parents, Ellie, Mark and Heather for helping out while I was gone. And of course I am thankful for Margaret for making the trip possible!

Josh reading to himself while I was gone

Tel Aviv

Amman

Amman (that is not my hotel)

Amman from my hotel

Last day!

Today is the last day of my single parenting adventure. I certainly don't want to jinx anything, but so far Josh and I have been doing pretty well.

Julian's Dad helped out on Saturday taking Jeter to her weekly vet trip, and watching Josh so that I could go to yoga. On Sunday Josh and I were supposed to meet Julian's Mom and stepdad to go walking in Bethesda, but we overslept! I had set an alarm for 7:10, and when I woke up I could hear Josh, but decided to give him a few minutes to fully wake up....well 2 hrs later we were both still asleep!! Whoops. For those keeping count, that means Josh slept for 14hrs!! This was the latest he has ever slept, and I still had to wake him at 9:20. Fortunately we were able to meet Julian's mom and stepdad for brunch and then went jogging on the CCT--so it all worked out. I was worried that it would be difficult with a stroller on the CCT later in the day, but it really wasn't that crowded. I guess it should shock no one that I would be the one to teach Josh to oversleep :-)

We also went to a fundraiser/campaign kick off for my cousin. I must say that parties are really not as fun when it is just you and a toddler. I spent the whole time trying to keep Josh from destroying the house of the host...

Overall I'm pretty pleased at how the past 11 days have gone....although I'm very happy that Julian will be home soon! Thanks to everyone for helping out with Josh and keeping me company over this time!

Mmmm corn!

Mommy made me tortellini and hotdogs!

Playing outside :-)

Ready for my run

Ooooo dirt!

Single parenting

Well as many of you know, Julian is away in Amman, Jordan for work. He is away for 12 days, which is 11 more days in a row than he has every been away before. In anticipation of him going away, we lined up some help from his parents and my sister and I set up some play dates with some friends.

My cousin Rita was in town over the weekend, so we got to play with her, her daughter and her father. Ellie and Mark came to visit with Rita and stay the night to help out. Unfortunately Josh decided he was freaked out by Dad not being around, and melted down every time I went out of his sight :-(   Heather came over to play with us too, and we were able to distract Josh by letting him play in the office (we don't usually let him in there because it is a mess of not safe for toddler items) and I could take care of a few things.

On Monday and Tuesday, Julian's Mom came to help out so that I could go to swim class and run some errands. On Tuesday afternoon Ellie left work early and we all went out to the mall and Ellie cooked us dinner :-)  Overall Monday and Tuesday went really smoothly, and I was very proud of myself for making it four days! A big thank you to everyone who has been helping out!

Sadly, it is always the unexpected that throws you off. When I got home from shopping with Ellie I noticed that my foot hurt in a small spot, I had Ellie take a look and she thought maybe it was a glass splinter. I broke a pyrex measuring cup on Easter, so I was concerned that I might have stepped on glass from that. She tried hard to get it out, but had no luck. I decided since Josh was in daycare on Weds, I should just get it taken care of--so that it didn't get worse by Thursday or the weekend when I had to care for Josh full time. I went to a podiatrist on Weds morning, and after a lot of effort (including a numbing shot and 2 doctors....) they pulled 3 bits of glass out of my foot. Unfortunately my foot still hurts because they had to cut pretty deeply in it, but at least the glass should be out so it should recover!

Sometime while I was at the doctor, monsoon season started. It has been raining for a day, but the rain really picked up and was coming down fast. My drive home on 355 was dodgy at best and I was driving through pretty high standing water in some points. I got home JUST in time to keep our back door from flooding (thankfully!). I was making myself some lunch, when I received a call from daycare saying that their power was off and that they would be closing. I had to race out to pick up Josh in the monsoon, and drive back through the standing water. It was tough watching Josh and keeping our house from flooding, but I am happy to report that there were no leaks and no injuries to Josh :-)  Fortunately the numbing agent in my foot was still going strong for all of this, so at least my foot didn't hurt!

It really is true what they say, April showers bring May flowers...because May 1st was a beautiful day. Josh and I met up with Natalia and Riggins to play in the park. See video below of Josh going down the slide.  Josh really enjoyed getting to play outside again! Then I took him out door knocking for my cousin's re-election campaign.

Josh is back in daycare today, so now I need to figure out what we will eat and do for the next few days. Today is about the halfway point to Julian returning, so wish us luck!

Bye Daddy!

Mommy gave me ice cream!

Helping out while Daddy is away

Play date!

Learning to use a spoon

Josh has always been very interested in utensils, but now he is really starting to learn how to use them. He has gotten pretty good at forking his food, although sometimes he has trouble getting it to stay on the fork. I recently have decided to let him try using a spoon. This is a very messy process, but it is cute to see him working hard and learning how to use it! Here are some cute photos from breakfast...mmm yogurt.

Shockingly, Julian declined a hug from this little guy :-) 

I was cleaning yogurt off his ears, hair and face all day...

Easter

We had a busy and fun filled Easter weekend. We hosted an easter egg hunt for a few other kids that are Josh's age and their families.  Josh was practicing all week in daycare looking for eggs (mostly playing with them I think), so he knew that they were fun and wanted to get his hands on them. He was excited to find that some of them even had food in them! We knew Josh should have excellent egg hunting skills based on genetics, and so far both nature and nurture seem to be honing his skills. He also really enjoyed playing in the dirt, so I guess we still have some work to do :-) The weather was perfect for an egg hunt, and it was really fun watching all the kids play and run around.

On Sunday I re-hid a few of the eggs with new treats in them for Josh to find. On his way downstairs he spotted one of the eggs from the steps and B-lined for it. He then managed to find all 6 of his eggs in like 2 minutes, with only 1-2 hints for the hardest ones from Julian and I. We were both quite impressed with his skills. In the afternoon we had a nice easter dinner with one of my cousins. Josh LOVED my cousin's dog, and particularly LOVED feeding it ham and bread...hopefully their dog is ok!

Two eggs!

Josh did not want to put down his eggs to find more

No trouble finding this tricky blue egg in his pirate ship cannon

Doggie!!

On Monday, Julian's Mom and I took Josh to the White House Egg Roll. Julian's Mom got tickets to the event for us from work, and I was very excited to go! This was actually both mine and Josh's first trip to the White House grounds :-)  Even though Josh was a little too young for the activities there, he really seemed to enjoy both the egg hunt and the egg roll. Josh was very good all afternoon, despite long lines and lots of people. We even took the metro downtown, and it went pretty smoothly.

All smiles!

Trying to roll his egg, aka playing with the spoon

Egg hunting

Easter has always been my favorite holiday to spend with my Grandma Nancy, so the weekend was a bit bittersweet. I missed her yearly egg and easter bag hunts, which are always very challenging, and would have liked for Josh to get a chance to look for his basket she would have hidden. I do think that Great-Grandma Nancy would have been very proud of Josh's egg hunting skills. I'm sure I will always miss my Grandmother the most at Easter, but I hope to keep some of her traditions alive.

<3 Easter 2013

Word explosion!

Josh has recently been saying many more words! He has lots of "b" words like ball, book, and bye-bye. He also can say duck, water, mama and more. Although with mama and more we aren't sure he really knows what they mean--he just says them for fun. He is also trying really hard to say giraffe :-). He can do signs for more and milk.  It is so cute to see him trying to learn more words!