We can't believe Josh is already 2!! He has grown up so much over the past 2 years and it has been truly a joy to be a part of. I know that Josh will always celebrate today as his birthday, but I can't help but feel like Jan 7th is important to me. I was pretty sure I was in labor in the morning, and was hopeful that it wouldn't be long before I got to meet my little guy! While I know it was a pretty painful day, I can't help but only remember the joy and excitement I felt that day.
Josh is so much fun these days. He is talking so much, and it is great to have conversations with him. We talk about his day, and things that he likes. He can count to 10, and can do some of his ABCs. He loves drawing, trucks and animals. If you make a deal with him, you had better remember to follow through with it or he will catch you. He has an endless supply of energy and loves running around and playing outside.
Julian put together a video that shows some of his big milestones physically over the past two years. We'll post some more pictures and stats after we have our 2 year checkup next week.
This year we wanted to give Josh the full Christmas experience. Margaret thinks I'm generally a grinch around Christmas time but Josh enjoyed the tree and the lights so much that it was hard for me to not want him to fully enjoy it.
Josh helped to decorate the tree and then proceeded to take the ornaments on and off the tree. As a result we had a bit of a bald spot on the tree near the bottom (anywhere within Josh range). He really liked the tree, and liked seeing other trees when we were out. When we came downstairs in the morning he would get very upset if we forgot to turn on the "kis-mas tee". While driving at night Josh would say, "yights, yights" when he saw our outdoor lights and loved to look out the window to see the lights outside our house.
For Christmas we went over to my dads house and stayed the night. Last year Josh didn't fully appreciate presents but this year he is a pro taking off the wrapping paper and he now knows there is a fun toy inside the package. He loves his Santa pajamas and will tell you "I like Santa!", but isn't so sure how he feels about actual Santa. Daycare had a little holiday party complete with Santa, but Josh wanted no part of sitting on his lap or saying hi. On Christmas morning Margaret told him that Santa had brought toys for his stocking, and he started to cry :-P I guess we will have to wait until next year for him to really get into Santa.
We got to visit with a lot of family for the long Christmas weekend, and it was nice to see everyone. We had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too!
Josh decorating the tree
Picking out a Christmas Tree
It needs to be just right
Yights!
"I did it!"
Adding the ornaments
Finishing touches
Pretty happy with what was in the stocking, even if he wasn't happy with Santa
Josh would not smile without "Blackie" being in the photo too
Yesterday we took Josh on his 3rd flight. We were headed to Florida for a long weekend with my family. I actually thought the flight was better than our flight to CO last year, but Julian disagreed. For the most part Josh was what you would expect from a kid that had to sit still for 2 hrs and missed his nap. He only escaped from our seats once ;-). He figured out how to remove his seatbelt in 0.2 seconds, so it was hard to keep him sitting unless he had a toy or snack. But he didn't cry much, just wanted to explore. He loved seeing all the airplanes and buses driving around at the airport. Julian bought him headphones and a little cheapie MP3 player so we could play him his favorite songs. That kept him quiet about 10 min, which honestly I thought was pretty good. I made sure to feed him a snack on takeoff and landing to help if he had any ear pressure, and either he had no problems or my trick worked. The return flight we will probably break out the iPad for him, so hopefully that will help.
This was our first flight with Josh when he was big enough to walk onto the plane. It made him seem both big and really small at the same time!
This year has been really fun to teach Josh about the holidays. He is learning and understanding so much, and he has been so happy and excited. On the first night of Hanukkah we has a little low key celebration with lighting the candles and some easy pre-made latkes. We taught Josh about the menorah, which he calls "Hanaanaa" and told him the candles were hot. He was a pro at opening gifts, he must have remembered some from last year :-)
Last night we had a few people over to celebrate Hanukkah and I cooked latkes, brisket and apple sauce. We have been getting a bag of apples each week in our CSA and I have found the only way to keep up is to make apple sauce in the crockpot. Josh really enjoyed his latkes and apple sauce :) He also kept pointing to the menorah and saying, "Hanaanaa, hot".
Hopefully by next year Josh will be ready for some dreidel playing!
Julian and I have always been big lying on the floor people (particularly me!). So we often lay on the floor in Josh's room while he plays. Now whenever you lie down on the floor, he likes to come lie down with you. But then you also need a buddy (blanket), a pillow, and an animal or 2 or 3. A few weeks ago Josh came down from his nap to find Jeter sleeping in the sun (a common occurrence), he decided that she needed a buddy and a teddy bear to sleep with. Over the weekend I was napping while Josh napped. When he woke up, Julian brought him downstairs while I was still on the couch with a blanket and pillow. He of course wanted to join me, and required that several animals also join us. I love snuggling with Josh, even if he is a demanding napper :-)
We were happy to get to spend Thanksgiving (and the weekend after) with all of our families. On Thursday we went up to Baltimore to spend the day cooking with the Ellie and Mark and then dinner with family. Friday we had brunch with Julian's Mom and step-dad before they headed off on their trip and Saturday we had brunch with Julian's Dad, Nancy and his sister. I got to do lots of cooking and shopping the whole weekend. This year was MUCH better than last year where I had to work on my thesis the whole weekend.
When we got to Ellie's, Josh was very happy to get to hold baby M for the first time! He LOVED holding her, and still asks to see the pictures of them :-) We had big plans to watch our traditional Thanksgiving day West Wing (The Butterball hotline episode) while Josh napped. Josh decided that everyone was having too much fun and wanted to watch with us. I let him snuggle with me on the couch, until he was being too chatty and not resting. By then he was tired enough to sleep in the pack and play upstairs. We then had a great potluck style Thanksgiving (everyone helped out!) with a big group of our family (from all sides). Josh especially enjoyed his mashed potatoes and apple pie.
This was the first year in a long time we haven't been able to do two (or more!) Thanksgivings. We were certainly a little bummed about that, but very thankful that our families are understanding. We had a great time at brunch with Julian's family the next few days.
