Josh These Days

 Doesn't this boy look so big standing on the stool?  He's starting to want to "help" mom in the kitchen and get into things that are out of reach without his trusty step-stool.

 He also loves animals.  At this juncture, it's mainly "kitties!"  He sees them at the farm, and our neighbor's cat, CeeCee, has adopted our family and at any hour of the day/night can be found on our back deck.  Josh squeals and says "kee-kee" and sees his sister pick her up so he tries, too.  (We're actually not quite sure why Cee Cee sticks around!)  We're working on petting gently...

When this boy gets excited you can see his little body jolt with excitement for one brief moment (kind of like a Kramer spasm!) before his feet take off, following his leading torso!

 His little plastic kitty gets taken all over--and we find it in the most interesting places...

He's also trying to communicate, when not squealing.  (And BOY is he going through a screaming phase!)  He can say...Mama, Dada, Ace (Grace), ball, ooze (shoes), UP! (which really means Mary Poppins), Papa, Ga-ga (G'ma), meh-mo (Elmo), ba-ba (bottle), bi-bi (binky), bay-kee (blankie)... My personal favorite are his animal sounds for cats, dogs, owls, fish, horses, cows, and elephants--yes, elephants.  He's signing a bit, too:  all done, please, thank you, more (this one on occasion, usually "please" gets him what he wants).

Other Joshua funnies:  We have a monkey that sings techno music (thanks, Mimi!) that Josh turns on and dances around with two fingers pointing up--sort of looking like a disco move.  He loves to put on sunglasses, and when he does, he wants you to say, "Cool, dude!" to which he tries to give two thumbs up, but only succeeds in bouncing his pointer fingers.  He loves to see how things work.  He's always wanting something opened or shut or put back together or taken apart.  He's quite fascinated with TV--at home we try to keep him to a 1/2 hour show per day, but I think he gets to see a bit more with his grandmas...  :)  It's hard to not let him have what he wants--he's quite passionate!  (For a 17-month old this translates to being "quite good at throwing squealing tantrums.")  So he's working on accepting the word, "No," and his mom and dad are working at patience and consistency.  (Prayers, please!)

We love this little man!  He loves to sing and listen to rhymes and GIGGLE!  His laughter seems to lighten the soul.  :)  Seventeen months--how on earth did we ever get along without him?