Welcome Spring!

It's been a long, cold and rainy winter here, but today was gorgeous! We even broke out our shorts later in the day. We tried to grab every moment we could outside.

First we headed to the botanical gardens.

We fed the geese.

And looked at the gigantic goldfish.

We met Caitlin, Heather and Cameron for some lunch.

After a nap, we headed out to our favorite "dump truck park" as Josiah calls it.

I finally got a smile, though a little toothy. I love this picture, but he looks way too grown up!

Once again, he's a real little boy now! Too grown up!

My Little Handyman

Josiah was a great helper at the Home Depot yesterday. He really liked riding on the cart, and then he had fun helping me plant the annuals in the front yard.

Ruffner Nature Center

We had an open house on Sunday, so we had to be out and about for most of the afternoon. I decided to go check out a nature center nearby where they had just finished some renovations. We'd been hiking there before, but all the animals were new.

The turtles were definitely the most fun, because they moved the most.

They also had some snakes (yes, Uncle Parker, snakes again), lizards, frogs and a flying squirrel. They also had really cool owls outside. It wasn't as much to see as I thought, but paired with a hike, it would make a lovely family outing. We'll have to take Daddy there when the weather gets warmer.

Then we headed for one of the train tables in a local bookstore. These train tables and the libraries are where I've been hiding out during house showings. Josiah is kind of funny at the tables because he thinks there are a certain way things ought to work on the Island of Sodor, and he gets a little annoyed with children who don't play the way he thinks they should. He did pretty well today, even though this is a popular table.
Today was also the first day he has left a train table without having a complete breakdown. I don't know if it was the fact we stayed for 1.5 hours, the lure of a hot dog party to go to or the post-nap scheduling, but I was proud of my cooperative little boy.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Cousin Caleb is one already! Time flies! Josiah took a picture next to the Number 1 engine for your first birthday. I asked him to smile and hold his finger up at the same time, and I think I maxed him out (not to mention the evening was falling apart in general).

Here's a picture of a cute smiling one-year-old! We love you Caleb!

Covered in Grandparents

Last week, Mimi came down for a visit. We had such a wonderful time with her, but I didn't take a single picture. I'm kicking myself big time! We made a trip to Montgomery to see the great-grands, and she and the Olive grandparents watched Josiah while I went to Bible study and my doctor's appointment. They took him to story time at the Homewood Library and to the train table nearby. Then we tortured him by taking him to the Smocking Bird, so we could pick out some things for Mimi to make for baby boy #2.
Then on Thursday, Mimi drove Josiah to Nana and Pop's house to stay for the weekend while Jonathan and I went house shopping in our future new town - Hickory, North Carolina. Did I mention we'll be moving there in June? Jonathan's joining an internal medicine practice there. We're excited to be back in Tar Heel country (and basketball country for that matter)!

Here are some pictures Pop took from his weekend. Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Gail, Jaclyn and Baby Christian were in town. Sadly, this meant Josiah got to meet Christian before me (otherwise we would have seen him this weekend). But I was glad Josiah got some good cousin time with Christian and Davis.

As you can see, Josiah is super-interested in the babies.

Uncle Ronnie with sweet Christian

Aunt Gail with Davis

Mom with Davis

After a bath

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Make Lemonade!

And when the power company attempts to reach your power lines by driving onto your backyard...

and then gets stuck and needs to get towed leaving two foot-deep craters and lots of turned up soil to the backyard of your house that is currently on the market...

You should at least let your 2-year-old boy enjoy having his own personal construction zone in his backyard.

Luckily I had just picked up this bulldozer on consignment.

Josiah calls this his house.

He also got to see some really awesome trucks that day.

The other way to keep this in perspective: this was the day the earthquake hit Chile killing hundreds, and my parents were in Hawaii, possibly about to be affected by the tsunami that ended up not happening.

Josiah Says

(After a discussion about Bible verses)

Jonathan: Do you want to go to the potty, Josiah?

Josiah: The Bible says, "I don't want to go potty."

Theology of convenience.

Ella Ruth and Josiah

Ella Ruth came by for a visit (oh, and her parents Aaron and Erin).

Josiah came running in the room because he heard Ella cry. He said "Ella upset?" She calmed down, and he asked if he could get on the blanket with her. So sweet.

Being gentle. Though we did have to tell him to touch the top of her head, not her face. He looks so big next to her! It seemed like just yesterday he was the size of the blanket too.

McWane Trip

Our friends Lisa, Silas and Anna kindly invited us to join us at the McWane Science Center last week. It was a great way to use up some cooped up winter energy.

Checking out the jellyfish

And the light board

Stomping out some tunes

The sand area

Fixing the car with Silas

Josiah's First Composition?

As I mentioned before, Josiah makes up lots of little "songs." Most of them are just babbles and humming, no words or melody really.

But this one confuses me because he sings the same words and melody consistently. It goes something like, "Must be someone loving..." I keep asking him where he heard that song, but he insists he didn't hear it anywhere. I even Googled the "lyrics" to see if they existed elsewhere. I'm starting to think he actually made it up. Does it sound familiar to anyone else? Sorry for the train table banging that makes it harder to hear.

Why Daddy Is Fun

The other day Jonathan and Josiah had been playing outside and then came in for dinner. I asked Josiah, "Did you have fun with Daddy?" Then commented on how fun Daddy is. Then he said, "Mommy not fun." I must have looked offended because he quickly followed with, "Mommy a little bit fun. A little bit fun." Here's one of the reasons why Daddy is way more fun than Mommy.

Snow in Alabama - Again!

What a crazy winter! It snowed here yet again. This time it stuck around for more than an hour.

Josiah was very excited about making snowballs.

Nana and Pop had already planned to come in for a visit and to babysit Josiah that night while Jonathan and I had a Valentine's date!

Nana getting some loving after Josiah's nap.

Josiah doing his normal post-sleep comforting hair twirls.

And some Mama-loving too.

Daddy came home from work and did some Josiah-lifting.

Watching some Thomas the Train with Nana

And Pop

Out in the snow on Saturday

Sledding with Mama. We finally got to use the awesome sleds Mimi gave us many Christmases ago.

Narrowly avoiding the small tree at the bottom. Josiah kept cackling when he got to the bottom, and he'd say, "Let's go again!"

"1-2-3 Go"

Not bad for 23 weeks pregnant, right?

A trip down with Pop

Pop liked to aim right for the tree.

Ending the Drought

Sorry for the blogging drought! With the cold/rainy weather, life hasn't been very photo-worthy lately. Luckily my child could play with trains forever. We've also had our house on the market, which has meant lots of cleaning for me!

Here are a few tidbits about Josiah lately:

• Characters. At least three or four times a day, he changes his identity and ours. He'll say, "You be Thomas, and I'll be Percy" or "You be Mama Bird, and I'll be Baby Bird" or "I be motorcycle, and you be kiwi truck." (No kiwi truck is not a character; he just made it up.) When we become a character, we stay that way for a while, and he'll end every sentence addressed to me with my current identity at the end ("Where are we going, Elmo.") He'll also remind you that he's not Josiah, he's Cookie Monster. It's really quite amazing to see his imagination go wild. It's also very helpful because he can make anything a character (i.e. rocks, pens). He also does this regularly with his food, which is a good and bad thing. Good: it means he can entertain himself sitting in his chair for an hour. Bad: very messy. And it backfires when you're in a hurry.
  
  
• He's gotten more brave on playgrounds, not that we've gone much. He actually went into the play set at Chick-fil-A. He tentatively went through the tubes, other children lapping him several times. Then he finally went down the slide with a big smile, and "I did it!" We also busted out our Thomas tunnel the other day, and he really liked it.
  
  
• He's singing more. Sometimes known songs, sometimes ones he makes up.
  
  
• The weather and house showings have brought us to the library quite a bit. He gets in "ruts" with the books. He only wants to read his new library books. Currently, we've read the same five library books for every nap and every bed time for four days straight. I'm happy it's these five because the last set of books were really long and boring.
  
  
• He's finally counting. He's still not consistent every time, and prefers to count correctly on his own initiative, as opposed to a request by Mama.
  
  
• He's super-friendly. He'll say hello to other children in stores or restaurants. He said "hi" to everyone who passed by the checkout lane yesterday. When they don't respond, he's a little offended and says, "That little boy not say hi to me."
  
  
• Developmentally, he's very conscious of emotions. He regularly identifies emotions of characters in books or other children. "That little boy upset" or "That engine is mad" or "He's happy!"
  
  
• He's a little obsessed with "happy." I was having a few, er, less happy days in a row. He was always asking, "Mama, you happy? Be happy Mama." This comes into play with discipline mainly. I'll tell him it's time for bed or to clean up toys. He'll start crying and say, "Make me happy, Mama." Most of the time he's manipulating me, so Jonathan and I will say, "Obeying will make you happy." I'll point out that it's not about making Mama happy, but about making God happy. And I want him to know that I love him no matter what, but his sin doesn't make me or God happy. If he's complaining, I'll try to remind him of Scripture about that and focus him on being thankful instead. I'm still searching for the best way to handle it. It's not something I've run across directly in any parenting books lately!