Welcome to 2!

My goodness! Josiah has changed so much since he turned two. Everyone said it's like a switch just flips and they start talking. Josiah's switch flipped a week or two ago. I know it's normal development, but it's been catching me off guard.
His vocabulary is expanding, but very naturally, he's just picking up on everything. And he's been making sentences likes crazy! It's so fun to have him communicating on a new level.

For example, "Sit, wock cha. Ree Jesus." (Sit rocking chair. Read Jesus.)

Then he starts pointing to the letters he knows on the back of the book! He's doing this a lot lately, even driving down the highway. There are several letters he gets really consistently and others he hasn't caught on to yet. He's gotten a little better about colors. He's terrible at numbers though. He can name them, but he can't count worth a lick.

He loves stacking things, but this one was particularly tall.
He's also continued drinking from a cup well. He asked me to take the top off his sippy cup of milk today. Yikes! Our little boy is growing up!

Park With Daddy

Jonathan actually had the day off on Monday, and we had a really great family day. Most of it was spent at the house, with much wrestling and tossing by Daddy. But we snuck out to the park in the beautiful fall weather.

Daddy showed Josiah how to really see-saw, not the wussy way Mommy does it.

Josiah was a little surprised I think.

Some cute swing pictures. Jonathan took the baby swing to a new level as well.

Umm...I can't believe how cute this picture came out.

Josiah really loved having his Dad around for the day.

Jonathan got some air on the big swings.

First thing was posted last, but trucks always come first.

Don't you just love little boys in blue jeans? Even ones that are from last year and too short? Even when his diaper is showing?

Fire Station Tour

For our September Moms and Tots event, we went on a tour of the Mountain Brook Fire Station. It was awesome! Don't you love my little fire chief?

They gave hats and badge stickers to all the kids. Jack helped Josiah with his.

They got to climb through the trucks. Josiah said, "no, no" at first.


Then he liked it later. I'm showing the boys the steering wheel and the firefighters' pants and coats.

And they got to sit in the driver's seat!

After our tour, we walked over to Zoe's for lunch. Fun day!

Josiah at 2

Josiah had his two-year check-up Friday afternoon. When the pediatrician asked him how old he was, he said "nine." Then he changed his answer to "six." He normally does answer two the second time. Here are his stats, and a few memory book details I want to remember about him at this age.

• Height: 34 inches (50%)
  Weight: 26 lbs. (25%)
  Head: 19 in. (50%)
  The doctor said his thinning out was normal, but recommend we keep him on whole milk, rather than going to 2% or less, because of his weight and because he doesn't drink a lot of milk a day.
  
  
  
• Takes one nap a day for 1.5-2 hours, normally around noon. He typically gets to bed by 7:30 p.m. and wakes between 6:45-7:15 a.m. He normally goes to sleep with no trouble, but sometimes we'll have a rough patch. We've added some elements to our night-time routine. He cleans up his toys, brushes his teeth, says goodnight to Mom or Dad (or our whole small group on Thursdays), and picks out three books to read.
  
  
• His vocabulary is blossoming, and he seems to pick up words daily. He's combining words more, and I think I may have caught a few three words combos. It's really fun to see him progress with his communication. We were a little concerned about his language development because we'd compare him to girls his age, and for some reason we thought the two-word combination milestone had to be a noun and a verb, and of his own making (I don't know why we thought that). Plus he doesn't enunciate really well. Our pediatrician was very reassuring. He easily has over the 50 words she was looking for, and she clarified that the two words could be anything. In that case, he hit that milestone months ago. She said you can't compare boys to girls, plus he doesn't have an older sibling and isn't in a regular daycare or MDO program.
  
  
• His favorite foods: fruit, fruit, fruit, pasta, goldfish/pretzels/crackers, PB&J, and well, ice. He's very passionate about ice. He'll eat some veggies; he gets on big pea kicks and likes dipping carrots and cucumbers in ranch dressing ("sauce"). He likes some sweets, but normally won't polish off a whole item. He's drinking from a regular cup pretty well now, but we don't normally do it.
  
  
  
• He's starting to recognize some letters: O, E, B, W, X, Y. He called a "T" a cross the other day. He'll occasionally get shapes and colors correct, but not consistently. He recognizes some Bible characters in his books: Jesus, Noah, Joshua, Zaccheus, and Jonah. Of course, he can name a lot more Thomas the Train characters...
  
  
• He sings parts of some songs: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Ro, Ro); Do To Others (his favorite, requests it every time he gets in the car, from Hide 'Em in Your Heart); B-I-B-L-E; Praise Ye the Lord, Old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus. He can also fill in the words for parts of his books.
  
  
• Obviously his favorite toys are trains and anything with wheels. He's very studious about playing with them, lining them up, putting them on top of each other, placing characters in them, etc. He also enjoys puzzles, balls, blocks, and has a fondness for stuffed animals sometimes. He's not big on coloring, though he likes his sidewalk chalk more than crayons.
  
  
  
• I don't know if books count as toys, but he still loves them. I wrote down every book he read this summer for the reading program he participated in: over 130! That's a combination of library books and our own.
  
  
• Personality wise, we're very blessed. He has a naturally easy, mild temperament. He's content to sit for long periods of time (for a toddler). He'll run around and play, but isn't overly energetic. He's tentative about climbing and trying new things. He's friendly to people he knows and loves talking about his relatives and friends. He's cuddly after he wakes up and when reading. Nursery workers seems to like because he's "easy."
  
  
  
• Even though he has an easy temperament, he's still a natural sinner. He's responsive to discipline, and we vary between spanking and time-out. When it's deliberately disobedient, we tend toward spanking. When he's inconsolably upset or whiney, time-out seems to work better. We try to always pair our discipline with Bible verses and always with reassurance of our love.
  
  

Birthday Time with Nana and Pa

Nana and Pa came in for Josiah's birthday as well. After the party, they gave him a really incredible pop-up train book (do you see a theme to his gifts?) and a great puzzle.

The wrapping paper alone was a big hit. He saw the presents earlier and plopped in front of them to name the "Cars" characters. Didn't care about opening the gift :)

A Lego Thomas set!

And a really fun new cup. He was actually pretty excited about that cup.

Daddy "getting" Josiah.

Some sweet pictures before they headed home.

Showing off his belly button

Taking a wagon ride

With Thomas

Birthday Visit from the Moseleys

Mimi, Granddaddy and Anna got in late Friday night, spent the morning loving on Josiah and giving him his gifts, and then headed back that afternoon so Dr. Moseley could be back to preach on Sunday. Those are some pretty dedicated family members!

They gave him his very own Thomas trains and set. Needless to say, he was pretty excited.

He was really excited.

Open, open, open.

Enjoying the grandbaby

Stealing some sugar

He gets up each morning and asks for his trains and calls them each by name.

Anna and Jonathan were mildly obsessed with creating the perfect track.

Later in the morning, Great-granddad and Great-grandmother Moseley, Aunt Joyce and Hope came over, and we all went to IHOP for brunch. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of any of theme. Shame on me! We were so grateful they came up to celebrate.
The great-grands gave him these bath/pool toys and animal crackers and goldfish.

He was honestly, very excited about the snacks. Aunt Joyce gave him a great tractor, and Hope gave him some new books and cool paint/markers.

IHOP brought him out a scoop of ice cream and sang to him. He had no concept they were singing to him.

But he sure enjoyed the ice cream!

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Sending you a snuggle for your happy day.
By the way, this is Mom's 60th birthday. How good does she look? I'm glad I'm tapped into that gene pool!
We love you and hope your day is wonderful!