Joshua had his 2 year pediatrician appointment this morning. This was the last time for Josh to be weighed on the baby scale—from here on out, he’ll be standing up on a regular scale, so hopefully he won’t get so freaked out. We had quite a wait to see Dr. Foxx so Joshua & I read what seemed like a million books in the exam room. Joshua climbed onto the little kid-sized chair for the 10th time when he slipped & bumped his head on my chair. I didn’t think much of it (since kissing his boo-boo made it better like usual) until he got down from the chair & I noticed his eye. My poor little son was bleeding! I found a corpsman to get some gauze so I could wipe up the blood when the doctor finally came in. Initially it looked like he’d torn the crease of his eye, but eventually it was apparent that it was just a nasty cut right next to his eye. What wonderful timing—she was able to prescribe an antibiotic ointment right then & there so we didn’t have to make a special trip like we would have had it happened at any other time. Now he’s got a little black eye & looks as if he’s been beat up. But Josh makes it look cute.
I’ve written a lot about Joshua’s milestones & his birthday celebrations but realize that it’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned much about the little things that make him the cute, silly kid he is. Joshua is definitely a unique little boy & his little quirks make me laugh (at least most of them do). So I thought I would share a little about what makes Joshua Joshua. Now, where do I start???
It’s official—Joshua is 2 years old!!! Yesterday was a great day from start to finish. I made “key-key” (translation: pancakes) for breakfast since it’s Joshua’s favorite breakfast food. My Mickey Mouse pancakes aren’t as good as Erick’s but he still ate them & asked for more. After breakfast, we opened presents, which Joshua had fun doing. Joshua is one spoiled little boy! After playing with his presents & cards for awhile, we went to the park down the street to play. We rode the carousel a record 3 times & rode the train once. Shortly after we started playing on the playground, it started to rain. Josh was on the swing at the time & he didn’t want to stop so we kept swinging in the rain (what a wonderful feeling, swinging in the rain—or something like that). Eventually the rain was just too much & we left for home.
Joshua & I went to Sears to get his 2nd birthday portraits taken this morning. It went sooo horribly! We were there 20 minutes early like they said to be, only to have the people ahead of us get there more than 15 minutes late & they took them first (this is the 3rd time that’s happened to us so I specifically asked for the first appointment of the day, which apparently it wasn’t). Naturally, Joshua got all upset at waiting & being corralled for so long that we didn’t get many good shots. We’d wandered around in the store but there’s only so amusing that can be to an almost 2-year-old. After the other family was done with their photos, the little girl (also 2) was playing with a Dora the Explorer doll & stroller that were for sale just outside the portrait studio. Joshua, being a toddler, wanted to play with the toys so he grabbed the doll out of the stroller. The little girl took it back from him & they both got upset. Finally, it was our turn to get pictures taken, at which point Joshua was hysterically screaming when I carried him into the studio (what a great way to start a photo shoot!). The Sears manager kept giving me an attitude because Josh wasn’t in a good mood & didn’t have a good answer when I told her he was upset because of what had happened with us having to wait because of their policy of taking people who were late even when others were waiting. Josh was in a good, playful mood when we got there & didn’t even get upset until we had to keep waiting (& because they never put the regular cartoons on the TV even when I’d asked).
We celebrated Joshua’s 2nd birthday yesterday with a fun little party. He turns 2 on the 7th but Erick had to leave town so we had his party early. Erick & I chose a train theme for the festivities because Joshua has developed a love of trains recently. He’ll pretend to pull the whistle & go “toot toot” all the time, which is really cute. Six friends of mine came with five litle kids & two dads. Joshua did a little better at sharing his toys (a little—we’re still working on it). We had pizza & cake, which we enjoyed but Joshua refused to eat any of the cake. Josh was so excited to see the cake when I brought it out, but it was only because he wanted the Thomas the Train toy on top. But at least the rest of us enjoyed the cake. Joshua got lots of neat presents that he’s having a blast playing with over & over. He got some “big kid” Disney books (ie- non-board books) that he kept reading after the party—Erick & I were even able to clean everything up in the time Josh spent reading! And now we have a new punishment for when Joshua misbehaves—take away his doodle toy. He’s been taking it with him everywhere in the house & even insisted on taking it when we went out this afternoon so he could play with it in the car. It’s the drawing toy where you use a magnet pen to “write” as well as having some cute animal stamps. Josh will draw or stamp & then go “ewww” or say the animal name or sounds. I remember drawing with these toys when I was young so it’s neat to see Joshua enjoying the same thing. He’s going to have a lot of fun with his other new drawing toys–markers & bath crayons—when I am ready to clean up more messes (thankfully, Crayola is supposed to be very washable!).
Joshua is officially a little potty boy! He pooped & peed in the toilet twice today. We sat on the pot this morning for quite awhile & eventually he went—yeah! I’d gotten him a ”Potty Power” DVD & pulled it out for him to watch today since it seemed appropriate & he watched the whole thing while sitting on his little potty chair in the living room. Tonight, he even told me that he needed to go & then we quickly ran to the bathroom & he went. What a big kid he’s becoming. I think his biggest motivation was being able to play with the toilet paper, tearing it & putting the pieces in the toilet while he sat. Tonight, I told him that he could play with the TP after he pooped & he did just that after less than a minute. Joshua was also excited to hear the ”Joshua is a Potty Boy” song that I’d downloaded awhile back (it’s a cool potty training reward I heard about that seems pretty effective & much better than using M&Ms!). Alright, this is probably too much info for most of you but I’m so excited that I had to share. Let’s just hope this is the start of something good & it goes smoothly for the next several months…
Joshua is quite a weird little kid. His little quirks are very interesting & make me smile (almost) all the time. At our FunFit classes, he takes awhile to get used to it but then he has a blast. He spent a good portion of this morning’s class running around the room with the balls & spinning in circles to the music (don’t worry Dad, nothing was around for him to get hurt). As I’ve complained about before, Joshua has lost his sharing abilities since our trip but he’s gradually getting better. My friend Kristen came over this afternoon with her almost-1-year-old daughter Chloe, & Joshua was pretty good. He did move several toys out of Chloe’s reach but he didn’t grab them out of her hands like he’s done with other kids recently. At least that’s progress.
Joshua & I went to the White House yesterday to watch President Bush’s all star tee-ball game on the south lawn. It was an invitation extended to military families that a friend of mine found out about. In addition to the players & their families, only 200 guests were invited so it was a pretty intimate event. My friend April & her son Jay joined us & we ran into Lindsay, another friend from the spouses club. Kenny Chesney sang the national anthem & ”Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (I didn’t recognize him without a hat). The little players were adorable—there were 51 little 5-7 year olds, one from each state & the district. Each of the 4 teams had a turn at bat & playing in the field, with no score kept. Joshua & Jay behaved very well & played nicely together most of the time (although it helped when we gave them plenty of snacks to keep quiet & still!). Since he doesn’t believe in being still, Josh ran around for much of the event to explore the grounds. I was afraid that the secret service was going to run after us when Joshua tried his hardest to get into the fountain—I managed to stop him in the nick of time but I’m afraid he damaged one of the surrounding plants when he climbed over it! Even though I disagree with his politics, it was neat to see the president & first lady in person. We didn’t brave the mad rush of people to get their photos or autographs after the game, but instead had cookies & drinks at a little reception. When they grow up, Joshua & Jay will even get to say that they had their diapers changed on the south lawn of the White House!
Our Independence Day didn’t quite go as planned. Poor Joshua developed the sniffles the night before & then woke up on the 4th with a cough. Not thinking much of it, we went out to eat breakfast to start the holiday off right. Joshua threw up right as I parked the car. Needing to get out & clean up anyhow & since he seemed to feel OK, we went in to eat. Josh seemed just fine until the afternoon when he developed a fever. I cancelled our BBQ plans & we put him down for a nap. After his nap, he was pretty lethargic (a mom’s description, not a medical description according to Erick) & his fever spiked even higher. We called the after hours peds number & were told to take him in to the ED right away. That was the start of our long evening at Walter Reed.
Erick got home a couple of weeks ago—yeah! We are glad to have him back so we’re a complete family again. Even though Erick’s still at work most of the time, we’ve managed to have some fun times when he’s able to break away. We’ve gone to the park to ride the train & carousel that Joshua loves, gone to a picnic & a BBQ, & even found a cool new park that’s just up the street from our house (I have no clue how I managed to not know about this before, but I plan to make up for it by walking to the park regularly when the weather’s good). Erick had a big first last weekend—he actually took Joshua somewhere all by himself!!! I worked on Saturday & Erick really needed to get something from the PX, so that meant he had to take Josh with him. He got a glimpse into how things are running around with a toddler, although I personally think he wimped out at the end because he decided not to go to the commissary (which is in the same building & we really needed to groceries!) & went directly home instead. But it’s a start, after nearly 23 months of having me always there to help out or take over as needed. Fortunately, Joshua behaved nicely, per Daddy’s report, so I am hoping that this will give Erick the confidence to go out with Joshua more often on his own. Wouldn’t that be nice? 
Search Blog |
Categories
|
|||
