Our Little Melonhead turns 2!!!!

First, we are sorry that is has been so long since we have posted to our blog, but Matt's dad was in the hospital. We were juggling going to the hospital, working and staying with Matt's mom. He is home now. He is back to work and feeling much much better.

Now, Josh is continuing to grow. On his birthday, Nov. 21st, he was 34 1/4 inches tall and 28 pounds. His vocabulary is unbelievable. It is getting easier to take him places because he follows directions better, he walks farther and is better able to handle variations to his sleep schedule.
We went to the International Festival on his birthday with his grandma and grandpa. He loved watching the Chinese musicians and the Chinese play about the Monkey King. The Monkey King kind of reminds me of Curious George.

It wasn't until Sunday Nov. 23rd that we had Josh's birthday party. All his grandparents were there, his great-grandpa and his cousin Julie. He had a great time playing with Julie. This year Josh understood opening presents. He loved ripping and tearing the packages to see what was inside and I enjoyed watching his reaction once he saw the present. He received so many toys. The kid is absolutely spoiled rotten.

Of course, we had to have ice cream cake since ice cream is Josh's favorite. He was so excited as we sang Happy Birthday to him.

We also had brownie with our ice cream. Here Josh is investigating grandpa's brownie.

Brownie pease!!

Josh's favorite thing right now is cars, trucks, trains, and construction equipment. He was over the moon when he saw his cars.


The first thing you have to do with your new cars is line them up, right?

Matt and I got Josh an easel and all the art supplies to go with it. He knew right away how to take the caps off the dry erase markers and draw on the board. He is so smart. We think tomorrow he is going to be smarter than we are.

The rest of the night Josh wouldn't go anywhere without a huge hand full of cars. I caught this picture just as he dropped one. He slept with so many cars that night that he got tangled up with them and started crying in the middle of the night because one was in the middle of his back.

The birthday boy and mom.

Dad getting the birthday boy.

Well, for Thanksgiving we are going to Jonathon Byrd's. That way we don't have to spend two days shopping, cooking, and cleaning. One less head ache with all the craziness that has been going on.

Next week we are going to be busy setting up Josh's college fund and getting pictures. Then the week after that, Matt and I have a weekend getaway and my sister is watching Josh for a couple of days. Yeah!! She already has plans to take Josh to a restaurant that has a train the kids can ride on. He will absolutely love that.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Love,

Matt, Jenny and Josh

Playing in the leaves

It's fall and the leaves are falling and that means playtime. Josh loves to run through the piles of leaves and he had a great time carrying the rake around. Unfortunately I went and loaded the pictures in the incorrect order, so we start with a picture from my birthday dinner.

Josh climbed onto the back of Grandma's wheelchair. He was ready for a ride.

This was probably the last 75 degree day of the year, so we just had to play outside in the leaves.

I love playing in the leaves!!!

Josh's vocabulary and pronunciation are growing so fast, but we finally found the word that comes out like duck with an "f". The word is fox. Of course, as adults we would never have Josh say fox just to hear how he pronounces it. No never.

M,J, and J

Trick or Treat!

Doesn't he just look like a little man here?

Goofiness Galore! For some reason one morning, he decided he wanted to sit on on of my closet shelves. We don't know why - but he thought it was great fun.

He is obsessed with cars. We should say cars, trucks, motorcycles, and construction equipment. Everywhere we go he is first to spot and point out anything from a bikes and cars to buses, dump trucks, and cement mixers. Not only can he identify them, he's getting good at saying them.

Grandpa drives a Dodge truck. Now every dodge truck is "papaw's truck!". Not just any truck - but he actually picks out Dodge trucks and says that.

Now when we talk about an obsession, we mean an obsession. He will NOT go anywhere without two handfuls of various toy cars. Bed, different rooms of the house, car rides - it doesn't matter. The only rule is we don't let him play at the table while eating. Now, he will hand us a few when he's headed for bed or the car and say "take for me".

His favorite thing to do with his cars is stack them or line them up - as you can see here.

When we started carving pumpkins, he wasn't too interested at first, at least not enough to tear himself away from his cars. When we started pulling the guts out, though, it was just one of the coolest things ever! He would squish it in his hands and then step on it and squish it between his toes. YUCK. We were all covered in pumpkin guts!

Since we always referred to him as our little melonhead, this year he went as a watermelon slice for Halloween.

A few more weeks and we hit the big 2. then we get serious about potty training.

New tricks:

He does a very good job counting up to 7 on his own now

Knows and says the names of many motorized vehicles (learned from all his books)

We need to branch out on our animals because he knows so many

With assistance, he can put on his shoes and pull up his pants