I’m not sure why I’ve been so hesitant to post news and tidbits of information lately. Maybe it’s because I’ve been lousy about taking pictures of anything except stuff I’ve been posting to Craigslist. (We’re having a huge house clean out and a yard/block sale this weekend.*) I guess I’m feeling guilty that I don’t keep a camera always in hand when chasing around the amazing Joseph, our own little Houdini, who manages to escape most barriers and get into everything. But he’s also doing some pretty cool new things. I have no new pictures today, but I do have a couple of stories to share. Kind of like the difference between watching something on TV and listening on the radio, I guess. The radio can still be entertaining.

The big new thing for me is that Joseph is putting things INTO other things. Until this week, Dan always called Joe a master of entropy. He’d empty a wagon, bucket, or basket full of anything. But putting them back in? No way. If we put them back in, he’d give us a look as if he was morally offended, then frantically throw everything out again. I had horrible visions of life in a disaster zone where my kid would never clean up anything. But a few days ago, I found my Crocs (that I had taken off and left in Joe’s playroom) inside his Megablocks wagon. Joe had been in the playroom for at least 10 minutes while I “rested my eyes” on the adjacent couch. I was listening to him bang and throw this and that and expected to open my eyes to the usual disaster area. But it was tidy — I mean tidy – when I looked up. There were a couple of small toys tossed over the gate, but otherwise all the blocks, Weebles, miscellaneous toys (and my shoes) were piled into some container. I beamed. I was one proud mommy. Now if I can only convince him that stacking the blocks is a good thing…

The other kind of funny and interesting new thing that Joe is doing is walking backwards. Yes, backwards! And he knows that it’s clever because he’s constantly checking to see if we’re watching him while he does it. He’s pretty good at it, but he does end up going in circles most of the time. This morning, he started windmilling his arms frantically while he walked backwards. And, no, he wasn’t losing his balance. What a little show off! I so wish we could capture that on video. Dan’s looking into a little pocket video camera good for web-only video. Maybe that will be a good option for us for now.

* If you’re a Denver local, email for Block Sale details.

**OK, maybe not everyone thinks these are such cool new things. But we’ve sort of given in to being those parents, at least on the blog. You know who I’m talking about: “my kid this, my kid that.” Boring stuff for single folks and anyone who really doesn’t care about your kid’s newest, tiniest development. This blog has sort of morphed into a Joe Fest. It’s not about us, or “our” adoption anymore. It’s about this wonderful, beautiful little man who’s the center of our universe. And maybe a few tidbits about us too when we take a breather from the little prince. It could be about adoption again someday, but not anytime in the near, near future. In fact, we’re selling off all of Joe’s infant stuff (infant seat and stroller, clothes, toys, etc.). But that’s a story for another post.