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As Joe eeks (literally) closer to the terrible twos, he’s keeping us on our toes to the extent that very little else in our lives/house gets done, blog postings included. So, I’m going to do the quickest possible update I can. In a really, really big nutshell, here’s the latest.
Joe *seems* to be getting bigger, but it’s so hard to tell. I’d guess that he’s about 27 lbs and somewhere between 31″ and 32″. He still fits perfectly snug in size 18-24 months. He’s a pretty trim little guy, probably since he’s so active. But he can definitely reach much higher than he could even a few weeks ago. (This morning, he took his full breakfast plate off the middle of the dining room table while I turned my back and creeped into his playroom to eat. Unfortunately, I had chosen to give him blackberries, which I discovered all over my living room floor. Ugh.) One thing that’s certain is that those little feet continue to grow. He’s fullly in a size 7W shoe and expanding quickly.
Before I go into Joe’s latest faves, here’s a quickie update on recent holidays and events…
Thanksgiving: flew to Grandfolks Nuttalls’ house for the week. Joe was a turkey on the flight there and an angel on the way home. Everyone thought he was a cutie. He played well with his older (second?) cousin, Daniel, as well as cousins Kaden (a week older than Joe) and Austin. We swore off traveling with Joe until he was older.
Christmas: DE-lightful. No travel for the first time in my adult life. It all started about a week before the holiday. We went to a yummy buffet dinner at Noni P’s place. Joe had a ball. It was really nice to get out and about with him. Then, Noni P and Nana came over on Christmas eve. We opened presents and let Joe run amuk. Dan and I stayed up late to open our gifts after everyone went home and Joe went down. It was really nice to enjoy the evening with just the two of us. Christmas morning was a blast. Joe was eager, interested, and patient. He opened gifts one-by-one and played with each. He even patiently waited while Daddy cut the myriad wires/strings/clips that are so prevalent in kids’ toy packaging. Joe loved absolutely everything. His favorite things that morning were a “cell phone” from his great grandfolks Molocznik and a kid-sized Starbucks cup from grandfolks Nuttall. Since then, he seems to know and play with all of his new toys, including: a super-cool firetruck from Kristin and Bobby, a schoolbus from Big Daddy Nuttall, a little truck from Billy and Lindsey, “Chuckie the Duckie” from Bobbi and Bill, Harry from Nonie Nuttall, blocks from Grandpa Greg and Grandfolks Lawrence, and books from Grandpa Greg, and Great Uncle Jeff & Great Aunt Christa. He is so stinkin’ spoiled. Thankfully he doesn’t know it yet. He also LOVED a Little Tikes toy shopping cart, which is still a mystery gift. (It arrived in its original box with only a shipping label that indicated Joe as both the purchaser and recipient. If you know who might have sent it, please let us know. We’d *really* like to thank them.)
New Year’s: Dan and I actually forgot about it until about 8pm when Joe went to bed. We watched the ball on TV in bed, I think. Not terribly eventful.
Zoo Lights: Despite the fantastic weather around the holidays, we waited until the last minute to go to Zoo Lights at the Denver zoo, a now-annual tradition here in the Lawrence household. We planned to take Noni P and Nana as part of their Christmas gift, but they were under the weather, so a nice unknown couple in line took their place. We all had a lot of fun, even if we went on the coldest day of the event! Note to self: go to Zoo Lights before the last day of the event so that you get the full effect, rather than a lot of broken displays. Still worth it, though.
Musical nannies: We grudgingly let our dear Kristin go a few months ago so that I could get more hours in at work with a new nannyshare situation. That quickly dissolved when our nannyshare partner lost her job. I took on two of her nannies for three days a week, only to realize that I was going broke fast. Almost as soon as I let the one-day-a-week nanny go, as fate would have it, our awesome remaining nanny had the opportunity of a lifetime and flew off in early January to go overseas. Joe is now hangin’ with his buddy, Maggie, two to three days a week. It’s amazing how things always work out for the best. Maggie’s mom rocks and takes awesome care of Joe and he gets to play with Maggie, who’s practically like a sister to him. (And my-oh-my do they act like siblings…)
And on to Joe’s latest faves and craves…
Favorite Foods: garbanzo beans, turkey chili, and anything resembling bread. Mama is about to resort to “deceptively” delcicious type recipes (aka, spinach in brownies) to get him to eat greens. (His nanny already feeds him deceptive veggies for lunch.)
Favorite Toy: This changes every day. One new thing is that he does engage in creative play. He “cooks” and “eats” from his play table with the set of toy pots and dishes he has. He especially likes one of us to “taste” his cooking. So sweet.
Favorite outdoor activity: Joe likes to ride his tricycle that Nana got him last Christmas (his feet still don’t touch the pedals, but it does have a handle for us to push/steer). But he also likes to hop in the wagon from grandma Marianne because he knows that a ride always ends at the park, where he loves going down the (big) slide and running across the “bridge” on the jungle gym. In fact, one of Joe’s newest milestones is that he can go on the “big boy” swing all by himself. Well, he needs help getting on and close supervision (because he doesn’t hesitate to hop off when he’s done, regardless of whether the swing is going or not), but he can hold on and be pushed. That’s pretty cool.
Favorite cold weather activity: That’s a toss-up between shoveling snow and eating it. He also likes his sled, but probably prefers to pull Maggie in it that ride in it himself. One thing is clear: Joe loves to go outside. He often brings his jacket to one of us, one arm half in, as an indicator that he wants to go outside.
Favorite indoor activity: Joe constantly asks to go downstairs to the den where we have the Wii set up with Rock Band 2 (our awesome gift form my dad and Deb!). Joe likes to “rock out” on his little Leap frog guitar while Dan or I play guitar to the game. It’s hilarious. We say “wanna rock out, Joe?” and he starts spinning in circles, jumping up with his guitar, and headbanging to the music (I swear I don’t know where he learned it). And no pop songs either. He wants to rock out hard. He even threw his guitar on the ground the other day. We have to be careful with the songs we choose, though. I wish they had the Imagination Movers songs for the game. He’d love it!
Favorite TV show: that’s a tough one. He really likes anything with music. But he’ll stop what he’s doing and run to the TV if he hears the Imagination Movers (one of Disney’s newest shows and awesome parent-friendly music). He also likes Little Einsteins (Nana got him a Quincy doll for Christmas, which he loves), Handy Manny, and recently showed interest in ChooChoo Soul and the Backyardigans. He also digs the music in Phineas and Ferb, but the show is too old for him. Since we only watch TV in the mornings while we get ready, these are the only shows he knows. Thankfully, he doesn’t ask to watch TV at other times of the day (yet). Fingers crossed!
Biggest milestone: In the past few weeks, Joe has advanced by leaps and bounds in the verbal department. The nanny (Maggie’s mom) has the kids watching signing videos and doing themed activities every day. He also doesn’t use the binky during the day and willingly removes it upon request when he talks.
Latest words: Help, Cow, Moo, Dog, Doggie, Woof, Up, Down, Diaper, Train, Bike, Bye, Snack (“nak”), Maggie (“Aggie”), Car, Balloon (“boon”), Shoes, Done, Move, Please, Thank You, Yeah, No, Ball, Duck.
Latest “tricks”: rolling out of his carseat and climbing all over the car, just out of Mama’s reach. He thinks this is hilarious. He’s also doing quite well learning how to use a (non-sippy) cup.
Emerging Personality: Joe is showing very particular preferences for clothing and shoes. Lately, he only wants to wear his orange plaid hoodie, snow boots or his blue Crocs rainboots (or Mama’s red rain boots from when she was little), and a Packers bib (he’s never worn bibs outside of meals, but he wants to wear this one all day long). Not necessarily all together though!
Biggest “oops”: A couple of months ago, Joe knocked over and broke Dada’s acoustic guitar (the head broke right off, splintering terribly).
Hints of the “Terrible Twos”: Grabbing his full breakfast plate from (the middle of) the table (and dumping it on the floor); throwing food from his plate on the floor (or scrubbing it into his hair); screaming for no reason (for fun); whining like crazy when he can’t communicate what he wants; yelling when mad and stomping (until he works himself up into a full tantrum); kicking (hard) when picked up if he doesn’t want to be; grabbing, pinching, hitting, and biting
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