16 Months

I have so much to catch up on so I'll start with a 16 month update with Mr. Josh. Another month has passed among the whirl of the holiday season. In the last month, Josh has gotten faster and faster and at times is now running, which is a site to behold. He continues to be such a little clown and absolutely cracks himself and everybody else up. Josh also likes to mug for the camera as you can see above. He was saying "cheese" to Brad as he sat there for the approximate 2.3 seconds he allotted before moving on to something else. I am not sure that Josh has a care in the world. Like his big sister, Josh seems to have a desire to perform for whoever is watching. He likes to stand up on the fireplace like Emma and dance or "sing" into her microphone.

In the past month, the little man has become VERY attached to his bear and his monster. It seriously happened overnight but beware if you try to separate him from his beloved friends at the wrong moment. I don't think I ever posted about Josh's first haircut but we have now had number two and he did great. He was allowed to have a sucker this time around and you would think it was the greatest thing in the world. I am quite sure that the stylist could have done anything to his hair so long as he had a sucker. Josh's favorite phrases over the last month were "Where'd he go?" and "What's that?". Josh is learning so much and understands and follows so many commands. He is smart as a whip just like big sis.

Josh also got to celebrate his second Christmas last month and truthfully, I don't think he cared much more than he did last year. I think that Josh was primarily excited about the fact that he had long awaited access to the Christmas tree so he could forge his path of destruction, which translates into pulling down all the ornaments. Josh refers to him as our F5 tornado and I can't argue that one. He certainly is a cute tornado though and we can't wait to see what month 17 holds.

Merry Christmas!

One this is sure, you can't accuse Emma of not being passionate about her music! We hope that everybody has a very Merry Christmas!

Out of the Mouth of Emma

Emma had loaded up a little shopping cart with toys while at Brad's parents for Thanksgiving. Josh, of course, had to inspect everything which elicited the following comment:

"Josh, there's nothing you need in there".

Wonder where she has heard that one before? At least we knows she hears us even if she doesn't listen.

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During a typical meal, Emma will ignore the plate in front of her so she can focus on whether Josh is eating or not. On one such occasion, I told her that Josh has two parents she is not one of them to which she responded:

"But I change his diapers."

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As I have noted on here before, Emma loves music as does her little brother but I digress. Anyhow, this is not one particular statement but lately, she has been making up her own songs about everything.

"Mommy, I have a new song about _________. Do you want to hear it?"

The subjects of the songs range from dance class to baths to the day of the week. You name it and Emma will put it into verse. Josh loves every song she sings and will usually stop what he is doing so he can bop along.

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Unfortunately these examples cannot relay the true essence of Emma but at least they give a little glimpse!

3 Year and 15 Month Check-Ups

I have one word to sum up the check-ups at the doctor today and that is "Whew!". First off, after today, I am glad that they will no longer have coinciding appointments because trying to pay attention to Emma while constantly chasing down Josh was a task. While we were in the waiting room, Josh would point and say "fish" to the fish tank like he was really interested and then would look at me and make a break for it. Once we got back into our room, he kept trying to take off from there as well until the Nurse and I finally got smart and closed the door. One of the routine questions must have been something about whether is he is walking because she chuckled over that one. Since Emma is now three years old, she had to have her blood pressure taken and did really well with it. Neither of them had any problem hitting their "milestones". One question for Emma was, "If you draw a circle on a piece of paper, can she try to copy it?". The short answer is that I can just tell her to draw one and she will (shameful brag on my girl). At any rate, no problems with development in either kid and they both did great and were in good health overall except for the fact that Josh has an infected right ear and Emma may or may not have an infected right eye. They both had colds last week so I am guessing that is the culprit. Thankfully both of them don't have any other symptoms and hopefully it will stay that way.

As for the stats:

Emma @ 3 years old is 38 1/4 inches tall and 31 pounds
Josh @ 15 months old is 30 1/4 inches tall and 26 pounds 9 ounces

Just a note, I am not buying the height on Josh since that is exactly what he was at 12 months and let's just say that I am not impressed with the accuracy of the method they are using to get his height.

Interview with Emma at Three Years Old

I reinterviewed Emma with the same questions I posed to her at 2 1/2 years old on the way home from Missouri the other day. You can see her previous answers here. She was consistent in some of her answers, which you can tell by the one's that are marked with an asterisk. Let me also say that a few of the answers were definitely influenced by her immediate surroundings such as "What do you like to wear?". After I interviewed her, she spent a good bit of time interviewing Brad and I. She even had to borrow my paper so she could act like she was reading the questions and recording the answers like I had done. Without further ado, here is the Q&A. The comments in parentheses are mine.

What is your name? Emma
How old are you? 3
When is your birthday? 1/2 and it will be my birthday; I have to wait another hour and it will be my birthday. (What? Seriously, what?)
Where do you live? On Old Forge*
Who is your best friend? Libby*
Who is your favorite friend (stuffed toy) to nap with? Dora
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Go outside and play
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Go outside and play too
What is your favorite thing to do with Josh? Help him (or boss him)
What is your favorite thing to eat? Spaghetti
What is your favorite breakfast food? Life Cereal (I would argue donuts)
What is your favorite fruit? Pineapple
What do you like for a snack? Fruit Snacks*
What is your favorite treat? Smarties
What do you not like to eat? I don't know*
What is your favorite place to eat? The Purple Cow*
What is your favorite animal? Cows
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with my basketball
What do you like to play with? Tea Party
What is your favorite toy? My tea pot
What do you like to watch? Dora & Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
What is your favorite book? Goodnight Moon
What is your favorite song? "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
What is your favorite Bible story? The story about Mary & Martha
What is your favorite color? Green*
What makes you scared? The thunder*
What makes you sad? If there's thunder and nobody is back in my room
What makes you happy? My Mom & Dad
What is your favorite place to go? The Purple Cow*
What do you want to be when you grow up? A humidifier (Again, what?)
What will you do in the summer? Swimming
What is your favorite game? Crazy 8's
What makes you proud of yourself? Jumping High
What do you like to wear? Red comfy pants
If you could have any pet, what would you choose? Guinea Pig (not sure that she has ever seen one)

Josh is 15 Months Old

Josh turned 15 months old yesterday! I was looking back at Emma's 15 month update and here is what I wrote about her verbal skills (hard to believe listening to her now):

"She still doesn't have too many words, dada, bye, uh oh, mama, and turtle and then the first part of duck, ball, dog, doll. She also says something that is akin to thank you and I swear she said pancake the other morning. She may not be very verbal yet (at least in words that we understand) but Emma understands a lot."

This is pretty similar to where Josh is right now. He definitely has mama, dada, Emma, bye by, uh-oh and hello. He also has started saying "What's that?" a lot and it is definitely recognizable because his teachers have mentioned it. There is also a smattering of other words that we will hear once and then not again but I know they are coming. The past couple of weeks or so, he'll reel off a string of sounds and in his own mind, he is having a nice little conversation with us. Josh can also sign "more" and "all done". He also knows where his head and eyes are and we're starting to work on nose. He can point out a few different animals in pictures and loves to say "woof" like a dog. When prompted, he also makes a very good monkey!

At the beginning of November, Josh moved up into the Freshman class at daycare and has done great. With that, the transition to one nap per day is complete and his one nap a day is generally as long as the two he used to take combined. It is nice though since it frees up more time without having to work around two naps. Josh really enjoys all the new toys, crafts and fun that they get to have in the Freshman class. Every one of his daily reports have been marked as either happy and active or content and active. I think Emma likes that he is in the new class as well because she can check up on him more often.

Overall, Josh continues to be a happy little guy who is always looking for trouble as noted in an earlier post. He'll look at you, look at what he wants to do, look at you again, smile big and then go about his mischief knowing full well that he is doing wrong. He also has the makings of the class clown so we'll see where that takes him. He still loves his sister and is definitely starting to develop in his role as the little brother. For all of you with little brothers, you know what I am talking about!

Over the last week or two, Josh has added four more teeth. Three of them have barely broken through the gums but they are there bringing the grand total to 12! Both Emma and Josh are going in for check-ups on Wednesday so I'll have all the official stats at that point. I've also got an update to the interview that I did with Emma at 2 1/2 years old coming soon so check back.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to our big 3 year old girl for who there is no appropriate adjective to capture just how amazing you are!

Trouble with a Capital T.R.O.U.B.L.E!

This photo was posted along with Emma's birthday recap but I think it bears it's own post. Just look at that little face as he eyes the camera lens that he knows is off limits. That little grin and even though you can't see his eyes from the front, I can assure you that there is a little spark of trouble in them. I also love how his tongue was sticking out with anticipation in getting his little hands on a forbidden item as he thought nobody was watching or it could have just been that he wanted to lick it but I'm going with anticipation. One thing I would like you to know is that we see that look quite often from that sweet little boy. I think we're going to have our hands full with him!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Wordless Wednesday - Look What I Can Do!

Emma's 3rd Birthday Party!

We had a great afternoon to celebrate Emma's 3rd birthday with her friends last Saturday, which was good because we ended up with 21 kids not counting the two that live there. The theme of the year was Dora the Explorer since that is one of Emma's favorite shows although that and the Mickey Mouse Club do run neck in neck for the top spot. Emma and her guests spent the first part of the party playing in the sandbox, playing in the play house, tormenting the dogs next door, and whatever else they could think of.

Chase!

Cute girls!

Check out the way he is eyeing the lens!
Best purchase I ever made...the inflatable crocodile, not Josh of course.

Before we headed upstairs for cake, we had to go on an adventure of course. It wouldn't have been a true Dora party without an adventure. As it turns out, Swiper had swiped all the stars from the night sky and Dora needed the help of Emma and her friends to return the stars to the sky. After we got everybody situated with a backpack, we checked our maps to see where we needed to go. The first stop was crocodile river where they had to tiptoe by the angry crocodile. The second stop was snake rock and the kids had to climb up and jump off of snake rock taking care not to be bitten. Finally, they had to climb the tall ladder and put their star back by the moon in the night sky. They did a great job and had so much fun on the adventure. There aren't too many photos from the adventure because I think Brad was getting some video or chasing down Josh (either are viable options).

Outfitted with backpacks and checking the map!
We did it! We did it! We did it! Hooray!

After all the excitement, we headed upstairs for some cake and to play a little more before everybody headed home. It was remarkable how little mess was left in the house in the wake of all those children. Their parents are awesome!

It was amazing how quiet it got once the house emptied. It was definitely a wild ride but Emma had so much fun and got lots of great gifts from her friends.

Karate Kids Party

I blinked and more than two weeks passed without a post. But seriously, how is it almost the end of November already? It seems like it was just August and 1000+ degrees. Seems like the birthdays come in bunches. Two weeks ago, Emma was invited to a birthday party for her friends Beckett and Logan at a karate studio, then we had her party last weekend, and in two weeks, BFF Libby will be having a birthday party. Emma loves a good party and at least so far, Josh doesn't have a busy social calendar...yet! First I'll give you an update on Beckett and Logan's party with a recap of Emma's to come shortly.

The party took place at the ATA Karate Studio where Logan takes classes; apparently he is one belt away from a black belt so I am definitely not going to be messing with him. Master Smith led the birthday party. First, the kids had to stand on their dots and then Logan got to choose the different moves. Emma really enjoyed the punch, punch, kick, kick and is still doing it. I have to say though, she punches and kicks like a girl but then, she did have to wear a flower in her hair so it shouldn't have been a surprise!

They then got to line up and take turns doing side kicks on the bag and then rounded things out with an obstacle course.

While Emma does punch and kick like a girl, she did a great job on the obstacle course.

I think she also loved the fact that there were mirrors all around so she could look at herself. This is the little girl who a couple of weeks ago had to stand up on her bed to look at herself in the mirror before she went to sleep to "...see how cute I am". After the "class", the kids all received their official Karate Kids, head band, which Emma quickly tried to use as a choker and then a belt.

It was definitely a fun time!

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday - Jam Session

This boy can groove to anything and his sister is happy to provide the music!

Out of the Mouth of Emma

"Josh is 1 so he's a toddler, I'm 2 so that means I'm all grown up."

"Gracious Josh, you have a little foot."

"We knock on the door and say Trick-or-Treat and then we say thank you and if we don't like the candy, we still say thank you but we can throw it away when we get home."

"I've got an email."

"When I was a little baby, I used to make a big mess."

"If I eat a lot, I will get very big and grow up to the sky and then I will flap my arms like wings. What flaps their wings?"

Halloween Weekend

Emma helped me carve her first pumpkin this year to kick off the weekend. I finally convinced her to stick her hand into the pumpkin and pull out some of the pumpkin "guts" but let me tell you, it took some convincing and after she did it once, she had enough and the job was all mine again. She kept asking what we thought was in the pumpkin and would follow it up with "Candy?". Sorry Emma, no candy in the pumpkin! I tried to carve it to look like the pumpkin on her Halloween pajamas and did a so-so job; you'll have to take my word for it because we didn't take a side-by-side photo. Emma was really interested in the whole pumpkin carving experience, which led me to say "I need you to stay back while I have the knife" approximately 1000 times. I think her favorite part of the experience was taking off the top and putting it back on, taking off the top and putting it back on...you get the picture.

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Emma had a great time going from trunk to trunk collecting her loot and came away with a bucketful. She also participated in the cake walk, pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern and the bucket toss. Josh managed to get a couple of pieces of candy for Mom and Dad. At one trunk, they held out the bucket for him to select a piece of candy. There was a wide assortment of candy and out of that, Josh managed to choose the one thing that he absolutely cannot have, peanut M&M's, since we haven't yet introduced peanut products. He was happy as a clam just to hold onto the package though.

On Sunday night, we trick-or-treated at a couple of houses nearby and then took Emma and Josh over to our friends, Rita and Win's house. On the way home, we hit one more house but between the candy Emma got at school and Trunk-or-Treat, we didn't need to trick-or-treat at any more. I made the mistake of telling Emma that we only go to houses with lights on so on the way to Rita and Win's, she kept pointing out the houses with their lights on and telling us we could go there. I have a feeling that we won't be able to get away with only four houses next year. It was a busy Halloween weekend but at least we got some mileage out of the costumes this year.

Halloween Kick-Off!

Emma started off Halloween weekend with a pajama party at school on Friday! I am not sure what all went on that day but I know for sure there was "bobbing" for apples, cotton candy, and cupcakes. Josh even got to have a taste of some cotton candy. I am certain that there were probably some additional sweets and Emma came home with a ton of Halloween goodies from all of her friends. Mrs. Michelle was kind enough to email me a few pictures of Emma from the pajama party. Here she is "bobbing" for some apples.