Ready for Summer!

We finished up with swim lessons last week. All the games and activities that they had done in Emma's class finally made sense to me as I watched her using a swim stroke with her legs stretched out back behind her. Emma definitely made some great strides and hopefully we can keep moving forward throughout the summer. As for Josh, the boy we couldn't get into the water at the first lesson, we couldn't hardly keep out of the water before his class last Saturday. If their had been an award for most changed, he would have had it hands down. Both Emma and Josh did great and I know they are going to have lots of fun in the pool this summer. Here are some photos from our last swim lesson.

Sickness and Silliness

We have had a sick little girl on our hands this week. It started Sunday morning with a low grade fever so we left her home from church with Grandma who was visiting. By the time we got back, her entire body was burning up and at one point in the afternoon, her temperature essentially reached 105 degrees. After a fairly restful night, she was back to normal Monday morning only to have the fever come back throughout the day. Brad made a doctor's appointment for her where they ruled out strep and chalked it up to a fever virus that has been going around. Bad news is that it can last up to 4-5 days. We've been through three and I'm hoping that things will turn around today. Other than Sunday, you wouldn't really know she had a fever since she won't sit still long enough to realize that she is sick. Unfortunately she also had to miss picture day at school yesterday but insisted I get a photo of her and Baby Lily Honey Chip Bear Clipper Bubba; don't you love that name?

On an unrelated note, Josh just kills me sometimes because he is so silly. Yesterday afternoon, Emma was giving me her scary face. Josh saw it and had to try to "scare" me as well. Here is the best attempt to photograph his scary face.

As I noted previously, it has been a struggle recently to get Josh to eat veggies or even food in general. It seems we found the culprit. His bottom right canine finally popped the other day and just like that, he wanted to eat again...veggies and all! It was a modern day miracle!

Spoke too Soon!

As they are wont to do, Josh had to prove me wrong. While I noted in his 19 month post that he is picking up words here and there but not really using them consistently, there has been a change in the air this week. It seems to me that another lightbulb has gone on and Josh is trying more and more to repeat words that he hears. He is also using his words new and old more and more to point out things that he sees or things that he needs like a spoon to eat his bowl of cereal. He is definitely making a better effort to communicate and clearly has lots of words stored up in that head that he has just been waiting to use. Last night I asked him to close the dishwasher and he said "OK." At bedtime, I asked if he wanted a book so he said book and then said Bible since that is by far his favorite book. Like everything else, Josh is just picking his time but I think we're going to start hearing more and more actual words from here on out.

19 Months Old

Here it is two days late even though I started this post on time for once. Ah well and on to the update:

Josh, you have knocked out one more month and getting closer to two with every day! I was told yesterday morning after church, "Your boy is mean." Apparently, dear Earl who speaks whatever is on his mind, saw you slap your sister. Now, I am not going to deny that you have a fiery little temper at times but what Earl didn't see is how sweet you are 99% of the time. Also, I think know that the hitting is out of frustration and have no doubt that things will improve as you can better communicate your feelings. Unfortunately, such behavior and the need to throw food/spoons/cups at meals has landed you in timeout this month. While you are not a fan, your sister relishes the fact that she is not the one in timeout.

At 19 months, you are working on at least three teeth and probably four. I wish they would hurry up and break through because as swollen as your gums are, they have to hurt. I am leaning towards placing the blame for your lack of desire to eat on teething and hope that once the teeth pop, you will eat better again. The whole teething business is also making you a little irritable at times so come on teeth!

Progress reports were given out last week at school and I just had to laugh when I saw yours. Other than a few checks for behaviors that are observable on a daily or weekly basis, there was nothing else on the report except a note that read "Josh didn't feel like testing this time." Apparently, Mrs. Brandy, Mrs. Michelle, and Ms. Colleen were all encouraging you to throw a ball while you just stood there and grinned at them. Emma has always wanted to please everybody but it seems clear that you are going to do things when you want to do them and how you want to do them!

You are picking up new words and trying to repeat different words that you hear but not necessarily using them on a regular basis. Of course you do have Emma to do all the talking for you so there doesn't seem to be a big rush! I have noticed you trying to sing songs complete with the hand movements that you learn at school and this morning I will swear that you said "A, B, C, D" while Emma was singing the ABC's. You continue to be a major monkey see, monkey do with everything! For example, if Emma is practicing her dance steps, you will try to copy her or if Daddy knocks on the table, you will knock on the table. You continue to be a total little ham and you know it. You also learned how to give a fist bump.

After a rough start with the first swim lesson, you have really come to enjoy getting in the pool. I will attribute that primarily to watching Emma in her class and seeing how much fun she is having. You also love to get in there and splash me or dump water on me. I think you are going to have a blast in the pool this summer! All in all, it has been a great 19th month and we look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

Shout Out to Uncle Paul!

I know this blog is 99.9999% devoted to Emma and Josh but since it is my blog, I want to give a little time to Uncle Paul! Paul has been living in China off and on and full time since 2002 or thereabouts when he first went over there to teach English, which means that we pretty much never see him. Unfortunately, he has only met Emma once and never met Josh other than through Skype and those times are rare between the craziness of his life and the time difference. An article from 2008 describes a typical day in the life of Paul. It states "Schoenbachler is the main man in China for Baja Motorsports." Of course, Baja Motorsports is no more but he still works for the parent company. I love the description of him in the next sentence; "The lanky 30-year-old Arizona native studied Chinese in college and set up shop in this manufacturing city about three years ago." Poor boy just can't put on any weight as he is like to remind me.

It has recently come to my attention that Paul ran his first half marathon. While he claims that he was not trained properly, I am certain that he did great! Thankfully my Mom passed on some photos that Paul sent to her from the race that I can share because it is prerogative, right? Congratulations Paul on your half marathon and know that we miss you and hope to see you sometime soon!

Five Randoms about Josh

1. Has really developed a love of books. A couple of weeks ago, I would have said his favorite book is "Goodnight Moon". However, now I would have to go with Emma's Toddler Bible as the front runner. We have to read at least 4 or 5 Bible stories at bedtime each night. If Mommy reads them, he then has to get at least 1 from Daddy or vice versa.

2. Does a great impression of an elephant and has a new impression of a gorilla where he beats his chest with both hands balled up into little fists. We worked with him on the elephant but not sure where he got the gorilla.

3. Is a total little repeat especially if it is something Emma is doing although he will mimic other people as well. We often try to leverage his adoration for his sister into getting him to eat his veggies, which brings me to my next point.

4. Totally averse to veggies 99.9999% of the time. Help! We can sometimes get him to eat them if Emma also takes a bit but more often than not, she'll take a bite and then he'll just clap and cheer for her.

5. Is becoming Mr. Independent and becomes easily angered if he has something in mind like walking/climbing the stairs by himself and you carry him. Also, he is becoming increasingly frustrated by his inability to communicate at times, which usually ends up with him lashing out by hitting something nearby (usually me). Just two reminders that he is getting so BIG!

Five Randoms about Emma

1. Has an obsession with Daylight Savings Time and uses it as a go to excuse (along with my babies are having a rough night, keeping me awake, etc.) when she is laying in bed singing and talking instead of sleeping at night. Of course, the other night, she tried to pull the "I took a really good nap at daycare and I promise I'll take another one tomorrow." Seems she thought that was all the sleep she really needed!

2. Wants to know the meaning of everything and will break down words. For instance, using the word trophy as an example, she says "what does 'troph' mean" followed up by "what does 'y' mean?" I think we might need to start carrying around dictionaries with us.

3. Thinks she has a baby in her belly and when she is full, she'll say that her baby doesn't want any more or if she is hungry, she'll say her baby wants ... fill in the blank. She also talks about her baby kicking and punching her. *This all stems from her early morning chats with Mrs. Linda at school who is expecting a baby girl in May.

4. Is convinced that she can swim all by herself (see previous post). With her determination, I would say that it won't be long before she can!

5. Sometimes finds it hard being the big sister and being restricted from certain activities because Josh is too little to try said activity since Josh WILL try it if he witnesses his big sister doing it first.