Joshua at 12 months and 13 months

This bright-eyed little guy is growing up so fast!

Joshua loves phones.  I don't talk on the phone very much these days since we don't get good reception out here in the boonies, but apparently it's enough for him to learn about phones.  He loves real ones and freaks out when you take one away.  He also uses cups, blocks, and other toys as phones by putting them to his ear and saying "hi."

Josh is a climber.  A couple of weeks ago I heard the distinct sound of glass canning jars banging together, so I looked over where I put them on the kitchen table.  Guess who was up on the table playing with them?  I definitely didn't take time to grab the camera for that disaster waiting to happen.  I surveyed the scene and could not figure out how in the world he got up there.  Since then, I have found him scaling other things, like Caleb's tool bench.

He also has learned to make effective use of stools.

He loves when the big kids leave their toothbrushes within reach and gets very offended when you take them away.

Crawling is still Joshy's main mode of transportation, though he can take 3-4 steps at a time. 

Josh cruising at the Sacramento temple.

Josh loves running around with his walker.  I love his chubby cheeks.

Josh loves playing with Caleb's tools and tool bench.

And he likes peek-a-boo.

We had to stop feeding Josh anything pureed (like applesauce) because he would always squeeze it out through his lips and spit it all over.  He is a good eater of other things though, like raisins, macaroni, grapes, oranges, crackers, cheese, and anything sweet.

We haven't had a 12 month check-up, but at home he weighs 31 pounds.  He is a tank!  I'm excited for him to start walking so I don't have to carry him everywhere!

Josh gets lots of love from his older siblings.  Lots.

Joshua jabbers a lot and makes many great noises.  He signs "more" "hi/bye" and "all done."  We haven't really done any other signs with him.  He says a few things that are somewhat intelligible (though some sound the same):

Mama

Dada

hi

bye

more

no

baby

bath

yum yum

night night

bath

Ziza (Eliza)

?? (Caleb) 

?? (Grammy) 

Buyba (diaper)

Bumpa (grandpa)

and surely some others that I can't think of off the top of my head.