Josh Lately

Here are a few notes about Josh lately:

• Josh is Mr. Independent lately.  He wants to do everything by himself.
• He is also Mr. Opinionated.  No matter which shirt, underwear, pajamas, shoes, or cup I get for him, it's the wrong one.  "I don't like that one!" he exclaims (which until lately sounded like "I don't yike dat one").  His opinion changes hourly it seems.
• For about a month, Josh had some potty power issues.  It was almost like he just stopped thinking about it and would forget that he needed to go.  Thankfully he's back to being a responsible potty man.  He's even dry at night when we remember to take him to the bathroom before we go to bed.  He's the first kid we've had to wake up to go at night.  Eliza just slept though the night with no problems and Caleb has always woken himself up.
• One day when Josh deliberately peed on the ground and was laughing and splashing in his puddle, I got stern with him.  After taking off his wet things and putting him on the potty he looked at me with a hurt look and pleaded, "Be nice mommy." 
• Whenever Josh gets to choose a song for Family Night, he chooses "Lullaby My Little One" without fail.  It is his favorite!
• Josh likes to sing.  I occasionally catch him singing songs that we haven't sung or heard in ages, but somehow surface in his head.
• Josh is good at filling in the blanks when we read books.  I've loved this stage with all of my kids.  When you read books over and over, it makes it much more fun to pause and let the kid fill in the blanks.  Their little minds are pretty amazing!
• Josh has realized the deliciousness that is brown sugar.  I have caught him more than once climbing up on the deep freeze to get to the brown sugar container so he could help himself.  He was in heaven eating brown sugar by the scoopful.
• It's been months since we've had pumpkin pie or pumpkin custard around, but if you ask Josh what he wants for breakfast, that is always his request!

 What he's lacking in pants, he makes up in accessories.   For being two (and a boy), Josh does pretty well with high heels, even mismatched on the wrong feet!

  Josh goes in and out as he pleases these days.  It's not unusual to find him out and about with a lot of bare skin (for February).  You can't tell, but he is at least wearing underwear (which isn't always the case).  Good thing we live in the boonies!

 Lately Josh has become a meticulous artist.  He has a great attention span for drawing tiny circles with pencil.  Using markers is a special treat since it usually results in temporary tattoos.

Unfortunately, Josh is fascinated with scissors lately.  So far he's tested them out on his bed sheets and his pajama pants.

Josh is the only one who takes a (semi-consistent) nap these days.  Since he takes a nap, he doesn't fall asleep as quickly as the other two.  Lately, he waits for Eliza and Caleb to fall asleep, then he joins us in the living room.  In the picture above, he made himself comfortable and enjoyed a good book while I was working on some Etsy orders.  Eventually he fell asleep.