Putting on my RUNNING shoes!

I tell ya, I've heard people talk about putting on their running shoes and running after their very active child, but it's another thing to actually experience it myself! Oh, and my husband.....he's REALLY experiencing it since he's staying at home with Joshua (biggest job) and working outside the home part time. He's constantly after him. Since Joshua has mastered and is an expert crawler, has achieved top status with steps, and is trying to nail down walking, we have really been on our toes. He crawls at lightning speed thru the dining room, up the step to the kitchen, heads toward the trash can (of COURSE), turns back around and decides to see what's in the cabinet. He looks inside, but is more intrigued with the sound the door makes when he closes it. Open, close, open, close, open, slam! On and on! Then crawl on thru the kitchen and when he gets to the step, wiggles on his tummy down to the main floor. Then he drag races up to the utility room, in front of the washer, then in front of the dryer, where I've chased him and swung him up in my arms and tells him we have to re-route!

Now, I do have to say he's good at the word "no." We say "no" and he stops and looks at us and goes to do something else. Thank the Good Lord he does understand that!

What's funny tho is I was here at work the other day and on the phone with my husband. He was telling me something and all of a sudden "click!" Well, he called me back and I was laughing because I knew what'd happened. Then he's trying to finish telling me what he started telling me before and then there's another "click". Our son was investigating the phone and decided to take his sweet little finger and push that one little button. There's something about when you get on the phone how a little person just decides he's going to have a hayday! It's wonderful tho! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

bbrrumm bbrrumm

Joshua has been making this sound quite a bit in the last few days. I was thinking at first he was just making the "bbrrumm bbrrumm" sound like a truck or car. You know, vrrrrrrroooooom! But the more I studied him, he made the sound then looked at his balloons! We have a couple of his birthday balloons still up out of reach on a table in the living room. We also have a Valentine's Day balloon up in our bedroom. Either one he sees, he says bbrrumm bbrrumm!

The only other time I wondered about his new found sound was yesterday when he was eating one of his meals. I had finished giving him his bottle (yes, he drinks from it still. He hasn't shown interest yet in doing it himself or using a sippy.) When I lowered the bottle, he leaned waaay over his tray of his highchair, pooted, sat back down, looked at me and said bbrrumm!! I HAD to laugh!

"Ooof" says the horse!

My 12 mo old son has learned that our dog makes a strange sound so he copies her. "Ooof." So when he sees Missy (dog), he says "ooof." Well.......my husband told me this morning a cute story about when he took Joshua down to see Gram and Pop the other day (while I was at work). He has a little rocky horse down there. They said "you wanna see rocky horse?" He looks at the horse and goes "Ooof!"

Redecorating our floor....again!

I was in the living room when I happened to look up just in time to see my sweet little boy inspecting a Dr. Pepper can. He had rolled over to the table (in his walker) and noticed that the can needed to be thoroughly checked out. So he checks it out right side up, upside down, sideways, etc. And you know the can WAS half full! Well, you know how gravity works.........No longer does that can have Dr Pepper in it. The floor is nice and spotted......and STICKY. By the time I got over there, the can was definitely completely empty. Hey, I couldn't get on to him because I'm the one who carelessly left it on the table..... I hurried and got it from him and started wiping up the floor. Needless to say, when he spilled the drink, he spilled it right around the walker he was in and he was starting to move around in the walker which means Dr Pepper getting on the wheels and spreading out further! Had to do a quick catch there! Talk about trying to keep us on our toes..........but just make sure your toes have shoes on them when your child is in a walker!

New Tricks Just in Time for Valentine's Day

The way our house is designed, our living room and dining area are one small step lower than the rest of our house. So, to go in our utility room, kitchen, hall, and the rest of the house, you go up a step. Joshua loves to go up and down that one step! Well, his trick is this. Once he gets up that step and then decides he wants to come back down, he does just what his daddy taught him (and remember Joshua is a year old). He wiggles and gets on his stomach. Then he reaches down with his right arm/hand until his hand touches the floor. When he touches it, he wiggles a little more until his left arm/hand touches the floor. He wiggles down the step. That way he controls it and doesn't slip and hurt himself!!

Also, when he goes up the one short step that goes into the hallway, he'll look back at me and sit there. Then when I do like I'm moving toward him (playing with him), he turns around and TAKES OFF down the hall! He sure can move!

The other evening his "papa" was at the house. He left the living room where Joshua was to go to the bathroom. Joshua took off from the living room, went up the step to the hall and went to the bathroom and banged on the door!! Of course, when "papa" came out, up in his arms Joshua went!

Dr. Pepper anyone?!

The other day, my husband and I had planned a "date" night. So I called my parents to see if they could come over and watch Joshua. While my husband and I were discussing (over the phone since I was at work at the time) our "date" night to get the where, when, etc established, all of a sudden I hear my husband say "oh nooooooo." He told me that my son had just walked over to the table (in his walker) and got the Dr. Pepper that was sitting on the edge of the table. He picks it up, and turns it completely upside down!! Went all over him, the walker, the floor, etc! All I could do was laugh!! At least it was on the lenoleum and not the carpet... ya know? My husband had to re-dress Joshua, clean the floor, clean the table, and get himself ready all in just a few short minutes because my parents were about to arrive at any moment at the house to take care of Joshua. Anyway, a little while later, we were able to get to Macaroni Grill for our date. This was the first time that I was not home to give Joshua supper, brush his teeth, and put him to bed. Someone else did and that makes me feel jealous....but that's another upcoming post.

Zooooom!

Wow! Can that baby fly!! Whether he's crawling or in his walker, he can go from 0 - 60 in 2 seconds!! I can put him on the living room floor to crawl, and by the time I go into the kitchen to do something, he's at my kitchen step! He learned the other week how to get that little knee up there and come up into the kitchen with me. He has learned to do the 3-pt turn in his walker! I think all he needs is the backup horn. He looks behind him, backs up, and then goes forward with some major speed and then kicks his legs back to coast!

Diapering and changing clothes is definitely a challenge for this first time mom. Since he's a baby on the move, whether I'm changing a diaper or changing clothes, he hates to be on his back. I have to give him some kind of toy or something that I think would keep his attention. Sometimes I'm in the middle of wiping poop and he flips over, so there it is staring me in the face! It's pretty funny...... Ok, then I hurry and try to get it off and flip him back over before anything else happens.

Speaking of a baby on the move, he's been on about 4 trips to the mountains since he's been here. At first, he hated that car seat. Oh man, he cried. We'd be going along and sometimes he'd fall asleep, but he'd wake up and get upset! Then if I had to go into our supercenter, I was always nervous because he didn't like to sit in his carseat while in the buggy. Our carseat was too big for the front part so he had to ride down inside the cart. Finally we just would get him out and let him look around. That was soooo much better. He just had to see what was going on around him. Anyway, back to the mountain trips. We figured out the way to get him calmed down inside the hotel room was to turn on the hairdryer. I know the people on the hall would wonder why on earth it took us so long to dry our hair. But that wasn't the case.....we were not drying our hair. We were letting him listen to the hairdryer. He'd calm down and go to sleep. We came up with the idea of the hairdryer because at home everytime we were walking Joshua down the hall by the bathroom that had the "poot fan" in it, he'd get quiet. So anytime he was upset, I'd just take him to the bathroom and let him listen to fan. Well, at the hotel in the mountains, that bathroom didn't have a fan. So the hairdryer was a good substitute! Of course we didn't let it run all night; just long enough for him to fall asleep. Now, we've substituted the fan for a CD player! It plays all the time!