Weekend...over already!

Hi all! Hope your weekend was great. Ours was a great one, although it always seems to pass by too quickly.

We embarked on an adventure this weekend to take away Joshua's night time bottle of milk. I know that it may be odd that at 17 months he was still drinking a bottle, but I swear, whoever made up the rules about babies being totally broken of the bottle at 12 months is nuts. It was too soon to take it away from him at that point. So, now seemed to be the right time for Joshua or at least those were the cues I was getting from him, so we thought we'd see what happened. Honestly, I expected a struggle. But on Friday night after tub time and stories, we came downstairs and I put Joshua's warmed up milk in a sippy cup for him. He sat in my lap, sipped at his milk and then fell asleep like an angel. No fight. Even better news- he slept all night and hasn't had any trouble. So, it appears that we made it. Now, if only potty training would go so easily. Although I consider myself an optimist, I highly doubt it.

Joshua got to spend some extra time with Daddy on Friday afternoon after Daddy passed his next CFP exam (yay Daddy!). I think they both enjoyed that. Friday night was a big fancy pizza dinner which Joshua thoroughly enjoyed. (He calls it "pa" and gobbled up a whole piece without too much coaxing.)

Saturday afternoon, Jason and I went to see Bill Cosby in Williamsport and had a great time laughing. I don't think there's anything better than a good laugh- and we definitely had a few of those. He did a big thing about the stages of marriage, and I don't know whether it's good or bad, but Jason and I seem to be in the same category as Bill and his wife after 40+ years of marriage, at least on some things. I see that as a good thing, but it was a funny comparison. Jason always says that our three years of marriage feel like 30. :o) While we were there, Joshua had a great time playing with Nana and Aunt Libby (still affectionately referred to as Ub or Up...we sometimes manage an "Ib", but that's about all the closer he gets). As soon as he laid eyes on them on Saturday, the giggle party started. I'm really starting to notice his reactions to people lately. Every morning when he sees Judy, he gets a huge smile on his face, and he's reacting to Libby and Mom the same way too. It's awesome to watch from our perspective.

Sunday was a church day and Joshua earned himself a trip to the nursery after an incident where he yelled at his grapes during the scripture readings. He was mad that I wouldn't let him eat his grapes in one bite. Bad Mommy. How dare I keep him from the fun of choking? He was none too thrilled about his stint in the nursery. My guess is that it was scary for him because there weren't any other kids there with him and he doesn't really know the person who was keeping him in the nursery very well. I found him crying his little eyes out at the end of church, and that just about broke my heart. The pictures above are once his red eyes went away and we were home. Gotta love his train conductor overalls, huh? I thought he looked adorable.

That's about it for us this morning. No new pictures from today because Joshua had just awoken and was still in his pajamas when I left for my United Way board meeting at 7:15.

Talk to you soon!

Morning Update- Wednesday

Garbage Truck Obsession! This toy is unbelievable- the front of it goes up and down to crunch down the garbage, and it beeps and talks. It's one of Joshua's definite favorites right now. He came right down the stairs this morning and went right to it!

That smile will get me through the day today- hands down!

Good morning everyone! I thought I'd post a quick update before the rat race gets going in full swing this morning. Joshua and I had a fun morning before work. He's beginning to sleep a little longer in the mornings, which is great because I have a little more time to get ready and have actually been sleeping "in" until 6:00.....GASP! But, we don't have as much play time either, so that's a bit of a downside. But we squeeze as much fun into the two hours before I leave as we possibly can! This morning we played garbage truck and then ran his Elmo sweeper. Odd combo, I know, but that's what he chose. Then we ate some breakfast and drank some milk, after which he started pointing toward the camera on the table and saying "Pap". All I could figure is that he wanted me to take his picture and then show Pap....so that's what I'm doing.

Joshua's hunger strike may be ending. He's been eating horribly over the past week or so with his cold and his teeth coming in...it had this neurotic mommy a little worried. But yesterday was a little better and this morning he wolfed down his cereal and was snacking on some Kix and Puffs when I left for the office. Hopefully he'll fill that little belly up and make up for some lost time.

That's about it from here this morning. Hope you enjoyed the sweet pictures from this morning.

Easter Weekend

Joshua playing with Great Pappy Ray.

Nice hair, buddy!

"Hey Pap...check out what the Easter Bunny brought for me!"

So handsome...turtle pants and all!

I thought you all might enjoy a few quick pictures from our Easter weekend. Everyone has been sick, so we all had a great time while being doped up on cold medicine (or whiskey as Jason, Zig and my dad attempted on Saturday night!). But we all enjoyed time with family and friends. Joshua was a big boy and sat through church on Sunday morning like a champ. He did get the giggles one time and called out for Uncle Butch during his song on the guitar during the service, but other than that, he did great. It helped to have Aunt Libby on hand to keep him entertained!

We're back in the teething business here as well. On top of Joshua's cold, he is also managing to get his two bottom incisors and is really having a hard time with them. I had heard other mommy friends say that their kids had a worse time with these than they did any of their molars, and I'd say that's holding true for Joshua as well. Poor little buddy. But they're almost through, so hopefully the worst is over.

Wishing you all a good week. Talk to you soon!

"Josh"

I know that these photos don't seem earth shattering. But anyone who knows Joshua and has spent any amount of time with him knows that he's very demanding. It's rare for him to be satisfied playing on his own. But last night, for most of the evening, he entertained himself with toys that he hasn't played with in weeks. He'd get one thing out- in this case his sports stuff- play with it and then take it back and put it away. Impressive! I thought the one of him "moving" his stuff from the play room to the living room was cute.

Aunt Libby---- recognize that outfit? The adorable Levi's sweatshirt was headed to the Biz bucket after the majority of Joshua's yogurt from supper ended up on it. This learning how to self-feed business sure does create a lot of laundry!

I have a few cute updates for you about the weekend.

• Joshua officially slept through his first opportunity at an Easter egg hunt. Number one rule of mommyhood has been not to wake a sleeping child. So when he was still snoring away when the hunt kicked off in our development this weekend, we didn't do a thing. My bet is that he would have just stood there and watched in total confusion as the other children made a bee line for the eggs.

• Saturday afternoon (post-nap) we made a quick run to the mall. We ended up stopping at Toys R Us to see Aunt Sheri. This was the first time that Joshua has been into the toy store since he was able to get around on his own two feet. Well- he was like a tornado. He had to TOUCH everything. He had to pull things off the shelf to see them closer. He was just so excited. He saw a lawn mower that he had to have, so it's now in our living room. It'll be much better when he can use it outside with daddy. We also discovered a love affair with blocks, which has been a lot of fun. We're building more towers now than you can imagine. He's doing really well with them, though, and seems to be having fun.

• We got to take our maiden voyage for the spring in Joshua's wagon on Saturday before lunch. We went all over the development. Joshua had his monkey and his sippy cup with him for the ride. He looked like he was in his glory as he waved to everyone we saw. I always love spring in our development. Suddenly everyone comes out of hibernation and you remember that you do, in fact, have neighbors. I can't wait until our nightly walk rituals can start up again.
  
• Joshua's newest favorite passtime is watching a video on our computer of my dad and my Uncle Butch being silly one night that we were home for a visit. My dad's singing a song with the guitar and Butch is singing "backup". All of the girls (Lib, Steph, Stacie and I) are giggling away in the background. Well, Joshua thinks this is wonderful. He's woken up the past two days asking for "Pap...Butch...Pap...Butch". I've learned to keep the video up all day on the computer so Grandma can find it if the mood strikes him.

• And finally- this morning Joshua learned a great trick. He's never really said his name at all, although heaven knows he's heard us say it (sometimes loudly) in his short lifetime. This morning he seemed like he was trying to repeat it when I said his name, so I asked him what his name was. He started pointing to his chest over and over again and said "Josh". Sometimes he said "Gosh"...but mostly he got it right. Then he'd point to me and say "Mom Mom" so I know he got it. It was so cute.

That's about all I have for today. I have a few passages from a funny book to post for you. I've started reading up on toddlers (I know...classic first time mom here...I'm not afraid to admit it and take the appropriate abuse) and I swear this one author is writing about Joshua!

Talk to you all soon!

Bring Your Child to "Ork" Day

Sitting like a big boy in Mommy's chair. I tried to get him to respond to some emails, but he wasn't interested.

Climbing to look at pictures of himself.

Future financial genius- checking out Money.

I know that they have a special day for Bring Your Child to Work Day, but this one wasn't exactly planned. Grandma's car needed a little attention at the dealership this morning, Bonnie had a training session to attend in Selinsgrove and Julie's on vacation this week leaving me the lone ranger in the office today. So, when plans got pushed back a little later than we thought they might, Joshua earned a trip to "ork" (sounds like "erk" when he says it) with mommy. Grandma swung by the office and took him back home after her car was done. He was here about an hour and literally had the place turned upside down in that amount of time. New things to explore I suppose.

Not too much else to report. Our happy, fun loving, good sleeper is back it seems...and thank goodness. No melt downs or blow ups to report from recent days. The picture below is from yesterday morning before work. Thought you might enjoy it.

Talk to you all soon!

Go Go Gadget Arms!

So, what a difference a day makes. Things are starting to look up at the Dugan house. It appears we might not have to sell Joshua after all. Thank goodness. I've gotten attached to the little bugger.

You can see from the first two pictures above that Joshua is growing like a champ. But his arms have taken on Inspector Gadget skills---- he can stretch to reach just about anything. Doorknobs are only about a half inch away from being able to be turned and opened. Oh brother. The desk, the mouse and anything of value that we thought could be kept out of reach on the computer desk are no longer safe. Kitchen counters are getting to be fun. If a pan or a mixing bowl isn't pushed WAAAAAAAY back on the counter, Joshua can have it on the floor in no time. All drawers are able to be opened and emptied. If only I could have kept him about an inch shorter- but since I can't, let the fun begin.

The last two pictures were a little game of Hide and Seek we were playing this morning before work. Joshua was hiding behind chairs and then poking his head up or running around the corner of the couch to yell "Boo!" when I was looking for him. He seems to be back in good spirits again. The only thing that's still off is his sleeping. He doesn't seem to be able to fall asleep in the evenings. He'll lay in my lap and scrooch around all over the place until he finally falls asleep. I think that our falling asleep in Mommy's lap time is just about over....he's just too big to get comfortable with me. So that'll be a fun transition, I'm sure... :o)

Wishing you all a good day today. I'll post again soon.

Child for sale...

For Sale: One 16 month old little boy, very handsome, with a toddler attitude problem.

Any takers?

Just kidding.......sort of.

I apologize that I don't have any new pictures of our little man to post today. But let's face it. Who wants to take a picture of a red faced, crying, temper tantrum throwing boy? And that's basically what we've been dealing with for the past few days. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I share this with you. I certainly hope that you don't think less of us as parents for wanting to run away from home over the past few days. Most parents of toddlers I've spoken to say that they've been there, and some (God bless them) suggest that this will eventually get better.

I have no theory on Joshua's problem over the past few days. Perhaps it's teeth. When all else fails, blame teething, right? Perhaps it's the aftermath of our trip to Hershey last weekend and Joshua hasn't fully recovered. I hope he's not getting sick, but I suppose that could be it. Whatever it was, it turned our wonderful, fun, giggle box of a little boy into a maniac this weekend. Every little thing turned into a dramatic fit. If I'd walk from the room (literally, no exaggeration here), he'd flip and turn on the waterworks. If we'd say "no" to him, he'd throw his fists and then hit us, or worse, bite my leg (his new favorite anger technique). He was getting into things at the house that he hasn't touched for 6 months. Taking things off of the tables and unplugging things that he clearly knows are off limits. And while it doesn't sound like a big deal, and I guess it really isn't, it gets a little tiring and tries your patience after the 87th time you pull him away from the same thing. He went to sleep (under protest) crying and woke up crying. It was a fabulous weekend.

And while I'm venting, let's talk about the Daylight Savings Time issue. One would think that when you turn the clocks forward, Joshua would have awoken on Sunday morning around 6:00 or 7:00. I was dreaming and thought I might get lucky and see 8:00 because of the grouch he was on Saturday. Reality hit when at 5:00 am....yes, that's right (really 4:00 am)...he awoke. Evidently he thought you were supposed to Spring BACK instead of forward. I wanted to cry. Let's just say that with his crying and emotional breakdown at the idea of me walking away for a second or two, I never managed to get a shower for the day until about 2:30 when he finally went to sleep. I told Jason at about 1:30 when we were struggling to get a very sleepy, cranky little boy to go to nap that if he didn't go down soon I was packing my bags and running away from home. That seemed to be the best option.

So, welcome to our world. Please don't think less of me for having written down what many feel, I'm sure. I just want to have this recorded for sometime when my grandchildren do this to their daddy. And then I can say that paybacks are tough.

He was already a completely different child this morning when I left for my meeting. He gave me a big hug and a very wet kiss and said "bub" which I believe is short for "bye bye". And suddenly it all disappeared...or at least faded into a funny story to write about.

Pictures tomorrow I hope.

Here are a few cute pictures from this morning when Joshua and I were coloring. I thought you'd all enjoy the determined look on his face while he studied the crayons. He colored some great pictures this morning and then spent about 10 minutes trying to get the two pieces of paper to stay on the top of the desk where he put them. I got a great chuckle out of watching him problem solve as each of the pages fell to the floor AGAIN!

Not too many big plans for the weekend. And after last weekend's excitement with convention, I'm looking very forward to the mundane chores of laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping. Lots of play time will be squeezed in there as well, I'm sure.

I have to share that yesterday morning, Joshua melted our hearts. I was walking out the door to go to "ork" as he calls it, and asked him to say "bye". He gave a big smile, blew a kiss and said "buh bye". It was cute enough to last me the whole day.

We'll see what new tricks the weekend holds in store. Hope it's a great one for all of you!

New Tricks...

I thought you might enjoy these pictures from this morning, as well as a quick update about a few new tricks.

The first picture is what Joshua does when you ask him how much he loves someone. When I took this picture this morning, I asked him "Joshua, how much do you love your daddy?" He puts his hands up in the air like he says "THIS MUCH, MOM!" I think that this comes from his "Guess How Much I Love You" book, but that's just a guess.

We are also onto some new things with talking. There's a story in his big Golden Book treasury about a little girl who pretends to be all kinds of animals. It's really cute and rhymes. Here's an example. "A bird can fly. So can I. A cow can moo. I can too." Well, there are about 20 different animals in this little rhyming story including some obscure ones (like moles and bugs and crabs), not things that we usually talk about or see in stories. Anyway, we were reading this on Sunday and I started leaving off the last word in the story. Joshua has now taken to filling in the blanks with the right word about 90% of the time. I nearly fell off of the couch. I was getting so excited that he could do it that I yelled for Jason to come and see it for himself. Then Joshua just looked at us like "I'm just reading with my mama, what's the big deal you guys?" But he's definitely got the concept of rhyming and is putting the right words into the story to match the pictures. When I told this to Libby she assured me that her perception that Joshua was smarter than we think must definitely be true. Very fun stuff indeed.

That's it for today...who knows what he'll come up with tonight. Stay tuned! Have I mentioned how much fun this stage is? If I could have all 16 month olds (as long as they sleep), I'd take them!

Have a great day everyone!

Joshua Charms the Masses...

What a whirlwind of a weekend it was! Sorry for the delay in new posts, but we've been dealing with the annual Key Club District Convention this past week/weekend in Hershey. We had a great time, although I feel like I did more chasing of Joshua than I did work for Key Club. Jason assures me that he did enough for the both of us, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.

We left for Hershey on Thursday afternoon during Joshua's naptime after packing our UHaul...just kidding...but we could have probably filled one! But it definitely looked like we were going for a whole lot longer than 4 days. I believe we had 6 large bags for three people (one of which only weighs 22 pounds!) We got unpacked and settled, and then got to work with the Key Clubbers and adults there. Joshua ordered off of the kids menu at a restaurant for the first time which I found amusing. He had some buttered noodles and a grilled cheese sandwich and some applesauce. He was mostly too curious to eat and just picked at a little of what everyone was eating.

Friday started the official madness. There were buses and kids and advisors and suitcases spread from one end of the Lodge and Convention Center to the other. But Joshua enjoyed walking all over the property meeting friends and "introducing himself" to all the groups of kids. It was wonderful to see old friends again, many of whom have been watching Jason and I come through the Key Club organization since our high school days. At one point on Friday, there was a giant Hershey Bar character in the lobby of the hotel to cheer up the crews who were not so patiently waiting for their hotel rooms to be ready. I had a feeling that Joshua was going to be scared of the character, but boy was I wrong. He LOVED him! He kept wanting me to pick him up so that he could touch him and give him "five". After he'd had a chance to properly meet and greet this big chocolate friend, the chocolate bar walked away. Well---- Joshua evidently wasn't done with him, so he ran through the crowds chasing him all around the hotel lobby. It was adorable. And of course I didn't have my camera or video camera handy to catch any of it.

I think we walked 100 miles on Saturday. Joshua took his little pull along puppy along with us to Hershey and he pulled that dog all over the convention center and hotel on Saturday. He also greeted every single member of the hotel housekeeping staff to try out their mmm...ps. He was so tired from all of the activity that he literally fell asleep in his ham sandwich on Saturday during lunch- with blaring music and 1000 people in the large dining room. I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. Nana stayed with him while I did some convention work, and then we kept walking during the afternoon until dinner time. Don't tell anyone, but Nana and I made a great escape during Saturday morning to check out the Carters outlet in Hershey and found some great stuff for the little guy, including an Easter outfit that I can't wait for him to wear. Thanks Nana!

Saturday night was a real treat. Joshua wasn't faring well through the General Session and was getting a bit restless. I had to be in the session room for the introduction of the Kiwanis Committee, but figured that I had time to go upstairs with my mom, give Joshua a bath and get him into his PJ's and still make it downstairs in time for the intros at the end of the session. Dad had my cell number just in case things got moving along. But in 13 years of attending these conventions, I've never seen on take off like Saturday's did. So no sooner did we have him out of the tub and into his jammies and my cell phone rang. Dad said, "Uh- you better get down here." Joshua was reading a book and drinking his milk and wanted no part of me running out of the room. So, to save a screaming match (and with no time to try to console him), he had to come along to a formal session in his dinosaur PJ's. I figured that he could sit in the back of the room with my parents while I went on stage, but that didn't work either. So there we went- me in my fancy clothes, Joshua in his pajamas (with bear and his bink), in front of about 700 people. He didn't seem to mind the attention at all. Not quite how I planned that to go, but that's motherhood----- we just roll with it the best we can.

Another notable highlight from the weekend was that Joshua had his first taste of chocolate courtesy of Pat Black. She thought he might like a peppermint pattie, so she gave him a cup full and he proceeded to bite off a whole half of one WITH THE FOIL STILL ON IT! This started a mission for Pat to introduce all kinds of things that would make me have a stroke. Not a fun game for mommy.

We got home yesterday afternoon around 2 and got unpacked slowly. Joshua's schedule is completely out of whack, but he doesn't seem quite as grouchy and tired as Jason and I do. :o) Hopefully his day with Grandma today got him back on track. One thing's for sure- it was awesome to have him there with us. And although tiring, there's nothing that makes me prouder than for other people to comment on how well behaved or how pleasant or how handsome our little man is. He sure did make a lot of friends this weekend.

We hope you're all doing well. More to come soon.