Observation

A few observations of mine today (at the risk of sounding like the parental version of Jeff Foxworthy):

You know you are officially a parent when your kid is sitting on your lap and makes a puke sound and you instinctively hold out your hands to catch whatever might come out (luckily it was a false alarm).

You know you are officially a parent when you can walk around all day with someone else's boogers all over your shirt and not really care.

I'm sure Brenda could add about a million more of these...

Sick Boy

Joshua is in the middle of his first real illness. After 7 months of having nothing more than a sniffle or cough here and there, he came down with a pretty nasty cold. His fever has been hanging around for the last 2 days, his nose is running like a faucet and when the Motrin starts wearing off we get the saddest looks we have ever seen. The doc checked him out and said it was definitely just a virus and not an infection, so no need for a prescription, just keep giving him Motrin, booby juice, and water. I'm sure he'll be fine by Monday morning, and it is definitely amazing that we haven't run into a cold until now!

Jungle Book

It's probably just the little goofball trying out new things, but we may have a Mowgli on our hands (watch the Jungle Book if you have no idea what I am talking about). On Monday afternoon, Joshua was apparently getting in his crawling position, then raising his butt straight off the ground while keeping his feet and hands planted. Funny stuff.

Off To The Races!

At 7 months and 1 week (this past Friday), Joshua finally decided that he wanted to be mobile and started to crawl. He had been taking 1 or 2 crawling steps throughout the previous week but never more than that. But Friday, after coming home from daycare, he finally put it all together and made it across the living room. He's not zooming all over the place, and he hasn't 100% caught on yet to the fact that he can now get wherever he wants to go, but if he sees something across the room that he wants to explore, he knows that he can get there now.

In the back of our minds, we had kind of been wary of him learning how to crawl, just because it opens a whole new world of things to worry about, but honestly, we are both so excited for him that we're not even thinking about that. The only real changes now are baby-proofed cabinets and trying to remember to close the bathroom door.

Copper is the one who should be scared. Joshua has always been fascinated by his puppydog, and has always been tempted by her big floppy ears and constantly wagging tail. Previously, whenever Joshua got close to her, Copper could just move over 6 inches or so and be out of his range. Now that Joshua has unlimited range, she's going to have to learn a new trick (not easy for an old dog... ba-dum-bum). He did snag her tail on Saturday night, which she was none to pleased about.

This past month has just been amazing to watch this kid. He has learned to pull himself up to standing all by himself, he's crawling and has been babbling like crazy the past week or so... including the "m" sound today... "mama" could be the next big thing! It is so awesome to see him develop into this little person, with his own little personality, and even though every baby learns how to do all this stuff, we can't even begin to tell you how proud we feel right now.

Stay tuned, he seems to be doing something new every week!

Sit JBird Sit... Good Boy

Apparently these past few weeks Joshua has decided he is going to do EVERYTHING. Last night while we were eating dinner, Joshua was on his tummy getting kind of ticked and scooting backwards a little bit. Then he got one of his legs underneath him, did a pushup, scooted back some more, and voila! He was sitting up! All by himself, with no help from mommy or daddy. Shortly after that, he got himself on all fours and was moving around his hands, moved them forward a bit, then one leg went forward with it!!! So he kind of crawled, although it was only one step. He's not racing around the house yet, but it can't be far away!

Look What I Can Do

Just a quick update on the boy who is growing up way too fast. We aren't quite to crawling yet, but he has taken a big step forward. A few times over the last couple days, he has been able to get up on all fours. He doesn't spend a ton of time in that position, but he has definitely learned how to get himself in that position, and will be crawling before we know. On one hand, we are sad to see him grow up and are a little wary of what this new mobility will bring (I'm sure Copper won't be too fond of the fact that he'll be able to chase her). However, it is so exciting to see him develop, and even though it is just something as simple as crawling, you feel so proud when he hits those big milestones.

Also, he has suddenly decided that he can pull himself from a sitting to standing position. Don't remember the exact day, but one of us had our hands out in front of him, and he just grabbed on with both hands and yanked himself up! No help from us, just a little counterpressure, but no lifting on our part whatsoever. Of course now anytime we try to do something to him while he is sitting, he tries to pull himself up. It makes putting on a jacket quite an adventure!

Christmas (A Week Late)

J-Birds 1st Christmas was a busy but memorable one. We started out the holiday weekend with a trip to great-grandma's. Later on, Joshua had his first church ministry experience when he helped Mommy and Daddy welcome people to the 3:30 Christmas Eve service. That was followed up by attending the 5 PM service with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Maple, and Auntie Andrea. We couldn't have asked for a better behaved child. He sat quietly in his stroller while we greeted, fell asleep as soon as the 5 PM service started, woke up with about 5-10 minutes left and played quietly on Mommy's lap. After church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Maple's to open presents and have dinner. Joshua did a fantastic job opening his presents, and was happy to see all of his other relatives as well. Once we got home, Joshua opened his first ornament from Mommy and Daddy. We have a tradition that we buy each other one ornament every year, and it has to somehow relate to something that happened during the past year. It makes decorating the tree much more fun.

Joshua slept great that night, and we opened our presents when we woke up on Christmas morning. Santa brought Joshua's favorite present, a LeapFrog Learning Table that keeps him entertained for extended periods of time (it's our favorite toy too!). After opening all of our presents, we drove out to Grandma and Grandpa B's house for breakfast and presents and a fun time with the Grandparents, Aunt Kerri, Uncle Paul, Great Grandma Eleanor, Auntie April, and Uncle Dan. Joshua got a ton of presents, including what seems like half of the VeggieTales DVD library. All the gift unwrapping must have worn him out, because he took a hardcore nap afterwards.

Christmas Day ended with a visit from Grandma and Granddad Duncan, Auntie Lori, Uncle Dom, and Cousin Jacob. We had a great Christmas dinner (free Honeybaked Ham is the best kind!), and opened a bunch more great presents. Afterwards, we all piled in our cars and went to see Christmas lights in 2 different neighborhoods (another Christmas tradition). One of the houses even has a walk-through version of Bethlehem in their backyard!

It was great first Christmas, and Joshua was so amazing throughout the whole thing. He didn't get too fussy, despite all of the travelling around, did a great job unwrapping his gifts, and got to see all of his family. Hope everyone else had as merry a Christmas as we did!