J is for Joseph

He is growing up way too fast!! Here are some things that make us smile about this age with our little guy:

-In the morning while waiting for us to get him once he wakes up he will say, "Mommy/Daddy-where are you?"

-On the way to the Superbowl, Nani worked with him on saying "May I have ______ please?" instead of just "____ please" so now he says it all the time and it is just the cutest thing ever

-A few weeks ago Rich's boss came over for dinner and earlier that day when I was telling Joseph that he was coming we practiced saying, "Hi, It's nice to meet you, I'm Joseph."  This was hours before he came...well sure enough I was in the kitchen and Joseph and Rich answered the door and I hear, "Hi, It's nice to meet you, I'm Joseph."  I about died!!  Sweet boy.

-He loves walking on his tip toes.

-When he jumps he has been calling it "jumpy jumpy" which for some reason bothers me.  I always say to him, "just jump Joseph" and then he will look at me and say "Jumpy jumpy"

 

-We can pretty much understand most of what he says but if we have trouble he is really good about giving us clues.  For example he was saying shovel and I was having a tough time figuring it out so he says to me, "dig, dig".  Yesterday he was saying camel and I wasn't getting it so he says to me, "2 humps" from a song that we sing.  Smart boy!
-He loves and I mean LOVES books!  When Miss Maggie his babysitter recently watched him on her note to us she wrote, "We read a lot of books, but no surprise there since that's his thing!" He can seriously sit through so many books.  One of his favorites right now is Danny and the Dinosaur which is a 67 (yes, 67!) page I can read book.  Ella brought him "Homer" which was a favorite library book of his and he was so excited.  

-The night when Ella was born, when he stayed with the Knellers, they went on a wagon ride and Mr. Erik told them that they had to buckle up because "Safety first" so Joseph says that ALL the time now.  Last week after I finished a run with Carrie we were at Starbucks and Joseph got in the stroller just to go to the car so I didn't buckle him and he looks at me and says, "Safety first Mama!"  Stinker!

-Within the past month he has become scared of the dark.  One night after Rich put him down he started crying really hard so we went up and he just kept saying "scared, scared" so he now sleeps with a night light and most nights asks for the closet light on with the closet door closed.  For nap though he wants the night light off and he will remind you to turn it off if it is still on.

-When Nani was here they were all about Frosty the Snowman and whenever he was cold he would say, "Frosty the Snowman, brrr".  Rich told me I had to put an end to this because down the road he didn't want his 18 year old having a bite of ice cream saying, "Frosty the snowman brrr!"  Daddy, lighten up :)

-Often if we tell him it is time for bed or nap he'll say, "Almost, not yet, a few more minutes."  

-Everything is related to a football player..."football players do this" "football players like bananas" "football players wear this" "football players eat this" and so on!
-When he isn't talking about football players, he is probably talking about big boys.  He wants to be a big boy so bad.  Normally in the afternoon there are a bunch of big boys at our park playing football and he loves it but he wants to play with them SO bad.  He'll stand at the side with his football watching them until Rich and I persuade him to play with us (we're cool, too) and then he'll play football with us while always keeping an eye on them.  One time his football went close to one of the big boys and the boy took the time to toss it back to Joseph.  I had tears in my eyes (I am seeing a trend-lots of tears in my eyes these days-hormones!) Joseph was just so proud and talked about it for the next few days.  Here he is with his football ready to play with the big boys in the background-soon enough buddy you'll be one of those big boys which makes Mama sad.

-Last week for the first time he picked a flower by himself and came and gave it to me!  I had tears in my eyes!  And since then he does it almost every time we are outside.  

-Going on the potty is the cool thing to do again-he is back to wearing big boy boxers or big boy underwear at home and havent' had an accident since.  Wearing goggles and your backpack make it especially cool!

-He still has quite the fashion sense!  He prefers wearing pajamas (and changing them frequently) or his football jersey (which we now have 2 of!) if we are home, or going naked except for his big boy underwear or boxers.  And a few weeks ago when we went to Target he insisted on wearing his "football hat" inside.  

                                                                                    He is quite the monkey these days and Daddy encourages this by doing crazy things like this to make Mama worried!

 

 

-He loves saying, "E is for Ella, M is for Mommy, D is for Daddy and J is for Joseph"  

And he continues to be such a great big brother to Ella.  He absolutely adores her and must give her hundreds of kisses a day.  We love you little guy and just love watching you grow!