Tuesday: conversation

Isaac wanted to bring washers to school for W show-and-tell.

a little bit later
Amanda: do you remember what you're bringing for show and tell?
Isaac: cleaners!

Monday: 20 months

Joshua turned 20 months today!

Language: After last month's stall, this month Joshua seems to have exploded with language.  He definitely understands almost all of what we tell him.  He can point to many body parts when asked.  He can repeat words right after they're said.  He has words for several animal sounds, along with snack, this, up, Isaac, book, row row (as in row, row, row your boat) and probably a few more that I missed.

Playing: He still plays pretty well by himself.  His favorite activities are dancing/singing, cameras, playing with dishes, and books.  Oh, and plugging in an old keyboard to any hole that fits the USB connector.  It is surprising how many he has found in the basement.  He is enjoying Curious George, but doesn't always get through a whole episode.  He loves to play with Isaac, but it only works if Isaac is in the right mood.

Eating: lunch has gotten much better - there's even been a few times he's eaten all of his food!  Dinner remains a challenge.  He'll eat the bread products and often the fruit.  Anything beyond that is a surprise, although it happens sometimes.

Sleeping: has been a bit of a challenge lately.  However, he will sometimes know when he needs to go to bed at night.  He is waking up two to three times at night, but I can sometimes get away with just telling him to lay down and go back to sleep through the monitor.

Cuteness level: through the roof!  He's not very good at smiling for pictures, but I have seen lots more smiles.  There's been a few times that he's been the welcoming committee at some public place and says "hi" to everyone as they come through the door.  It is so fun to see him dance too.  And he is imitating so much!  It's been fun to see what he picks up on, like the self-timer for the camera.

Attitude: Joshua has been a bit clingy.  He tends to get especially clingy when he's hungry, but that is far from the only time.  I'd say most of the day is pretty good, with several spots that are hard.  He doesn't enjoy getting his diaper changed, but does like the lotion that he sometimes gets when the diaper is changed.

Sunday: He is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

Church this morning was good.  I think they introduced many new songs, which is my only complaint.  It takes at least two or three times with a song before I feel as though I can worship well.  But although I didn't know the songs, there was energy and excitement in the celebration.  And I knew some of the songs later, so that was nice.

I thought the pastor had an excellent sermon.  It was geared toward people who don't have a relationship with Jesus, but was still an excellent reminder of truth for the rest of us.  I don't feel as though he tried to force any belief on anyone then and there, but instead encouraged questions and continued discussion.  (Hopefully it will show up here within a few days if you're interested.)

Saturday: waiting day

Today always feels like a waiting day for me.  We remembered that Jesus died yesterday, and we know that we will celebrate that he rises from the dead tomorrow, but today we're just in a holding pattern.

So we did some egg activities.  We tried dying eggs with cool whip.  They're still in the fridge and we'll see how they turn out tomorrow.

Joshua was not really that excited.  This is about one of two times that he was actually participating and not screaming.

Isaac enjoyed it though!

Then we did an egg hunt.  Joshua figured out very quickly what he was supposed to do and really enjoyed it.

Isaac got right to work finding his eggs.  He ended up finishing about the same time as Joshua, although received significantly less help.

And there was candy inside!  I only put one smartie in each egg, so we did two rounds.

Then Isaac hid the eggs for Ben and me.  His hiding skills have improved significantly in the last month, let alone since last year!!  It took Ben and I about fifteen minutes to find all but two of them, and we needed a lot of help.  There are still two missing, and Isaac can't remember where he put them. :)  Then we had Isaac make an easy hunt for us...and it was much easier.  He definitely understood the difference.

Friday: Good Friday

Tonight we went to the Good Friday service at church.

One of the songs had the line "Come as you are."  Normally I think of adjectives such as sad, happy, etc to describe my state.  But today's adjective was distracted.  I was distracted by a squirmy four-year-old next to me.  I am distracted by the normal ins and outs of life.

But I went to church, to help remember that Jesus loves us so much.  Even when we're almost too distracted to remember it.

Thursday: sleepover and microwave

Last night we have a very short power outage.  Just long enough for us to say, "woah, did the power just go out?" and for all the clocks to reset.  This included the microwave.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but a year or two ago the beep on our microwave stopped working.  At first I found it odd, but then I found that I loved it!  No more trying to stop it from beeping to help people sleep.  No more annoying beeping noises at you; it turns out that the microwave makes plenty of noise and you can quickly learn to listen for the absence of noise.  I probably forget about something in the microwave every month or two, but it can usually just be reheated.

Well, the microwave also started beeping again.  Turns out there is an easy way to turn off the beeping.  I just had to push the settings button and then turn off the sound.  Phew.  I'd recommend taking a look at yours and trying it for a bit. :)

Also, I'm sure you're wondering how the sleepover last night went.  Not so well.  Isaac woke up at 10pm with Joshua, slept through the 4am waking, and woke up (and went to his own bed) at 6am.  He wanted to sleep in Joshua's room again tonight so he enjoyed the change of pace, but I think we need to wait a bit before trying again.  I didn't feel comfortable letting Joshua wimper for a few minutes to see if he would go back to sleep since I didn't want him to wake up Isaac.

Speaking of Joshua and Isaac, at daycare I usually pick up Isaac first and then we get Joshua.  We went in the room and Joshua was so excited!  Isaac went around the corner for some toys.  Joshua started to come over to me and then stopped.  He looked around a bit.  "IIaac?"  "He's around the corner."  Joshua goes around the corner.  "HI!"  It seems like it should make me sad but it really doesn't.  ...we just need to figure out how to get Isaac to enjoy being with Joshua a bit more.  Hopefully that'll come with time.

Wednesday: this and that

I feel as though Joshua is doing so many cute things lately.  (To be fair, he's also doing a lot of non-cute things.  But we won't go there.)

He's rocking.  And asking for more songs...and saying please.


He's setting up the self-timer on his play camera and saying "cheese".

I gave blood today.  It's the first time in quite a while, but it went very well.  There tend to be shortages after the winter holidays and during the summer.  While it is neither of those times, I am hoping to donate more often.

I cut the boys' hair today.  Isaac's only ended up ok; Joshua's turned out pretty good.  The person not getting their hair cut got the squirt bottle.  The floor was soaking wet by the time I was done.  However, Isaac had a grand time squirting the box.  He probably went through 1.5 bottles of water.

Isaac is sleeping in Joshua's bedroom tonight.  We billed it as a sleepover, but really it's an effort to get Joshua to sleep a bit better.  (Someone mentioned that sometimes seeing other people sleeping will trigger you to go back to sleep.  Since Isaac sleeps so soundly, it seems worth a try.  But also fun.)  He was up three times last night, although I only had to get out of bed twice.  I do have another idea as to what could help solve the problem, but don't really want to do it.  At least, not for about another month.