29 months

Joshua turned 29 months yesterday.

Attitude: oh, it's rough being two.  Sometimes he's so happy and sometimes he's so sad.  He can go back and forth so quickly.  If he's hungry things tend to go poorly.  During those times he wants to be picked up and carried still...it tends to be a bad time to want to be picked up because I'll be making food and it is easier with two hands.  However, there hasn't been too much blatant misbehaving this month; he's only had time-out a few times.  He is often very willing to help out with whatever task needs doing.  When I make a decision for him (i.e., that he should put mittens on), he will often want the opposite.  That's often ok with me, so I agree.  He then changes his mind again to what I had originally said.  That's fine too...but I wish he wouldn't be so dramatic about it.  I agree with what he wants; there's no need to scream.

Likes: Joshua likes so many things!  Bears, music, dancing, gymnastics, Duplos, coloring, robots, reading, putting people to bed, running, treats, and playing with Isaac.  It is not hard to keep him occupied.

Sleeping: sleeping is going better than it was last month, but there are still days.  Getting up once with him isn't uncommon, but isn't daily either.

Food: We're still having trouble with food.  He likes strawberries and crunchy beans and bread products.  Everything else is hit or miss...it's really annoying when he likes something one day but then won't touch it the next.

Potty training: it's still going well, and it could still use improvement.  As expected.  I ran out of the more absorbent underwear one day and gave him Mickey Mouse underwear, which is now his preferred underwear.

Talking: Joshua is communicating better and better each day.  He's pretty good at counting and with minimal help can get to eleven.  I've heard some letters come out of his mouth, but I haven't noticed that he can recognize them.  He sometimes does nice complete sentences, but more often just does the minimum noun/verb combo.

People: Joshua recognizes and names a bunch of people, even out of context: mainly some friends from church, Ethan/Leah, and both sets of grandparents.  He often will ask to see one grandparent or another.  He loves Isaac and often copies whatever he's doing.  (But not so much that he doesn't have plans of his own.)  He will go back and forth between preferring Ben or me.

Time: Joshua likes to know what we're going to do any given day, but I've been trying not to tell him as often because if there is something fun at the end of the day I won't stop hearing about it for the rest of the day.  Furthermore, there are usually tears because the activity isn't happening now.  Yesterday I ordered some plane tickets and he was ready to go on an airplane for the next three hours, and rather nervous that we would go without him.  Isaac and I told him repeatedly that it wasn't for a long time yet.

Praying: when asked what he would like to pray for, Joshua always thanks God for bears, airplanes, and rocket ships.  Sometimes we'll get something else, but those three things come first.