Joseph in Lake Zurich

Joseph had a great time at the beach in Lake Zurich, IL on Sunday. He walked in the sand, and into the water (key word in this sentence being walked). I'd say he crawls just as much as he walks, but each week he gets a little better at it so I figure by the end of the summer he'll be a pro. He also knows where his head, ears, nose, and belly button are, and we're working on shoulders, knees and toes. And he definitely knows who mom, dad, rosco, and grover are (he sleeps with grover most nights). This week he's been waking up a little earlier, just before 6, and he's figured out how to switch songs and pump up the volume on his crib aquarium, which means we now awake to all kinds of fun musical tunes each morning. He seems amazingly tall, and has a full mouth of teeth (and judging by his behavior tonight...he's getting more. We had to bust out the tylenol for the first time in months). His eyes are definitely not blue.....but also not brown. They appear a grayish hazel, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed they stay that way. Though how do you classify that on a drivers license?

p.s. the picture of Joseph on the ground reminds me of George Costanza on the velvet couch

Motivated by a Stranger

That's how the subject would read if we were writing an article on our activity last night. Every tuesday we head down to the park in the neighborhood for volleyball, and last night before the games started up we were just sitting around with our neighbors when Joseph started playing with one of the volleyballs. At first he was just doing his regular ball thing, throwing it and making fun noises, but then he started to walk with it. A few steps here, a few steps there. I think he was doing 5 or so with our neighbors but then a complete stranger (not as in kidnapper strange, but from a different block strange) sat down nearby and started playing with him. And would you believe that the little man took like 9 steps towards her? I'm hoping the volleyball was the motivating factor in this story and not the stranger, else we might have to actually start meeting new people to get him to learn how to walk. In the meantime, I've strategically placed a volleyball in the center of the basement amongst his other toys.

And yes, I do realize the picture has nothing to do with the story.

First Real Haircut!

Joseph got his first real haircut yesterday, and didn't even flinch! He enjoyed looking at all the cool stuff they had on the ceiling and the walls. It's not cut exactly as I described, but oh well. I suppose he's a little too young for gel and mousse anyway. And while we're on the subject of firsts....Joseph also had his first doctor's appointment with no ear infection, and his first glass of spoiled milk. (which Jay realized at lunchtime before giving Joseph his cup, after he had already had a glassful with breakfast). Yummmmm.

Joseph at the Beach

We took these pictures the weekend before we left on vacation, at a beach along Lake Michigan about 20 minutes from our house. The water was too cold to play in (which really ticked off Joseph) but once we got him to focus on sticks and sand he had quite a nice time. I think he may have gotten a little taller since then, and he definitely has more teeth! His balance is also getting better, he took three short steps all by himself yesterday! Though his preference is to walk with you while holding hands.

Happy 4th of July!

No picture this time because I forgot to update the blog before heading out of town for the holiday....so stay tuned for that in a few weeks! Joseph actually enjoyed swimming today with Jay (in a pool that he cannot touch the bottom in), but when he got dunked the smile faded a bit. He's standing for more than a few seconds now and likes walking around holding your hands, but no more than a step or two on his own. And he's quite the talker! (just not in words that make much sense) We're all on vacation over the next week....Rosco at his farmhouse back in Milwaukee, Joseph in Minnesota, and Jay and I are heading to Hayward (northwestern WI) on Sunday. A good time expected to be had by all! So be patient waiting for the next blog update (rather hypocritical of me to ask such a thing, as it is not a virtue that I posses!). And have a happy 4th!!!!

First Steps?

Does this qualify as Joseph's first steps?

Playing

Peek-A-Boo

In the Water

Bouncing

Zerberts

Turn My Back For A Minute

And this is what I find....little man in the bathroom playing with the toilet paper!

Joseph Making a Mess at Daycare

And loving every minute of it I'm sure! He doesn't get to do fun pudding projects at home (as clearly it would make quite a mess!) Joseph is actually still awake right now....watching me type on the computer as he cuddles with a pooh bear, fish, and monkey across the room. He's starting to stand on his own without grabbing onto something or any support. It may only last a few seconds each time he tries, but he's working on it! We clap and say "good job" for encouragement, to which he responds with screams of glee. (I really don't know how else to describe the noises he makes). And sometimes you'll even catch him repeating you now....words like "whoa" and "ding dong". You of course have to have an ear for it....but it's pretty amazing (and amusing).

Welcome To Our OOL

Notice how there's no P in it. (That's what I remember from working at the Aqua Center in high school.) Joseph had a blast playing in the kiddie pool outside in our yard yesterday morning. We thought he would be leery of it because the water was so cold, but when Jay placed him down on the grass after a few splashes with his hands to test it out he crawled right in! After his nap and lunch, we then went to the Highland Games for some cool drinks and Scottish festivities. Our neighbors band came in first place in the bagpipe marching contest! All this fun was had before the super cell moved into the area. On the way home the sirens started going off, so we spent the early evening in the basement watching the radar on TV and playing with stuffed animals. We didn't have any damage, no shingles missing or water in the basement like many others in the area, just a large shrubs (more like a small tree) out front that took a beating. Today Joseph and I woke up Jay at 7 and made him take us to breakfast. We were starving, and for the first time, entirely out of fresh fruit in the house (and the little man won't stand for that!) So he wolfed down two bananas, some cheerios, and part of my pancake at Ted's. We're pretty sure he's going through some kind of growth spurt. He looks really tall these days, and last night he stood on his own without holding on to anything! And last but not least, after two rounds of antibiotic shots in both thighs, Joseph's ears are finally rid of all bacteria. Provided he makes it through the summer without another infection, we can avoid a myriad of ENT visits and tubes. Now it's off to the grocery store....if I don't have fruit on his plate for lunch there will be hell to pay. (translated: Joseph will kick and scream and not eat anything until something sweet and full of vitamins is placed in front of him. Then and only then will he consider eating any vegetables, meat, or noodles.)

Summertime

Not NKOTB, Not Will Smith, but now presenting Joseph Dominic Conway enjoying the summer! Joseph now reaches for you to pick him up when he's upset, he points to his nose if you ask him where his nose is (sometimes he misses and hits the eye instead), he wiggles his body and shakes his hands in the air if you ask him to "shake it", and he loves to play with sticks, grass, dandelions, and anything else he can get his little hands on outside. We captured all of these moments in the slide show so you could see what we mean!

The Constant Ear Infection

Joseph likes to look at himself in pictures, and this is his fascination with himself captured on film the other night after a bath. Cute cheeks huh? But that is not the subject of this blog entry. The subject are his ears. It seems that he hasn't had several double ear infections, but rather one continuous double ear infection that started in March and is still with us today. We visited the doctor on Tuesday and he is now trying the third and final family of antibiotics to see if that will rid his ears of the bacteria. If not, then we try antibiotic shots. And if that doesn't work then we visit the Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor to find out if tubes are our only option. It actually sounds much worse than it is, Joseph is still mostly happy and it doesn't seem to bother him too much. And while we were waiting for the doctor I decided to find out his current weight (I couldn't resist the temptation) and he is a lean, mean 25lbs and 7.5oz. Recently he's decided that he's a vegan. He refuses all chicken and meat, and can't stand eggs even if they are disguised with cheese. In fact he's even been turning down waffles, pancakes, and toast. If it were up to him, he would live off a diet consisting of strawberries, pineapple, bananas, and snacks. Though he will still eat broccoli, peas, carrots, and beans. So no complaints from me yet. His eyes are still a unique shade of blue/gray (more gray than blue) with a thin ring of light brown around his pupil. His favorite word is "ball" and he is starting to learn "book" and "light", but only the first parts of those new words. He understands what you are saying more than you realize, and is his own way has started demanding to be read to. Still going to bed by 7 though....no change on that front! Though it is nice some evenings, especially when Jay wants to watch his Pittsburgh penguins and I am craving a dose of prime time television (can't wait for LOST!)

Sunny Days

We don't watch Sesame Street yet, but we do enjoy the sunny days outside! Though today Joseph seemed to get a bit over heated after an hour outside so we're spending the afternoon in the basement where it's nice and cool. I refuse to turn the A/C on since we'll be going from 80 back to 50 tomorrow. Since when did spring cease to exist?

Our First Slideshow

A friend of ours showed us how to do a slide show on the blog...pretty cool huh? Thought it worked well for the multiple tissue shots. When I updated the blog last week I had Joseph upstairs with me and he grabbed the box of Kleenex and went to town. While I am not correcting this sort of behavior, I did change my mind on the subject of throwing food. When we went out to dinner on Mother's Day I realized the error of my ways as Joseph sent his sippy cup sailing into the table next to us and laughed and giggled as he threw his penne on the floor. And so we now tell him "NO" when he throws things at meal time. This of course did not go over well with Joseph. For the first few days every meal was filled with tears and screaming, but now it's starting to get better. He knows that it is wrong to throw food but he tests his limits. He stares right at you with his hand held out to the side of this highchair with a piece of pancake or his sippy cup ready to drop....and then makes a deliberate decision to either do what is right and put the object back on his plate.....or do what is wrong and throw it to the floor. He is officially a toddler.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today has been filled with ups and downs for Joseph.....he crawls up the stairs, then he tries to crawl down....he has fun playing, then he throws a fit. It seemed his teeth were bothering him so Jay felt around in there and it seems one of his top canines is coming in. (I work for a dental benefits management company....I had to label teeth as part of my new employee training). It's been a big week for Joseph actually, he moved up to the first toddler room at daycare. They sit in little chairs at little tables to eat lunch and they only take one nap a day! I actually got to see him eating lunch the other day because we had a doctor appt (another double ear infection) and I wish I had the camera with me because it was quite cute....Joseph in his yellow smock sitting like a big kid and eating from a plate, chatting with his two friends beside him. In addition to some good habits he's also developing some bad ones....like throwing food and smacking people in the face (just Jay and I so far....he seems to think it's funny but when you say "no" or make a sour face at him he explodes). The throwing food I don't care so much about since Rosco is usually within 12 inches of Joseph at any given meal. All and all the week was actually great....Joseph was pretty happy after he started antibiotics for his ears and spent most evenings playing outside and chatting away. As for today I'm hoping the tylenol and orajel will do the trick and we can head out to dinner at my favorite Italian place. Shouldn't be crowded since when we eat with Joseph we eat at 5. (Prior to having kids I thought that only senior citizens went out that early!)

Look Who's Walking

Joseph started walking with his toys this week, and as you can see, he's quite pleased with himself. Given his latest development he will be moving into the next room at daycare in a week, where the kids walk on their own, eat while sitting in a chair, and make the dreaded switch to one nap a day. (I don't think I'm ready for one nap a day, but that's part parental concern and part selfishness, the morning and afternoon breaks are kind of nice!) Last night we went to our first Brewers game of the season, and amazingly we stayed until the 7th inning without any fussing or crying (though he was visibly tired). He was still in bed by 8:30....but compared to normal that is a very late night for our little man. Not sure yet if we'll be paying for that today....he was a little fussier than normal this morning but calmed down by watching 20 min of Finding Nemo (just when I was getting into the movie he started crawling around again and pushed the power button on the DVD player and ended our cinematic experience). So today we're just hanging out at home, waiting for the supposed snow sprinkles to start. (a few words come to mind: insane, unbelievable, you've got to be kidding me....) Hopefully we'll be outside playing again by mid-week!

Snackin and a Rockin

Playing With Water

Which is much safer than playing with fire. The picture with Jay is an attempt after breakfast to get all of the bananas out of Joseph's hair. The funk that remained served as the "glue" to spike his hair. The picture with me was taken at Bubbie Sarah's swimming pool yesterday afternoon. I taught swim lessons when I was y0unger, and I thought the mechanism to shut your mouth underwater was instinctive, but apparently I was wrong. Two attempts and several mouthfuls later, Joseph was still gulping the chlorinated water. We'll try the repetitive counting method next time. Despite the dunking, he still seemed to enjoy chasing balls around the pool and watching his Aunt Gina blow bubbles. He's taking his morning nap right now, and then we'll head outside to play with Rosco and peruse the yard. He hasn't started eating sticks or leaves yet, so it's nice to just be able to set him down and let him roam. (Which is only possible due to constant poo removal and monitoring of Rosco's back end activity) I shudder to think of what could happen....

Joseph the Alien

Still lovin bath time...and movin up a size in towels! One change though, is that it seems Joseph has accepted that bath time does come to an end, and he no longer screams like crazy when you take him out and try to get his diaper on. A sign of maturity? Probably not....I'm betting he doesn't get as cold now that it's a little warmer. Or it's a fluke, as most things are. The other night while bathing Joseph tried to grab the bar of soap....and when I responded with "ah ahhhhh" he put on his frown, huffed and puffed a few times, and then burst into tears. Tears in the bathtub? (Not buying that shampoo anymore, talk about misleading your customers!) But last night when he tried the same thing and I responded with "ah ahhhh" and threw a bunch of other toys in his direction, and this time Joseph responded with only a momentary pause in the splashing instead of a fit. Maturity? Doubt it...but I will chalk it up to mastering the art of distraction and flagrantly abusing the methods of substitution!

And might I add....I had no idea until I did the spell check that "bath time" isn't one word! We're going to have to leave spelling and geography as subjects in the dad department. I'll stick to math and reading!

One Year Stats

Height: 32 1/4 inches (97%)

Weight: 24lbs 7oz (75%)

Head: 46 1/2 cm (50%)

Joseph's 1st Birthday!

Future Mailman in Training

It's the little things that Joseph enjoys most....pots and pans, the dog bowl, running water, and mail (as we discovered last weekend). It's warmed back up to the 50s again so Joseph had fun playing outside today at daycare, and he's made it through the week so far without a bottle. He's even learned to tilt his head back by himself to get the milk out of the sippy cup when he gets towards the bottom. Another week and I think I can officially pack up all the bottles!

Bathtime is still Funtime

As soon as he hears the water running, Joseph does his fast crawl to the bathroom and leans over the tub. (the other night he actually tried to catapult himself into the tub but I snatched him up as he was getting ready to dive head first into the water.) He also climbed up the stairway from the basement to the landing by the side door by himself last night (yes, I was right there in case he slipped), and he's drinking vitamin D milk, AND his third tooth on the bottom is now visible (plus the other four he has on top). Joseph's not such a little man anymore!

Happy Easter

Me and My Dog

Joseph is playing more with Rosco these days, and was ecstatic this morning to see that there were new furry friends to greet him....not sure who he likes more....the big white german shepherd or the little walking rag doll. (we made it to Winona before the big snow storm hit)

Awwwlllllll Better

Joseph is back to his normal happy, sleep-thru-the-night self (gotta love drugs....the cure for the common ailments). He stayed awake until almost 7pm tonight, crawling around and banging away on the piano. He's even been uttering what sound like real words, the most impressive of which is his exclamation of "Awwwlllllll Doooonnnnn" after he appears to be finished eatting and we prompt him and ask several times "All Done?". We sound a bit overly eager repeating the same phrase over and over, but we love hearing his almost perfectly intelligible response.

Double What?

Ok....I've learned my lesson. I thought I'd adjusted to mommyhood, come to terms with not needing to go to the doctor for every cold, and become quite the expert on caring for a baby. And today the universe put me back in my place.

Double Flippin Ear Infection!

Good thing the nurse persuaded me to take Joseph to the doctor when I called to ask about the snot oozing out of his eyes.

Home Sick

This picture was taken before the virus invaded our home on Monday. The smiles have mostly vanished though they are starting to appear again in small pockets today in between doses of grape flavored tylenol. It's the first cold that has actually put Joseph into a horrible mood and caused his temperature to go above 100. Seems to be a popular bug as it was going around the office and the neighborhood before it hit us....Jay has been in the clear so far but minus the temperature I have the same congestion that the not so little man does. So he and I have stayed at home the past two days, spent some time watching baby einstein videos (had to bust out the big guns), and Jay has been getting up with him at night. We have high hopes of going back to daycare tommorrow. ;)

Gettin In To Things

Joseph discovered his thumb this weekend, only when we tried to take a picture of it he stopped sucking and started smiling. I guess I've trained him right! He's spending more time in the kitchen with us, and now that we pick Rosco's water bowl up off the floor, Joseph's new favorite cooking activity is to bang on pots and pans with wooden spoons. It may sound annoying but we are actually the ones who have taught him this trick. We prefer loud clangy noises as opposed to high pitched screaming or a baby soaking wet with dog drooled water. Downstairs he's started admiring both the dog cage and the dvds, and is trying to figure out how to crawl up the stairway. In one of his attempts to escape last night we thought we saw him stand for a few seconds while pushing himself up on the bottom stair and today he actually stood himself up when Jay and Rosco came back inside from a walk! Jay's been practicing with him off and on ever since. We're so proud....and.....SCARED.

All Smiles