We have a walker!!!

Joshua took his first halting steps this week!!  We were at small group over at Hilary and Steven's, hanging out at the end of the evening and enjoying some really tasty chocolate treats.  Joshua was standing, as he does a lot of the time now, and he saw me holding a box of chocolate-covered almonds.  They were just out of his reach, but close enough to him to be tantalizing -- so instead of plopping on his bottom and crawling over to me, he reeeeached out with his hands, and then took his first few steps!

We then got him to repeat his new trick.  Carrie put a few almonds on a plate, and held the plate out just beyond his reach.  And again, he reached out and tottered forward a few steps, following the plate as she pulled it away.  So exciting!!  Of course, he then got upset that he wasn't allowed to have any of the chocolates -- all that effort, for nothing.  Poor boy, I would have been upset, too!

But since then, he's been testing out his new skills and walking like a champ, even without the lure of forbidden chocolate.  :)  He'll still generally only take two or three steps at a time, but he's doing it really consistently.  Before we know it, he'll be running all around the house...

Just this morning, I had the camera out in hopes of catching his fleeting baby steps on video.  What I got was beyond my wildest dreams -- a really long stretch, several seconds long, of him tottering his way towards me!

(Please excuse my crazy over-excited voice... I've got to learn to modulate that for these videos.  :)  And please also excuse the fact that I cut the top of his head out of the frame for much of the video -- I was much too excited to pay attention to my camera screen!)

Joshua Watch: Ten Months

You know how I've been saying the last few months that I really can't guarantee another good tiger comparison shot, with Joshua placidly lying on his back next to his tiger?  Well, folks, I'm afraid that day has finally come... Joshua is a man on the move, and there's no way he's going to just lie back like a baby for a silly old photo.  Not even if he's distracted by a book, or by the tiger itself...  Here's the very best photo I got of him next to his tiger this month:


I managed to buy myself about three seconds of quiet time by giving him that book.  But it wasn't long enough for me to jump up on the bed (which I have to do these days in order to get him fully in the frame)... Seriously.  He's a man on the move.

Just for kicks, here are some of the other outtakes from this month's attempt at a tiger growth comparison photo...






Sigh.  It's a good thing he's so incredibly cute...  :)  I think for the next kid, we're going to have to start our comparison photos with him or her propped up in a chair -- clearly, lying back is just for babies!

This month has been one of steady incremental development -- no big "firsts," per se, but tons and tons of growth and skill-building!  Joshua is a speed demon at crawling now, and is incredibly agile in doing so -- he loves crawling around and through our dining table and chairs.  It's like he purposely sets interesting and challenging goals for himself, and the smaller the space, the more he loves figuring out a way to crawl under and through it!  He's also getting much faster and more sure of himself in cruising around our furniture.  He loves walking the length of our sectional couch, rotating between holding onto the couch and holding onto the coffee table -- especially if there are coasters or napkins on the table within his reach.  And very little is outside of his reach these days!

Joshua has also grown in playing independently.  He very much prefers being near us -- if I'm at the computer, he loves playing under the computer desk (though we've had some luck in teaching him not to reach for wires or the trash can).  If David's at his laptop on the dining table, Joshua is right under the table, or at the bookcases just next to David's chair.  If either of us is sitting on the couch, he'll plop himself down next to the coffee table and occasionally pull himself up to pat our legs with glee.  But in doing all of this, he's been learning to entertain himself.  Give him a coaster, or better yet, a magazine that he can rip up, and he'll play happily by himself for several minutes at a time.

Which makes the times we're actively engaging with him even sweeter.  :)  He's learned the basics of being chased this month, and he will shriek with glee if I start crawling around after him.  I think he gets a kick out of seeing us behave like he does -- he'll laugh so hard when we crawl with him, or bang coasters like he does, or shake his rattles.  It's so adorable!

He's also saying "mama" more consistently these days, and introducing so many new consonants in his steady stream of babbling.  I think he may have learned the word "bonk," which I usually say when he sits himself down from a cruising/standing escapade.  And lately he's been saying something that sounds like "wow" when he plays with his toys.  It's mostly still just babbling, but it's incredibly cute!

And speaking of cute...  :)  More Joshua photos, from his 10-month "photo shoot"!


Our rosy-cheeked wee lad with a favorite book 

Getting into trouble... On tiptoes to reach the books, and checking to see if I'm watching as he reaches for the outlets and the diaper pail 

The beginnings of a cheesy camera face? 

Ahh, here are some real smiles!
Happy ten-month birthday, sweetheart!  You bring us SO much joy!

Thanksgiving 2010

We flew down to North Carolina to spend Joshua's first Thanksgiving with my family -- ten months old, and he's already been on four flights!  (Though that's nothing compared to his buddy Luke... What was it, 16 flights in his first year?  Impressive!)

We ended up staying in a hotel while we were down there, in order to better guard Joshua's sleep and naptime routines.  It's actually kind of funny, the lengths we go to in our attempts to make sure J-bear gets all the sleep he needs... He's very much used to his routine, where we'll sing a little lullaby, put him in his crib, give him his ducky, tell him we love him, and then walk out of the room.  In our little hotel room, though, as long as we were within eyesight, he thought it was still playtime... So we ended up hiding in the little (2x5) corridor next to the bathroom and the room door, hunkered down with reading material and waiting until it was clear that he was totally asleep.  Next time, we're totally getting a suite with multiple rooms.  :)

But Joshua seemed to really enjoy the hotel experience!  Complete with his cute little travel highchair, and the ability to wander around, socks in hands, and explore new territory...


PJs, a comfy and cool highchair, and yummy Cheerios -- what more could a boy want? 

Playing with socks, and playing with papa!
And of course, it was wonderful spending time with my family.  They hadn't seen Joshua in person since our last visit, when he was only five months old... He's kind of grown up a little since then.  :)  He did have a little bout of stranger anxiety when we first arrived -- which wasn't exactly helped by my dad greeting him by growling fiercely right in his face.  Poor kid got all startled and then started screaming in fear.  :(  And poor grandpa -- he was just trying to get his grandson to laugh!  It took some soothing to get him to calm back down, and once I had my dad offer Joshua some Cheerios, all was right in his little world, and he warmed right up to his grandparents and uncles.


Still looks just a tiny bit scared here, but really, he did warm up! 

Showing Grandpa how much he loves this little spoon 

Seriously.  He loooved that spoon.  Thanks, Grandma, for letting him play with it! 

Thanksgiving dinner from the vantage point of a wee babe 

And just one more of Joshua and his beloved spoon
All in all, a very lovely first Thanksgiving for our dear little man!  We really do have so much to be thankful for!