Josiah is 19 months old!

We had Josiah's 18 months appointment last Friday.  So I figure this is an appropriate time to update my blog on his development and what he's up to.  Here he is playing with our neighbor's baby, Roslyn.  He LOVES babies.  LOVES them.  He almost hyperventilates when he sees a little baby.  He loved Roslyn's toes, and was able to find all her body parts we try to work on with him (eyes, ears, toes, belly button, nose) which he can rarely find on himself!

 He really tried to pick her up a lot.  Having a baby in the house will be interesting.

Here he is painting with watercolors.  What a great artist he is becoming!

 And guess what Josiah did for a long time this morning?  He played dress up!  Oh my word, it was so cute.  Maryn led him out of her room and said, "Look!  I snapped up the firefighter jacket and now Josiah is a fireman!"

He also dressed up as a samarai and a cowboy.  I think we'll be getting him some superhero costumes for his second birthday.  He just loved it.

I had some questions for the nurse practitioner about his feet turning out when he walks.  She said she thinks they'll work their way back in.  I also asked about his speech development and she said it seems like there's nothing to worry about.

She noticed him pretending as he took care of a baby doll in the room, which she said is great and right on track.  And then she got out the little letter blocks and asked, "Is he a stacker or a knocker-downer?"  And he just sat there and stacked up about 7 or 8 of those tiny blocks.  It looked like it was going to topple, so he used both his arms to hold it steady so it wouldn't fall!  It was so cute.

He weighed 23 lbs. and is almost 32 inches. 20th percentile in both areas. He is just a little guy.  

It was interesting to be in the pediatricians' office with just Josiah.  He is so much more calm than Maryn, who literally runs circles around that place and doesn't stop the entire time we're there.  Josiah sat in the chair in the waiting room, looked at the fish for a while (and they all came over to the corner to look at him, too), and was unbelievably cooperative for the nurse practitioner.

He is getting rather sneaky and naughty though.  And violent.  He loves to beat on his sister, who doesn't really retaliate although I think she starts most of it.  We've had a few big temper tantrums but I think we're on our way to training him out of that.  And he definitely understands "no" now and will often obey when I tell him no.  

He also likes to walk on the wild side a bit.  He loves to somersaults right off the couch, jump from the couch or chair to the ottoman even if the ottoman is clearly too far away to make it.  He rode his bike right off a step outside and had the worst scrape down his nose.  It even severed the little thing connecting his lip to his gums.  Ouch.  That hurt for a couple days, but it healed quickly.  He hasn't really learned his lesson from that fall.  I have stopped him from going off the same step a couple times since then.  

Josiah is very musical.  He loves music.  His favorite is classic rock.  I've tried many other kinds, but classic rock always gets him dancing and smiling.  He loves it when I turn off the DVD player in the van and play music instead.  He loves his guitar and keyboard from Mamaw, and loves guitar solos in rock songs.  He's so funny.

Josiah is still my little love bug.  He loves everyone and has a special gift of making people feel special.  Especially me!  I love being his Mommy.