March Madness

I have been stock piling pictures and little stories all month and look- it's already almost April! What? Time flies when you are too busy to know what day it is! So, here is a quick recap of some of this month's madness. Enjoy!

This March we have spent several days at the beautiful Arboretum. Josh loves to run free in the grass and watch all the kids play around him. He is not shy, I'll tell you that. He will run up to anybody and every body's picnic and make himself right at home on their blanket. And if they have goldfish within view of my son's eye sight, there is no getting rid of him. Oh dear.

There is no story associated with this picture, but I had to include it because it is a sweet and rare shot of Josh being still and enjoying spring. He was petting the tulips- hey, better than ripping them to shreds, right?


You have some explaining to do, Mister!
After Josh got home from school the other day, we climbed onto the couch to read some books. He insisted that I take off his shoes and when I did, a mound of sand was released right there onto my clean couch. Makes me wonder if Josh is really at school during the day, or if he is taking a quick trip to the beach without me?! I am also interested to hear if Luke's Mommy has been having the same sandy experience. I have a feeling those two get into the same kind of trouble during the day.

Josh's new favorite phrase is " Show me!" It actually means, "Please let me show YOU something cool I just did with my cars." I can't count how many times a day he runs up to me, grabs my hand (which NEVER gets old and is sooo stinkin' sweet) and says, "show me" and then leads me to whatever it is he wants me to see. Usually, he has piled all of his cars on top of one another and will show me right before he swiftly demolishes the stack. There are also times he has put his favorite stuffed bear into precarious positions, like hanging upside down from a chair or in the shower. Then, there are times he has found food and stuffed it into his toy cars. Like this picture for example, when he stuffed eggs from breakfast (that were still sitting on the table- I know, I'm gross) into the front and back seats of this taxi cab. I had to be very creative when getting the eggs out of the backseat.

Josh loves playing Rock Band. Chris set the game on the "no fail" mode and Josh went to town on those drums. I am so happy that we found a "no fail" option, things are looking up for me and my Rock Band experience.

This is Josh's car bucket. He carries all of his favorite cars around in this bucket. A few months ago, he was able to stash them in his pockets, but we all know how he loves to accessorize, so he has found himself a man -purse to help in the transportation of his beloved cars. As evidence by this picture, the bucket can also be a hat. Other times, it is a shoe, or a very unsteady chair, and it can also be a muzzle for Jackson's large snout.

"Josh, where are you???"

A few days ago, I lost Josh. We were safe at home, all the doors were locked, and I lost him. Seriously, I was looking for about 5 minutes (which is a reallllly long time when you are missing a child). The dogs were NO help at all as they lay on the ground asleep. Jackson casually acknowledged my desperation by raising his head half an inch, grunting and then quickly falling back sleep. I was freaking out, but I knew he was inside... somewhere. Just when the numbers "911" entered my mind, I see a soft blue glow coming through the cracks in our laundry cupboard. Humm? What could that be? I open the door to find Josh hiding in the cupboard with his turtle night light that projects blue stars onto the ceiling, or in this case all the sides of the cupboard. He was so happy when I found him, but stayed in that tiny nook for 20 more minutes looking at the stars. I guess if his new big boy bedroom doesn't work out, we can just stick him in the laundry cupboard.

"MOMMY, WHERE ARE YOU???"

Josh loves playing with this super cool pipe microphone thingy at the park. (And, yes, that is what I call it. Chris makes fun of me because when Josh asks me the name of something I don't know, I simply make up a name. Good thing he has one smart parent!) I stand on the opposite side of the park and say silly things to him through the "cool pipe microphone thingy" while all the other mom's (no doubt) laugh at me. He responds by screaming in an extremely too-high pitched squeal for a boy his age.

As for the real March Madness... it is not going well for me, as you can see from all the red "X's." I was in dead last place for the first couple rounds, but now I think I have creeped up to second to last place. Not great, but it feels good to see at least ONE name below mine, sorry Brent.

Well, that is our life lately. Lots of fun things to do, places to go, and "Joshisms" to laugh about. He is growing like a weed, I swear he grows an inch every night. Next on the list is to move him to his "big boy room" and out of the nursery. As previously mentioned, he has taken to catapulting himself out of his crib, which is probably pretty darn fun... until he lands, of course. If anyone has any good tips on how to make an active toddler boy stay in one place to sleep without serious bodily restraints, I'm all ears!