20 month update

Josiah is 20 months old...only a few months shy of being a 2-year old!  It's crazy to look at him and see how much he's grown and even changes with each day.  He continues to be a cheeky boy, always entertaining us with his goofy antics and expressions.  His verbal skills continue to rapidly advance, now starting to cobble sentences together like "where Daddy go?", "I find Daddy!, "Oh milk!" (when he's looking for it) and "bye binky" (when he's ready to put it away).  He's also begun to say his name ("Sha sha" or "Ziyah") and express possessiveness like "my daddy" or "my blankie".  He is also reciting a few Spanish words that his nanny taught him like "musica".  Whenever he sees a guitar or hears a song he likes, he shakes his body and chants "musica! musica!".  My all-time favorite phrase of his is when he says "bye, see you, ciao" and blows a kiss goodbye.  What a suave kid.

His food vocabulary has also increased and are some of his favorite words  I guess he's always thinking about food, like his Mama.  He's constantly asking for his favorite treats - apples, oranges ("ohjee"), banana ("mynana") rice ("wice"), goldfish crackers ("gofish") and fries ("wise"), which is a good reflection of his diet these days.  Yup, my taste buds too.  He often asks for these with a toothy grin when he's trying to stall before going to bed.  In general, he knows how to get us to laugh, especially when we're trying to be firm with him, whether it's by pressing his face against ours, lifting our shirts to blow on our bellies, or saying gibberish like "deedo deedo".  He gets the most positive reinforcement from his grandma and grandpa, so he's especially silly and giddy when they come over.

Aside from these silly examples, Josiah is also exhibiting more independence and particularities.  He likes to sweep the floor, grab a wipe (or dryer sheet) to clean surfaces, and put things away (only to take them out again, of course).  He's sensitive about getting his hands dirty and will scream "ouchie" when he has crumbs to clean off.  He's pretty tidy, in general.  The other day, he pulled off his dirty socks and ran into his room.  I assumed he ran to put them away in the hamper, but instead, put them in his clean sock drawer.  Not perfect, but close enough!

This was another busy month, pronounced by tough work deadlines, a business trip to Philly, and more bouts of bad weather.  However, despite it all, Shaggy and I were able to fit in a babymoon (sans Josiah!) to Turks & Caicos, which was wonderful!  I was really anxious preparing for the trip and getting ready to miss our little guy, but thanks to our amazing babysitters (who also got the gift of the stomach virus from little J), we were able to enjoy 3 nights of R&R.  As much as we missed Josiah, it was sooooo nice (and weird) to sleep in every morning and spend our days lounging on the beach.  And like they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder.  The time away made me appreciate Josiah even more...and I think the feeling was mutual! Having Josiah run into my arms and scream "mommy mommy!" was the sweetest welcome ever :)

Since coming back from our trip, Josiah seems to be a bit more wary of us leaving him and seems to want to cuddle more than before.  Sleeping at night has been okay, but there are still those off-nights when he just won't go down easily, or when he wakes up in the middle of the night to play.  On some nights, he'll point to the bed in his room and say "sleep", indicating that he wants to go there instead of the crib.  As much as its important to be firm, we've relented a number of times and ended up sleeping with him there.  We have definitely not been very consistent with our discipline, but whatever...I keep telling myself I'm going to firmer with the next baby!

Speaking of Baby Girl, it's just a bit less than 2 months before she makes her debut.  As much as I want to meet her and re-experience some of the sweet infant moments that flew by the first time...I am SO not ready!  I'm still laser focused on wrapping up my work (sounds ridiculous when I write it out) and have not done a thing in terms of getting all the baby gear ready.  I'm definitely a proponent of keeping the baby in the belly as long as possible, even as uncomfortable as it's been.  I swear it's been harder this time than the first.  I'm constantly groaning from soreness, waddling from side to side, yelping from constant kicks, and burping from discomfort. I have Braxton-Hicks contractions every now and then and have already started wearing Lansinoh pads with lanolin cream (sorry if TMI) due to itchiness.  Glamorous, huh?  Maybe it's because I was carrying small the first time around, but I feel like this experience has just been dramatically different.  And all that said, I can objectively say that my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful.  Hope that doesn't dissuade future moms-to-be out there! :)

If there's any doubt, here's a picture that makes it all worth it - Josiah hamming it up over Facetime with his Eemo Esther!