Mid-July Update
So, last I left off, we were entering the long holiday weekend...
7/1 - 7/4
Saturday began with some housecleaning, as the parents came out to visit around noon. Before they arrived though, Josh took another go at the stairs, and with one pause halfway up (involving brief bit of support from me), he made it all the way to the top! Interestingly, Josh has shown little interest in the stairs since. Even so, the feat still should have scared me with its implications, but I was too tired from the morning to care, and everyone went down for naps. That's when the parents arrived, of course. It was a pleasant visit, but even though they stayed a full 24 hours, it felt much too short. Not really sure how that happens, but so it goes. Some of it was undoubtedly due to other distractions, like food, sleep, and church the next morning. Also, my brother Gregg, his wife, and daughter came out for a brief bit to drop something off with my parents. Their baby girl is still in the 12lb range, which felt so light! Managed to impress Gregg by making her laugh, and then go on about how light she was, even as Gregg was resting his tired arm. Such is the difference between Josh and his cousin...
Anyway, Josh happily played with his Grandma and Grandpa, showing them all his tricks. He also displayed without-a-doubt that he could cruise (walk when supported by tables, walls, chairs, legs, etc) quite skillfully. The next day, we did church, had brunch, and then they headed out. The rest of the day felt like an average Sunday, with Jenn and I running around either getting stuff done or watching Josh. But unlike an average Sunday, we stayed up late reading. Ah, bliss!
Monday the 3rd, Josh was back in day care, but Jenn and I took the day off. After dropping him off, we immediately went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours. Not what we intended, but very nice. Then, off to a nice 3 mile walk at Gallup, and a relaxed lunch at La Shish. Their entrees can be a bit pricey, but their sandwiches are very reasonable, and very delicious! And the hummous--oh, the hummous! "Like butter," Jenn says. Anyway, after our exercise and dining, it was back home for more positively decadent reading. Reading, uninterrupted, with daylight outside and no noise inside. Ahhhhhh! Then, we picked up Josh, played a bit, had dinner, and put him to bed. Our mistake, however, was to continue reading after Josh was in bed, so we ended up staying up late.
Josh, meanwhile, woke up a bit early, so Jenn and I were both pretty wiped all of the 4th. And, in large part due to the whacky schedule of the long weekend, Josh was pretty cranky as well. So, not a particularly enjoyable 4th, though it still beat a day at work. Or would have, anyway, except for the fireworks that night. We figured, being a schoolnight, there wouldn't be the solid fireworks displays of years past. We were wrong. LOTS of fireworks, in relatively close proximity, lasting past midnight. Unfortunately, even though Josh sleeps through noise very well, the fireworks were much too loud and persistant for him. He woke up several times, and was not happy, so no one got any sleep that night. Sadly, not the way to end such an otherwise enjoyable weekend.
7/5 - 7/11
We all sleep-walked through the 5th, but this meant that Josh actually slept that night, and so did we. There were some fireworks set off again, which caused us some concern, but they were not enough to upset Josh--thank goodness! On the 6th, it became clear that Josh was also fighting a cold. While infants with colds are never fun, the upside was that we stopped worrying about the occasional fireworks--Josh was too tired to care. It turns out, his best friend in day care was starting to try whole milk that week, so on Saturday we decided to see if Josh liked it. Turns out he did, so long as it wasn't cold. Much to our pleasant surprise (though a no-brainer in retrospect), we also learned that warm milk makes Josh sleepy! This made everyone happy as Josh finished getting over his cold, though he only got milk as an occasional snack. Sunday, Josh napped very hard, which prevented us from going to brightorange14's for the World Cup, but let us actually watch the World Cup at home. Not sure that was a good idea or not, since the final penalty kicks just seemed so anti-climactic, but it was nice to actually catch it all the same.
On Monday, Jenn got to sub for Bright Orange (brightorange14's team, if you didn't know), which was a nice change of pace. Thankfully, it looks like she'll have more opportunities to do so this summer. The next day, Josh managed to shock me again when he pushed off the coffee table and stood--unsupported--in place for about 10 seconds. He also said his first recognizable, learned-English word: "Uh-oh!" Like many toddlers, he uses it before dropping something as much as after. As you can imagine, it is very cute--unless he is dropping something you'd rather he didn't.
7/12 - 7/18
The rest of the week was decent, but fairly unremarkable. Jenn was reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths" for work, and I was reading along with her. A very interesting book, and quite informative for both Jenn and I in our current situations, I must say. Unlike other books and tests involving personality traits, it actually gives you information about your traits that you can actually apply to your life, unlike Meyers-Briggs and its many variants. Figuring how how to apply it to your life is a bit more challenging, but one step closer to being useful. And a much-needed breath of fresh air conceptually for Jenn and I. (More on that in a follow-up, Friends-Only post.)
Anyway, Thursday the 13th, I had a phenomenal softball game, hitting 4-for-5! The more notable event though was getting smacked in the foot by a solid line drive. Adding insult to injury, I got out since I jumped off-base to keep from losing my ankle. Thankfully, my shoe took the brunt of it, and after the initial "can I walk?" moment, very little pain resulted. Interestingly, my shoe diverted the force to my toes though, causing some deep bruising on most of my toes which is still there (though much lighter). On Saturday, Josh showed off his increasing dexterity by catching a flying beetle! We set him in the grass to play while chatting with the neighbors, and he sat down, focused on a beetle, reached out and caught it mid-flight! He's hardly a speed-demon, so we're still not sure how he managed it. Thankfully, he didn't know what to do with the beetle, and let it go.
Sunday, we decided to get Josh out of the house, and headed out to the new IKEA in Canton. We figured the visual overload would be good for him, but we were only partly right. What made it really work is the stubby bag-carts that IKEA has. Like a regular shopping cart, there is a seat, but there is no basket for stuff, only hooks for the shopping bag. This makes the cart infinitely more maneuverable, and it can even be pushed backwards with no loss of control (important, since Josh loves to "push" the cart handle). I had great fun making Josh do donuts, weaving him through the busy aisles, and generally turning his shopping experience into an amusement park ride! He had a blast, and so did we! He left the store with a perma-grin on his face, and so exhausted that he let Jenn clean his face with no resistance. Good times!
And then, yesterday--Monday. It was really more like lateral falling while moving his feet, but Jenn managed to get Josh to take his first "steps" from her to me after dinner. He's still got some time before he'll be able to do that repeatedly, I'm thinking, but still quite the milestone. He really is growing up...
And that brings us to today! I can't believe I'm actually caught up! But now that I am, expect more frequent--and much shorter--updates from now on. Or not, and I'll do this again in a month or two. :-)
7/1 - 7/4
Saturday began with some housecleaning, as the parents came out to visit around noon. Before they arrived though, Josh took another go at the stairs, and with one pause halfway up (involving brief bit of support from me), he made it all the way to the top! Interestingly, Josh has shown little interest in the stairs since. Even so, the feat still should have scared me with its implications, but I was too tired from the morning to care, and everyone went down for naps. That's when the parents arrived, of course. It was a pleasant visit, but even though they stayed a full 24 hours, it felt much too short. Not really sure how that happens, but so it goes. Some of it was undoubtedly due to other distractions, like food, sleep, and church the next morning. Also, my brother Gregg, his wife, and daughter came out for a brief bit to drop something off with my parents. Their baby girl is still in the 12lb range, which felt so light! Managed to impress Gregg by making her laugh, and then go on about how light she was, even as Gregg was resting his tired arm. Such is the difference between Josh and his cousin...
Anyway, Josh happily played with his Grandma and Grandpa, showing them all his tricks. He also displayed without-a-doubt that he could cruise (walk when supported by tables, walls, chairs, legs, etc) quite skillfully. The next day, we did church, had brunch, and then they headed out. The rest of the day felt like an average Sunday, with Jenn and I running around either getting stuff done or watching Josh. But unlike an average Sunday, we stayed up late reading. Ah, bliss!
Monday the 3rd, Josh was back in day care, but Jenn and I took the day off. After dropping him off, we immediately went back to bed and slept for another couple of hours. Not what we intended, but very nice. Then, off to a nice 3 mile walk at Gallup, and a relaxed lunch at La Shish. Their entrees can be a bit pricey, but their sandwiches are very reasonable, and very delicious! And the hummous--oh, the hummous! "Like butter," Jenn says. Anyway, after our exercise and dining, it was back home for more positively decadent reading. Reading, uninterrupted, with daylight outside and no noise inside. Ahhhhhh! Then, we picked up Josh, played a bit, had dinner, and put him to bed. Our mistake, however, was to continue reading after Josh was in bed, so we ended up staying up late.
Josh, meanwhile, woke up a bit early, so Jenn and I were both pretty wiped all of the 4th. And, in large part due to the whacky schedule of the long weekend, Josh was pretty cranky as well. So, not a particularly enjoyable 4th, though it still beat a day at work. Or would have, anyway, except for the fireworks that night. We figured, being a schoolnight, there wouldn't be the solid fireworks displays of years past. We were wrong. LOTS of fireworks, in relatively close proximity, lasting past midnight. Unfortunately, even though Josh sleeps through noise very well, the fireworks were much too loud and persistant for him. He woke up several times, and was not happy, so no one got any sleep that night. Sadly, not the way to end such an otherwise enjoyable weekend.
7/5 - 7/11
We all sleep-walked through the 5th, but this meant that Josh actually slept that night, and so did we. There were some fireworks set off again, which caused us some concern, but they were not enough to upset Josh--thank goodness! On the 6th, it became clear that Josh was also fighting a cold. While infants with colds are never fun, the upside was that we stopped worrying about the occasional fireworks--Josh was too tired to care. It turns out, his best friend in day care was starting to try whole milk that week, so on Saturday we decided to see if Josh liked it. Turns out he did, so long as it wasn't cold. Much to our pleasant surprise (though a no-brainer in retrospect), we also learned that warm milk makes Josh sleepy! This made everyone happy as Josh finished getting over his cold, though he only got milk as an occasional snack. Sunday, Josh napped very hard, which prevented us from going to brightorange14's for the World Cup, but let us actually watch the World Cup at home. Not sure that was a good idea or not, since the final penalty kicks just seemed so anti-climactic, but it was nice to actually catch it all the same.
On Monday, Jenn got to sub for Bright Orange (brightorange14's team, if you didn't know), which was a nice change of pace. Thankfully, it looks like she'll have more opportunities to do so this summer. The next day, Josh managed to shock me again when he pushed off the coffee table and stood--unsupported--in place for about 10 seconds. He also said his first recognizable, learned-English word: "Uh-oh!" Like many toddlers, he uses it before dropping something as much as after. As you can imagine, it is very cute--unless he is dropping something you'd rather he didn't.
7/12 - 7/18
The rest of the week was decent, but fairly unremarkable. Jenn was reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths" for work, and I was reading along with her. A very interesting book, and quite informative for both Jenn and I in our current situations, I must say. Unlike other books and tests involving personality traits, it actually gives you information about your traits that you can actually apply to your life, unlike Meyers-Briggs and its many variants. Figuring how how to apply it to your life is a bit more challenging, but one step closer to being useful. And a much-needed breath of fresh air conceptually for Jenn and I. (More on that in a follow-up, Friends-Only post.)
Anyway, Thursday the 13th, I had a phenomenal softball game, hitting 4-for-5! The more notable event though was getting smacked in the foot by a solid line drive. Adding insult to injury, I got out since I jumped off-base to keep from losing my ankle. Thankfully, my shoe took the brunt of it, and after the initial "can I walk?" moment, very little pain resulted. Interestingly, my shoe diverted the force to my toes though, causing some deep bruising on most of my toes which is still there (though much lighter). On Saturday, Josh showed off his increasing dexterity by catching a flying beetle! We set him in the grass to play while chatting with the neighbors, and he sat down, focused on a beetle, reached out and caught it mid-flight! He's hardly a speed-demon, so we're still not sure how he managed it. Thankfully, he didn't know what to do with the beetle, and let it go.
Sunday, we decided to get Josh out of the house, and headed out to the new IKEA in Canton. We figured the visual overload would be good for him, but we were only partly right. What made it really work is the stubby bag-carts that IKEA has. Like a regular shopping cart, there is a seat, but there is no basket for stuff, only hooks for the shopping bag. This makes the cart infinitely more maneuverable, and it can even be pushed backwards with no loss of control (important, since Josh loves to "push" the cart handle). I had great fun making Josh do donuts, weaving him through the busy aisles, and generally turning his shopping experience into an amusement park ride! He had a blast, and so did we! He left the store with a perma-grin on his face, and so exhausted that he let Jenn clean his face with no resistance. Good times!
And then, yesterday--Monday. It was really more like lateral falling while moving his feet, but Jenn managed to get Josh to take his first "steps" from her to me after dinner. He's still got some time before he'll be able to do that repeatedly, I'm thinking, but still quite the milestone. He really is growing up...
And that brings us to today! I can't believe I'm actually caught up! But now that I am, expect more frequent--and much shorter--updates from now on. Or not, and I'll do this again in a month or two. :-)