happy 2nd birthday, yai-ya!

Our little Yai-ya is two!!!  (Yai-ya is what he calls himself when he tries to say Josiah.)  Can't believe our little stinker is sooooooo old already!  ;)  He continues to be our little firecracker.  Although it makes for more challenging parenting and greater sanctification, we do love his spirit and sense of adventure.  =)  He is always on the move.  The only thing that seems to stop him in his tracks is the tv.  And then he becomes our little zombie, along with his big brother.  (They both love watching Thomas the Train, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and SuperWhy.)  That's the one thing that guarantees me some peace around the house, especially if I am trying to paint my nails.  J/K.  I can not remember the last time I painted my nails.  Anyway, the tv is usually my last resort, but a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do to get dinner on the table.  But WOE to the person who turns it off!  (That's an area of training we're working on among many, i.e. learning to say, "Yes, Momma/Dada.", coming when called, learning self-control instead of tantrum-ing, and using words instead of screaming.  And man, can this little one scream!)

Since we're on that subject, Josiah has been talking up a storm.  Some of it only close family would know what he's saying, but he can pretty much communicate anything using mostly 2-3 word phrases.  And his vocabulary only expands more each day.  I love hearing his little voice, especially during his prayers when he seeks God's forgiveness.  He still has a hard time enunciating well, but is communicating so well.  Oddly enough, he drops the beginning sounds a lot when he talks.  For example, FedEx = EhEx! EhEx!  school bus = oo bus!  oo bus!

Josiah continues to be a great sleeper.  Generally, he sleeps well through the night.  He may wake up once or twice, but after some brief crying, he'll fall back down asleep.  During the day, he is still taking one nap.  I moved it slightly later in the day since he seems to sleep longer that way.  Usually, he'll be out for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Josiah continues to eat fairly well.  He pretty much will eat whatever is put in front of him, but just not a whole lot of it... unless he really likes it.  We just recently switched him to 2% milk and thankfully, he doesn't seem to have any food allergies to anything.  We have yet to try him on peanuts or shellfish.

Josiah is our little hoarder.  If there are toys out, you can see him with his arms full of toys that he doesn't want William to play with.  He will just hold on to them until he finds something more interesting... which is usually the next thing that Big Brother is into.  With that being said, Josiah often instigates conflicts with William.  He will follow William around.  If William is playing with Legos, Josiah wants to play with Legos.  If William is playing with trains, Josiah has to play with trains.  Whatever Ge-ge is playing with is what Josiah wants to play with because there's obviously nothing else to play with.  Actually, "take" would probably be a better word to use.  Sometimes he'll destroy whatever William has been building/making or just start roughhousing by laying on William, rolling over him, pushing him down, etc.  Josiah is definitely very physical and playful.  Playful is actually a great word to describe him.  He LOVES to play... always so full of life and energy.  And he loves being chased, tickled, and being wrestled with.

And then there are times when he gets really affectionate.  This is one of the things I love most about him.  He will chase William to give him hugs.  And he is very much a momma's boy (moreso than William was).  He will just plop down on my lap to sit with me and then put my hand on his tummy.  He will grab my hand to just hold in his.  He will run into my arms with great, big hugs.  He will come into the bathroom and wait for me to get ready.  He notices a lot when I'm missing and will look for me saying, "Momma, where are you?"  Very cute!  When he wants to see me, he'll say, "See Momma!  See Momma!"  And when he wants to be held, which is pretty often, he'll say, "Hold me, please." or "Hold me, Momma!"  Love hearing his little voice.

Our little man still loves the outdoors.  And again, WOE to the person who tells him it's time to come inside!

For some reason, Josiah thinks it's hilarious when we go over speed bumps.  It cracks me up every time I hear him laugh when we've gone over a hump.  He truly gets the giggles.  Btw, we just turned him forward-facing in his car seat even though he's still only 22 lbs!!!  (Can't believe there are some babies who are less than a year old who weigh more than him!)

Smiles is very interactive whenever we read books.  He loves to point out what's going on in the pictures by naming all the animals and their sounds, naming all the nature-things he sees (i.e. trees, water, flowers, etc.), and recognizing emotions in facial expressions.  Sometimes it's hard for me to actually read the text because he's so busy pointing everything out to me.  Josiah can also recognize almost all his letters and numbers.  We're working on learning to count to 10.  He can only show us one on his hand.  He has fantastic fine motor skills, but has a hard time making the numbers with his hands.  When we ask him how old he is, he says 2 with huge, puckered lips.  And then he'll try to show us on his hand, but always asks for help by saying, "Help 2.  Help 2."

Josiah also does well greeting people and saying good-bye (usually).  He doesn't seem to be as shy about talking to people as his older brother.

That's Josiah in a nutshell.  =)  Our Yai-ya is a mess, but we do love him to death.  He is such a gift from the Lord!