21 months

You...

• are using two/three word sentences- play ball, mama play choo-choo, I want Agua/nana/apple/omm (orange) etc.
• can name all your colors! 
• love to name things and their color- white shirt, yellow duck, blue truck...
• The 100 Words book we used to read to you- you can now read most of the words to us
• will say "Hello Mouse" and "The End" when we read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR, which are the first and last lines of the book. 
• weigh 33 lbs. and you are... taller? (I need to measure your height)
• love to kick soccer balls, which makes your father very happy
• love "cooking" when I make dinner. You like to stir whatever is on the stove.
• are a fan of baths. My nice big bathtub is now filled with dinosaurs, play dishes, magnetic letters and balls. 
• are getting more adventurous. Climbing up ladders, going down big boy slides...
• don't want to be confined to a stroller or being held when we go places. You want to "walk! walk!"
• have the best laugh ever, especially when we tickle you after you hit the popcorn button on your microwave
• are very affectionate and will come and hug me or your dad out of nowhere 
• have become shy around new people
• do not like to be messy or have spills. You want your hands clean (even though you usually forego utensils and eat with your hands) and any spills "mess! mess!" need to be cleaned up right away
• are obsessed with the trash can. You love to "throw away?" your diapers when you are changed and any other little things you can find. 
• have started trying to jump. You have the motions down, you just don't pick your feet up off the ground, so it's kind of a bounce. 
• have graduated your dance moves from squatting to now spinning around in circles. 
• imitate me and your dad. You try to put pens behind your ear like your daddy does and you try to sweep while saying, "mama?" (What does that tell you about who does the cleaning around here?)
• are in love with Dora- our dog and the cartoon. Parker is only "big dog" but you light up when you see Dora and say, 'Hi Dough-ra!"
• surprisingly enjoy brushing your teeth?
• are absolutely, without a doubt the most hilarious, sweet, smart, gentle little soul and I'm so happy to be the one that knows you well enough to make a list of 21 things you are up to at 21 months old :) Love you Joely Beans!

Mr. Personality

Over the past two days, I have had the pleasure of staying home with Joel since he was not feeling his best. You'd never know he had a pesky double ear infection. He still laughs and plays and talks and sings. He loves to sing the tune of "Twinkle twinkle little star"- you can make out the twinkle, twinkle, but the rest is up to your imagination. He has made up his own song, "Agua, agua, agua..." He just repeats that word over and over with different melodies.
He loves to say "Hi" to some ladies at the supermarket, but he is especially friendly to inanimate objects. When leaving HEB yesterday, he took the frozen garlic bread out of the cart and held it in his arms like a baby almost. He said, "Hi Bread!" He held it all the way home in the car, saying over and over, "Hi bread!" Then tonight I made him some fresh green beans. Anytime I cook I try to give him a little to "cook" in his own pan. So he had 4-5 raw green beans that he was cooking. After dinner we needed to make a quick run to the store, so the green beans rode along. He counted his beans. "One, twoooo, treee green beans!" He held those beans all the way there and back. How can you not love this kid?
The kicker. Tonight in the bathtub somehow babies came up. I should preface by saying that Joel also has begun asking "why?" to pretty much anything I say. The other night it started with "Let's take a bath", "why?"...(10 minutes later)..."because mommy and daddy wanted to start a family." Don't ask me how it progressed to that.
Anyway, so I asked Joel, "Are you a baby or a big boy?" Without any prompting, he points to his chest, like he usually does when he says, "I Joel", but this time he replies with, "I momma's baby."
AHHHH! Seriously? Does he even know what that does to a mother? God willing, he will keep that mind set until he's 100. Because in my eyes, Joel will always be momma's baby. What a doll.
I'm not sure what I did to get this sweet boy, but I hope I keep it up.

Thankful for you always

We had a great week together for Thanksgiving. I got most of my to-do list finished. We cleaned out the spare bedroom to begin the transformation into Joel's playroom, got most of Joel's Christmas presents bought, and got caught up on laundry. We didn't necessarily do something new together, but we did make it out to the Witte Museum again, and Joel loved it. I think it's because he has the freedom to run and play without being strapped in to a stroller.
So I didn't do the "I'm thankful for..." post on facebook like everyone else, but I figure it can't hurt to write it here in a semi-private setting.

Joel,
You are blossoming into the most precious, kind-hearted, lovable, funny, charming little boy I could ever imagine. You've started calling me mama again, for a while it was da-da followed by a grin. My heart swells when I hear you say my name, especially when it's accompanied by outreached arms and puckered little lips. You have brought so much to your father and I. He always says, "Who would've thought being a  parent would be so much fun?" You make us laugh hysterically on a daily basis. Whether you're riding on your daddy's back like a horsey and telling him, "Go Dada!" out of no where, or showing off that you're a big tough guy by picking up big boxes full of baby wipes and putting them on the couch (all while grunting and carrying on about how heavy it is). You make us so happy. Everything is right now that you are here in our lives. Thank you Joel for all that you give to your daddy and me.
Thankful for you always,
Momma

Half way to TWO!

Today Joel is 18 months old! The past few weeks his language has just exploded and he is saying so many new things daily. Moon, backpack, jacket, okay-okay, I'll do it, I get it, I Joel (points to self), Dora, and the best- when he eats something he likes he says, "Mmmmmm!" Too cute.
We had another rendezvous with the emergency room last weekend. Little man was running temps up to 105 and the only explanation they could give me was that he had rhinovirus- the common cold. It is so scary when his temp gets so high and it's just a waiting game. Cranky, fussy, snotty, throw-up...I can handle all those. But when he feels so bad he doesn't even fuss, he just lays on me and sleeps. Ugh, awful. After lots of prayers he pulled through and came back home each night (we went twice over the weekend).
Now we're off for a whole week for Thanksgiving. To-do list:

• clean out guest room to make into Joel's playroom
• do a new activity with Joel
• Get a little Christmas shopping done
• catch up on laundry

If one of these is accomplished, we will be in good shape. :)

Trunk or Treat & Pumpkin Patch

Tonight Joel went with his Mammaw (Joel's name for Carol) to the Trunk or Treat event at her church. He was dressed in his cowboy costume and looking handsome, as always. He filled up his pumpkin pail with a few treats, and even won a cupcake at the cupcake walk!
I'm so lucky that Joel has such good grandparents in his life :) Love them.

Last weekend we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Joel was in love with the pumpkins. Each one he saw it was like he was surprised it was there. Each one. Over and over. Crazy kid. He was definitely more busy this year going off on his own, so pictures were a little harder to get this time. We did still get some good ones.








Man, what a difference a year makes! 

17 months

Joel has been home sick for the past couple of days. He has croup again, but thank God this time it was not so bad. We did go to see the doctor but since we already have a nebulizer, we were able to treat it before it got too serious like last time.
So our little man is sprouting some new teeth all of the sudden. All four molars have cut through and he is finally getting some friends to accompany his bottom two teeth.
Here's so new things Joel has been doing that I of course think are the most precious, genius, adorable things ever:

• Joel helps me carry in groceries. Really. He gets a bag and brings it into the house, puts it down in the kitchen, and follows me back out to the car. Love him!
• Joel helps me put away dishes from the dishwasher. He loves to hand me the silverware one piece at a time while I wait by the drawer. Yesterday he got a little overzealous- when I turned around he was holding a big dinner plate, like, "Here you go!" I could see that ending badly real fast. 
• Joel loves to watch Joel. I have a lot of little videos on the computer and he likes to watch himself and laugh. He says, "Joel, Joel.." while he watches.
• He has developed a love for Dancing with the Stars. As soon as he sees it on tv he says, "Dee! Dee!" which obviously translates into "dancing". Duh.
• He has found a name for Carol. Although Grandpa was easy for him, he has chosen to forego the Grandma route and go with Mammaw. He came up with it on his own and says it when he sees Carol's picture, but has yet to say it to her face. 
• He is very into pumpkins. Going to HEB is very exciting for him now with all the "Big Mac" pumpkins outside. Note to self- carve pumpkins this weekend and go to pumpkin patch.
• He has started to put a few two-word sentences together. So far we have No dog!, Read Dada, and Me Read.
• He still loves his books and loves to hear the abc's. His favorite book right now is probably Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, but Little Blue Truck is a close second. He has even gotten to where he knows some of the words when he sees the pictures. He'll say, "bump bump bump" when we get to the page that has the truck going through the mud and on the last page he'll say, "beep, beep, beep!"
• While giving him his breathing treatments is not his favorite thing to do, he is ok if we start singing to him. The bingo song makes him laugh and he also likes Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC's, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. 
• He's still holding strong at 30.5 lbs 

A few new firsts

 before

 after

Today Joel had his first haircut! He did really well and wasn't scared. I was afraid he wouldn't look like my baby anymore, but I really like how his hair looks. We just got a trim so he kept the curls, but they are more tame :)

Here's another funny Joel story:
We were at Carol and Bill's house the other night for pizza and Survivor. Bill had made a milkshake for himself and he gave Joel a couple bites of ice cream while he was putting everything in the blender. Well, later on Bill walks into the living room and Joel says (for the first time), "Grandpa!" Clear as day. It was hilarious. He went right to Bill- like, where's my ice cream?
Needless to say, Carol immediately went and made Joel his own bowl of ice cream and kept saying, "GrandMA will give you ice cream"
We still haven't heard "Grandma", but she's working on it. (Carol) :)