Swimming lessons

We enrolled Joshua at the MIT swimming lessons again this summer, and this past weekend, while he initially was a tiny bit hesistant at the beginning with jumping into the pool into my arms--wanting to hold my hands as he jumped in, by the end of class--he was fearlessly hurling himself into the water, and even trying to do the doggie paddle back to the pool edge. I was super proud of him.

Fire truck bed

This week, all of a sudden, Joshua decided that he was too old for the crib. So he started to sleep at night in his fire truck toddler bed as well as for his naps. Joshua astounds us with his obedience. Sometimes he'll pop out of the room, but I just tell him that if he comes of the room too early, I'm going to put him back into the crib--so he just walks back to his room and gets into bed. We installed a timer to a yellow lantern in his room--his "sun"--and told him needs to stay in his room until his sun turns on. It's working so far.

First Poop!

While brushing his teeth tonite, Joshua started straining--his usual pooping routine, but halfway through, he stopped and told me, "I want to poop in the toilet." So onto the baby bjorn I put him and he plopped a little poop into the toilet for the very first time. We were all so proud!

Yoga

Joshua asked for his yoga mat and demonstrated "downward dog" and "warrior pose" for us. Annette's been teaching him.

The Good Samaritan

Joshua's favorite story in his Bible is the story about the Good Samaritan. He's always asking for that story. I think he's really drawn to the story about someone getting hurt and needing help. He has a very caring heart. His second favorite story, is about the friends who lowered the sick man through the roof so Jesus could heal him.

Body Painting

What? I'm not supposed to paint my body?

Preschool at last

We got a call last week to say that Joshua got accepted to preschool! We were #140 on the waiting list for 17 spots, so it seemed very surreal when we finally made it in. We had gotten rejected from so many other schools, and it's been a long waiting process. Morse Preschool here we come. Joshua will start in the beginning of September, right when Samuel is due to arrive. Both Annette and I are already missing our little boy and get a little emotional thinking about him entering the real world.

Fast Runner

Joshua is a fast runner. He still hasn't figured out to swing his arms properly yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to go running together someday.

I'm a bad driver!

We took Joshua and his tricycle along the Charles River this weekend. His little legs are still too short to peddle, so we push him around and he steers, not quite so well, and he laments, "I'm a bad driver!"

Artesani Pool

We've discovered this little wading pool near Cambridge that is just perfect for the summer. Instead of driving an hour to the beach and paying $25 to park, we drive 10 minutes to this public pool with sprinkers, water falls, fountains, and that's free. :)

I don't think so

Annette and I sometimes have to resort to speaking French around Joshua because he's gotten to the point where we can't talk about him with him around. Especially if he hears us talking about something he doesn't want to do, he'll immediately protest and object.

For example, in the car coming home today, Annette and I were discussing his nap schedule for the day and opting to skip our dorm BBQ for a quick lunch at home so he could get to sleep sooner. He pipes up, "I want to go to the BBQ!" As he rubs his eyes, Annette says, "He looks like he's getting tired." And Joshua quickly adds, "I don't think so."

I love you A LOT

I play this game with Joshua where I whisper into his ear, "I love you a little." And then he says back to me, "a lot!" and then I say, "You're right, I love you a lot!" Then sometimes he adds in, "I love you a lot too Dadda!"

Gurney

Joshua loves to learn things, and here he is learning from Gram Dottie what a gurney is from the Emergency Room book.

Iris at the Cape

Iris was born one day after Joshua, and they seem like identical twins, except that she is a blond girl. They talk about the same things and very similar ways. I actually had a hard time telling who was talking when I listened to their conversations. They played so well together. I hope they become friends and watch this video when they are older.

I have an idea

This morning, as we were getting ready to leave the house, Joshua paused and said to me, "I have an idea." I was amazed. How Joshua already begun to think and talk about not just concrete things, but IDEAS? What was he going to suggest? Some brilliant plan for the day that I hadn't thought about? I asked him, "What's your idea?" No response. Hmm, oh well.

Joshua pointed out that one of dining room lights was busted and that it hasn't been successfully repaired yet: "He was not able to do it!", referring our dorm all around handy man, John. Joshua knows all the house maintenance people by name: Diego, Antonio, David, John, Tania, Ezequiel--I think better than anyone else who lives in our dorm.