Good Job, Josh

One thing we have learned through the past year and a half with Josh is that many things that seem "normal" development-wise with other children are major milestones for us. For the past few weeks, Josh has consistently gotten praise from his teachers and therapists for his behavior, and we couldn't be more pleased. I sometimes wish we had the luxury of "normal" development, but I would have to say our situation does make good progress reports that much better.

Here's the note Josh brought home today from a therapist who works with him in his classroom:

"Josh is sitting during group time in the middle of the carpet and staying quiet!!! He also raised his hand and answered Ms. Barbee's question correctly! Very exciting to see Josh's progress."

We hope there's more good news to come.

A Girly Girl

Molly continues to add to her girly inclinations, and the latest is her discovery of my makeup. She loves to rummage in the drawer to find the makeup and brushes, and then she pretends to put the makeup on her face with the brush. I had no idea interest in girly things would start this early!

A Covert Operation

An unusual silence fell over our house today, which is usually not a good thing. I checked in on Josh and Molly, and I was happy to find them playing with Molly's new walking toy. As I stood and watched, however, I realized why they were both so quiet. The red panel on the front of the toy folds down, and inside was . . .
half a bag of Hershey's kisses that they had stashed inside the hidden compartment! Apparently Josh had been removing the wrappers, and they both had indulged. Molly's shirt had a big slobbery chocolate stain on the front. She pitched a fit when I emptied out the contraband.

Molly Takes the Wheel

It's been a slow week around here, so here's another photo from last weekend's road trip. Chris and I got a little sleepy just past Atlanta, so we let Molly take over for awhile.

Just for Fun

Here's Josh looking through the cat door at Jon and Amy's. This small door provided plenty of entertainment!

The Moon over Birmingham

We're spending the weekend in Birmingham with my brother's family and my mom, and today we visited the giant statue of Vulcan, a tribute to Birmingham's formerly thriving iron mining industry. Here are Josh and Molly with their cousins Abbey and Elizabeth, who nearly slept through our visit.
This is a replica of Vulcan's foot, which is in the museum at the base of the statue.
Here we are at the overlook just under the statue, which gives you a great view of Birmingham. It was kind of like being in Monmarte and overlooking Paris, but not quite.
The big attraction was Vulcan itself, which is perched on a tower overlooking the city. We certainly enjoyed learning about the history of Birmingham's ore industry, but it's just hard to get past the fact that the statue has a naked butt and is mooning part of Birmingham.

Entertaining America's Shoppers

As I've blogged about before, taking Josh and Molly to a store is one of the most entertaining ways to pass an afternoon that I can think of. We have had people literally stop, turn and stare as we've walked by, most recently in the grocery store when Molly was chewing on a giant bag of loose mushrooms.

I'll try to take my camera to the store more often to capture these golden moments, and in the meantime here's Molly at Target today trying to stand up backwards in the buggy while strapped in. This maneuver involved plenty of shrieking and waving, so she got her usual share of shoppers' attention.

"Nap" Conditions

Josh hasn't taken an actual nap that involves sleeping in a long time, but we do try to replicate the quiet of naps with afternoon "room time." Chris finally figured out the perfect conditions that will keep Josh quiet for up to two hours, and here is Josh demonstrating them.
1) He must be wearing a Gator shirt
2) The curtains must be open
3) The roman shade must be partially open
4) He must have his Magnadoodle
5) He must have three Dr. Seuss books
You may be laughing, but if you remove one of these conditions total chaos could (and has) ensue.

A Tropical Saturday

Josh had his first encounter with tropical plants today at the new orchid conservatory at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. We were amazed at the thousands of plants, and even Josh seemed to understand that this wasn't a place to pick the flowers! The center was have a children's art day, so Josh and I made construction paper flowers and he colored pictures of orchids with Chris. We ate a picnic lunch on the grounds and then walked through the gardens. Josh loved the fountains, and we got a little nervous when he told us the fountain was for swimming.
Molly spent most of the morning in the stroller, but we let her out for a short crawl on before we left.

A Girl and Her Shoes

We have been quite amused that at the ripe age of 1, Molly is already interested in shoes and purses. She loves to carry her shoes around and look at them, and as you can imagine her first trip to Stride Rite today was probably like going into the Taj Mahal for her. She immediately crawled over to the baby shoes display and started picking them up. Her final selections were two boys' shoes, which I overruled for the all-purpose white walkers. Now if she would just start walking.

She's Up!

Molly is finally standing on her own! She has mastered moving from sitting to standing without using furniture, my leg, etc. to pull up on, but she has yet to really move from a standing position other than to sit back down. We're still waiting for her real first steps, but we're hoping that will happen any day. Right now she just stands up for a few seconds, looks confused (pictured above), sits back down and crawls.

She got lots of practice standing outside as we enjoyed the one-day return of 70+ degree temperatures. Josh got to ride his tricycle and climb trees with the neighborhood kids before we came home for a last hurrah on the swingset before dark. It's supposed to be cold again tomorrow, and Mom I promise I'll put their shoes back on then.

Molly at 1 Year

Molly's big one-year achievement is growing enough hair for a mohawk! We were pretty happy with her post-nap hairdo today, and we're filing this picture away in our growing collection to exhibit at her wedding reception.

Molly had her one-year check-up on Friday, and we're pleased to announce that she has gained 1 pound, 2.6 ounces since her 9-month check-up and grown almost two inches. She's now 30 3/4 inches high and 18 pounds, 1.6 ounces. One on hand, it's nice to not have to carry around a heavy child, but we're going to have to increase our efforts at fattening her up because the doctor wants to see her back in three months.

Molly has recently taken a few steps on her own, but she's still a long way from walking (or from having enough hair for a bow, for that matter). She has perfected the shrillest shriek I have ever heard, and for those who don't believe me, I'll try to post a video clip with sound soon. We're looking forward to her future, and hopefully quieter, growth in the next three months.

Jumperama

Molly recently has discovered the joy of "jumping" on Josh's trampoline, and it has become a little difficult to keep her off it. Her jumping really involves a lot of squealing and bouncing (there's no air between her feet and the trampoline), but she thinks it's great fun. Here are a few photos from her "jump" this morning. As always, she didn't forget to wave to her public.