Joshi and Leo at Powow in August

Cuddling with Papa and the cat

Here Joshi displays his affectionate side, love for the cat and his love of putting on shoes. He put on one of his rain boots by himself and mama put on the other. He then just hung out wearing them.

Big Shoes to Fill

See Joshi wearing his Papa's shoes, only 22 cm too large : )

No`s and cars

Dear Joshi,

You continue to talk up a storm and now you have added the clear head shake for "NO". Now that you can use that clearly and with intent you use it for everything. You have been very sick this last week and everything from drinking to eating to going to bed has been a NO from you. When you don't like the taste of something or if you don't want to do an activity like brush your teeth, ride your bobby car - you say immediately DONE in a clear and matter-of-fact tone. It is so cute.

You have also continue to be obessessed with cars, proving yourself to be all boy, you get out of bed in the morning and the first thing you look for your car. You have lots of cars to play with that you have borrowed from your brother Leo. Your favorite is and ML Class Mercedes in silver. You carry this around from room to room and drive it on the window sills. The long window sill in the living room has turned into an Autobahn, with all of your cars. You get quite mad when the cars fall off the Autobahn when driving them.

Love your, Mama

18 months and counting

Joshi is just over 18 months old and he can do just about everything that mama can do except for go to the toilet. Hopefully that will come soon and we can save on diapers and that headache : ) I did cloth diaper him for 6 months (from 6 mos to 12 mos) but he has back in disposables since I have been back to work.
He can say even more words than before including:
Buddha, Oma, grandma, crane, zipper, button, fan, home (pronounced hmmm), JYM (pronounced: Emmm). Fan is often accompanied by the sound vvvvvvvvvv and a hand motion going back and forth. This is his interpretation of the sound the basement fan makes. He is obsessed with the fan. He went to hang up laundry with mama one day about a week ago and discovered the fan and has talking about it ever since. It has been the first thing he talks about when he opens his eyes in the morning and first thing he thinks about when we are coming or going. Joshi always wants to make a stop down in the basement to visit the fan. To turn it on and off and on and off. I think there is a combination of fascination and a bit of fear which is fueling this obsession. The other word Joshi says a lot lately is "other side" (pronounced o'er sigh....) Joshi uses this to communicate when during breast feeding he is done with one side and ready for the other. It has morphed however into a word that means he wants to breast feed. I now have him on a schedule and weaned him off of night feedings and day feedings: Now we have feeding at early morning waking, in the early evening after work and once more as part of the bedtime routine. Since this partial weening Joshi has been cautious to ask at other times, cause he knows what the answer will be - now he has settled for constant fondling which irritates his mama to no end especially when in public. He has added to sign for music to his repertoire.
Joshi is still calling Leo papa....we are waiting for him to be able to say Leo.
In the park, you have your own private island, I like to call it. It is a little grassy area in the sandpit play ground with bushes, a tree stump and some rocks. You love to play here, while all the other kids are on the slides and swings and jungle gym - you are hanging out on your private island, getting close to nature and climbing the rocks. No other kid enters your territory, none of them take the slightest interest!

Chatterbox

Since we have been back from the US, Joshi has really started talking:
Here is vocab at 17 months:
high chair
dinner
cracker (one of his first words!)
yogurt: acun
vacuum: acun
water: acun
chicken (chickachickachicka)
tickle
eyes
chin
cheek
car
siren
outside
diaper
Sarah
up
down
done

for Kitty cat he makes a clicking sound (like when you call a cat to you) and for Cheese he makes a "th" hissing sound - he is making up his own language.

Sign language:
milk, diaper, more, tree, bird, sky, airplane, please

We had a wonderful trip to the States. Joshi was so easy and he fell in love with everyone and everyone with him. He was such an easy traveller despite being all over the place, a nine hour flight.....he slept in the stroller the entire six hour delay in Philadelphia due to our cancelled flight and then in the flight to Detroit in my arms. He did amazingly well with the time change going over and with all the car travel. We were near Flint at Gigi's, then in a cabin in the woods (with Grandma Cindy and the Coutures) up near Harbor Springs. Joshi and Leo swam in Lake Michigan and loved playing on the sandy beaches of Petoskey State Park. We were then up on Mackinac Island for two nights with Mom and Olivia and whole rest of the gang staying in the Grand Hotel. We all had to get spiffed up for the evening dress code there. It was fun. We did a bike tour around the Island (Joshi was in the Croozer, but fell asleep for most of the ride) and went for a swim in the Grand Hotel Pool afterwards. That night we had dinner reservations "In the Woods" and took a horse drawn carriage into the center of the Island. Next day we took of to the UP to Whitefish Bay, dipped our feet in Lake Superior and headed on to Taquamenon Falls. It was brilliant. We saw the lower falls first and then the upper falls. There we had dinner at the Brewery there afterwards. After our time up North we headed down state again to stay with Grandpa Chaz and Gramma Jeanne. Leo got to ride Jeanne's horse and in the evening Gramma Sherrit and Jim came over as well for dinner. It was great tanking up on family. Afterwards we went on to Ann Arbor for a few hours and the Hands On Museum and saw the house and neighborhood where your mama grew up. We were then back to GiGi's for a night, we had pizza and spent the next day shopping and putting up towel racks for GiGi. For the rest of the time we spent at Grandma Cindy and Grandpa John's house with a day tour to Downtown Detroit (WSU, Belle Isle, Ghetto...)

GiGi couldn't stop talking about how smart Joshi is.....he is going to be one brilliant child, she kept saying. Grandma Cindy and Grandpa John kept talking about what a truly happy kid he is. He chattered away at John when we stayed with them explaining stuff with all seriousness in his own little chatter. So cute! He was quite taken with his Grandpa Chaz as well, fascinated somehow, like he understood this is family, these people belong to me!

mama, papa, cat treats and crane tv

This last week or so Joshi has been regularly saying mama and papa, constantly actually. Papa was more popular, he would say it all day long - now mama is becoming more popular. It is nice when he says mama and it is not attached to a complaint.

Joshi knows where the cat treats are and he can access the cupboard, lately he has started opening it and pulling out the treats, and then walking around the apartment "clicking" to call the cat. When the cat comes he brings the treats to mama or papa to open and then he gives one to the cat. Hope this doesn't lead to a fat cat.

The building across from us in the courtyard is being renovated and there is a big crane which can be seen from our kitchen window. Joshi is in love with it and it is the first thing he checks in the morning when we come into the kitchen. What is the crane doing? I set him up with breakfast in his high chair with a view of the crane, I call it crane tv. He eats and watches the crane and lets me know every time it moves.

My Baldy

Brave boy who loves bath time and the pool - no fear of water - not much fear of anything, except for dead leaves, the sound of sirens, the cat's mouse toy (it looks so real), and being separated from mommy (totally normal).

Only walking a few months, and now he's off running - like fast! And last week he started spinning in circles, and laughing about the sensation. He even does it in on command. Mama turns in circles, he watches with fascination and then mama stops and says "now you do it", and he complies

Big little boy who loves to have his tasks, at the office it is bringing the printed off sheets to whoever printed. At home it is bringing the bunny rabbit his carrots and the kitty cat his treats and takes vacuuming very seriously too of course.

Little boy is still being nursed like a champ, but also now eating real solids, pretty much whatever we eat, especially if it is spicy: like rucola pesto, spagehtti bolognese with garlic and italian spices, garlic in general. Cheese, glorious cheese! Especially goat's cheese. And plain yogurt is still number one.

Little Mr. coordinated with an amazing sense of rhythm, dances to the sound of anything, sometimes even to the sound of nothing, hears his own music. Just discovered spinning in circles, flaps his arms like wings and stamps his feet when excited, or throws his arms down straight with fists and straightens his whole body like a lightning rod.

Litte love bug, loves to hug and gives kisses. If mama is squatting he comes running and bops and hugs her from behind! Love bug kisses pictures of animals and favorite things in his picture books, nearly every page he finds something to kiss. Love bug loves kissing mama too, all big open mouthed kisses :)))

Street Life Festival

We went to the Street Life Festival in Munich where Stabil was playing (musician friends of Christian). Here are some photos snapped by their photographer.










We went to the Street Life Festival in Munich where Stabil was playing (musician friends of Christian). Here are some photos snapped by their photographer.

These 14 months

Dear Joshua,

You are on the brink of turning 14 months old. It has been a while since my last post, so here is finally another update. So much has been going on. You are so inquisitive and curious about the world around you and so excited about life, it is a pure joy for me to watch you grow. You are all over the place now and understand so much. Unfortunately for me one of your new favorite activities is carrying objects through the apartment and putting them away, somewhere where they don't "belong". If I open a drawer or bag, or put on a shoe, Lord only knows what I will find.
On May 3rd you said vacuum for the first time - sounds like babum....you have a passion for it and love to push it around. You even cuddle with the thing! On May 5th you clapped for the first time! You were so excited to discover you could do it! Now you are getting really good at it. Since then you keep pointing at your hand wanting me to tell you what it is (hand). You are also learning to eat with your spoon. You can spend long stretches over your food just manipulating the spoon and bowl, I even often give you a clean spoon and bowl to play with in your high chair....this is a much cleaner option for mama, then having to clean the entire area you are seated including you! Your favorite food is still yogurt, but you have stopped liking avocados, unless mixed in with something. Meat, potatoes, veggies blended are great, or just veggies is good too. Fruit is not your thing at all. Cereal isn't either unless a good portion of yogurt is in it. You don't like anything sweet, only savory. Getting you to drink water is going better, but the best drink of all (and as far as you are concerned, the only drink) is mama's milk. You are into noodles finally and also true to your Bavarian birth: fresh baked Brezen and Weisswurst.
One thing you have done a few times, which I have found disturbing, is you gag yourself with your spoon. You do it repeatedly...even though your face shows displeasure, you find the sensation oddly fascinating and are compulsed keep doing it....hmmm....Grandma Detroit says it is such a boy thing!

You are becoming more assertive (sometimes even aggressive) about getting what you want. Like yesterday, you wanted the paper towel roll cause this is a new passion of yours. You were yelping for it, so I finally let you play with it, saying okay but it is not for eating, but then you started to eat it....so I took it away. You were hopping mad. I explained to you that it is not for eating and gave you a cooking spoon instead which you immediately chucked on the floor, offended. I ignored it/you. Today you started screeching for the paper towel roll, I distracted you with other things one after another but you kept coming back for more.

Like most kids, you love going outside to play and the playground/sand is so exciting, but for you the biggest kick is walking around, just walking around. Unfortunately for mama you like to walk out of the park, leaving the park and going back in again and again is just too cool! Along the way you stop and look at the flowers on the ground. You squat down and get real close to the daisies and stroke them. You are captivated. You picked one or two today and I asked you if you wanted to give it to mama. You did and were so proud : ) You love to go up to big trees and touch the bark. You notice tiny details that I overlook, until pointed out by you. It is amazing what a clean slate you are and how you so easily take in the multitude of impressions around us.


On Mother's day, papa took you and Leo to the Wasserspielplatz (water playground) in Westpark. Just in your diapers you played in the sand and water, running in and out, in and out, and in and out of the water. You just couldn't get enough. After your diaper weighed about 20 pounds papa took it off and you ran off to play your bucket buck naked : )


I am amazed at how well you can entertain yourself, for good stretches too. This is great for us at the office. You are also so adored by the students and faculty alike and Patricia (my counterpart) loves you. One of the students has started babysitting you at JYM. Sarah and you have a natural affinity for one another and she plays with you, reads to you and takes you on walks or to the park. You make each other laugh.
You even have found your own task at the office. You carry the printed papers from the copier to whoever printed, i.e. to either mama or Patricia. It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing when someone prints something, you drop everything to go take care of your duty! It is one of the sweetest things I have ever witnessed.
Anyhow, I am growing as person as I grow as a mother. You are learning so much from me, but I am learning as much if not more from you too.
Love, your Mama
(These pics were taken just outside our apartment)

Following commands

Dear Joshi,

You are understanding sooooo much now, and are starting to be able to carry out commands. No-nos are getting better. Yesterday, I asked you to bring me the remote control (you had it in your hand on the otherside of the room). You came over immediately with a big smile and gave it to me! I was so proud of you.
Today, I asked you to give me a kiss and you did! I asked you again and I got another careful opened mouth kiss.
You also helped feed the bunny rabbit and carried a carrot from the refrigerator to the bunny cage and dropped it in, when I asked you to do so.
Such a smart cookie!

Big smooches,
from your mama.

Springtime and Tempertantrums

Dear Joshi,

Spring is in full swing and I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that you are/will be a temper tantrum baby. You are very strong-willed and when you want something, you want it! If anyone tells you no, or takes it away, you throw a crying fit. This has been going on for a number of weeks now, but since you turned one it has really taken off. If I am holding you and go to put you down and you don't want to be, you throw yourself on my feet and tug and cry. If I try to walk even one step away, you throw yourself on the floor and scream. As much as you are gaining in independence, you are still very attached to mama and cling to me like a little monkey.
You have also started bucking and screaming not to have to go into your baby carriage or sometimes your high chair, even if the second before you were happy about the prospects of going out or eating. We have regular battles on the changing table as well, as often I am in the middle of changing your diaper, you decied we are done and start to turn over, always at the most inconvenient moment. Mommy has to hold you down and that makes you roar.
In general you are very well-behaved, you go for long stretches of being very amiable, charming and darling....and then when least expected, you let your beast-side show....
You get impatient with objects also, when they don't do what you want...like you were trying to put one of your push toys with a stick up in the high chair. You were holding the stick at the very top and your arms weren't long enough, this ticked you off and you were cursing the toy until mama came to help you out. Once the toy was up in the high chair you were happy.
You have taken to taking down the dish towels hanging on the cabinet, you can reach the towel and pull no problem, but the handle is just out of your reach. This was a problem when you tried to hang the towel back up and you couldn't reach. You were yelping about it until mama helped you.
You have discovered that remote controls control the radio and or tv. It is funny to watch you commandingly pointing the remote at the television, like a King, not realizing you have push a button at the same time. Even funnier, you have started carrying the cordless phone around trying to turn on all kinds of things by pointing it.
Today the kitty cat went and sat in front of his cabinet where the treats are. You know this and were trying to open the cabinet for him to get him his treat. I died laughing it was so cute! Mommy of course helped you and got a treat out and let you give it to Erasmus.
Because the weather has been so nice again, we have been going out to the park and you love to play in the sand! Sand is so fascinating for you, you love to pick it up and watch it fall out of your hand, again and again. So far, thankfully, there have been no temper issues at the park.
Love, your mama

The Band

At his second birthday party, Joshi forms his first band with his brother and friends...providing equipment from his new music set

Brothers : )

Diapers on the move!

Joshi is still wobbly when he walks but he is getting pretty stable. Here he is carrying around one of his favorite items, a tube of baby cream.

walking and talking

Dearest Joshi,

You are now walking all over the place, ever since your birthday. Indoors and outdoors. Papa loves how when you get to the doorwell from the hall into the kitchen or living room you stop and slowing go over the mini-step like a ballerina dancer. You are actually very careful in most things you do.

Going back to work, challenging happy to take you with me, but you are doing a great job so far and are able to entertain your self for good stretches of time so mommy can work.

Your latest passion is playing with tubes of baby cream. You have discovered how to open them with your teeth and then you eat the cream, by accident, that is not actually your goal. I have a couple of empty tubes which I allow you to play with cause there is no cream that comes out. You happily play with these for long stretches.

You are into eating non-food things, but act disgusted by actual food. Mama has a hard time understanding why you want to eat the foam edge protection from the coffee table, or a piece of kleenex, but trying new foods disgusts you before you even take it in your mouth.

Your absulute favorite toy and disctraction is the dyson vaccum cleaner, you take an attachment and vacuum and play vacuum the floor and/or furniture along side along side mama. You never tire of this either! Mommy's guitar continues to be your other big excitement. You also like papa's saxophone and mama's clarinet. All super fascinating. You even played your music set while mama played the guitar, backing her up. You were so proud of yourself.

On April 6th you first tried to say the word avocado, twice in a row! And you have said it a few times since, it sounds something like Vaaa Kao
Today (April 13th) you said the word eyes. In general ou definitely talk a lot, you are constantly babbling and chattering in what sounds like a foreign language.

You love to rock out to music and anything at all that makes a rhythm. It is sooooo cute! I try to capture it on film, but that has proven difficult, as you are then distracted by the looming camera.

Love you my sweet pea,
Mama

1 Year Old! Happy Birthday Baby : )

Checking out your new bobby car - from mama and papa

Dearest Joshua Miles,

Today, you are one year old!!!! I can't imagine where this last year has gone, but gone it has...the first year of your life! It has been a wonderful year and privilege to watch you grow and develop. I have been so blessed to be able to take a year off from work to be with you (and your brother) full time in this crucial year. German laws are great when it comes to having babies, the government paid us 67% of my income to stay home and take care of you. But now it is back to work, and until we find sufficient day care, you are coming to the office with mama.

Today we had a lot of your baby friends over for a party in the morning, in total 6 babies (all around a year old) and 6 mamas . Unfortunately, just in time for your birthday, your papa got real sick, a nasty virus. I have been hoping and praying you don't catch it. Anyhow, you made it through the day without catching it. Papa stayed home from work and was quarantined to the bedroom. The first thing you discovered this morning was your bobby car in the living room with a big bow on it. You seemed to like it well enough, even if you haven't figured it out yet.

From our play group you are the youngest, Paula is one month older and Max two months. We have been meeting regularly with the mamas and babies from my birthing class. You are the oldest there, two weeks after you follows Lilo, then Maximilian, 3 weeks after you is Janick and a little more than a month after you came Paul. All these babies came to your babyparty. You didn't like your cake one bit, as I knew you wouldn't, you don't really like anything sweet. The other babies ate some of it, it was a carrot cake sweetened with apple sauce and cream cheese sweetened with agave frosting. The mamas all had double chocolate brownies that I made and chili with cornbread for lunch. In the evening we lit another candle for you and your cake, I hoped you would at least play with it. Instead it landed on the floor : ) Ah well, maybe you will be more in to cake for your second birthday!

Saturday we have a party planned with the Bittls ( Lena, Bernhard, Mareile and Charlie) as well as the Piacentinis (Christian, Tina, Valentino and Marcel) - you get two birthday parties! Hope we don't spoil you totally rotten : )

Lots of love, Your Mama

Showing your sceptical side : )

Gorgeous Boy

11 months and still a baldy!

PLAYING WITH MAMA'S CELL PHONE

Dear little Joshi,

oh where, oh where has all the time gone? It is hard to believe at the end of this month you will be having your first birthday! It's crazy!
Meanwhile here are a few notes on you:
You have started pointing at everything which gets your attention...you always say, da...or des....
and look at me with questioning eyes cause you want to know what it is. You ask the same items in each room with a persistent regularity. You can show mama where her eyes and nose are, but haven't gotten it down to showing us where your nose is yet.

You protest and fight sleep like none other. We believe you have a special talent for staying awake, and even after you fall asleep, staying alert as to whether mama is still next to you or not.
You have started walking a bit, but still prefer to crawl...it is more secure and faster, however you have developed a funny method of crawling on your feet and hands with your butt in the air, so that your knees aren't touching the ground. Or the variation crawling on one foot and one knee. It is hilarious.

CRAWLING JOSHI STYLE

When you don't want to eat what I am giving you, or you are full, you hide your eyes with your hands...you think, if mama can't see me, she can't feed me. This makes me hysterical.
You got your sixth tooth (upper front) finally end of February....you have been using your teeth to bite (crackers, mommy's shoulder, etc....)You have taken to grabbing the spoon with your teeth and not letting go, while grinning ear to ear, you look like popeye the sailor man.

Your absolute favorite foods lately have been plain yogurt and avocados. You usually have plain yogurt for breakfast. You are still not eating anything other than rice crackers by yourself. Anytime I give you food to self feed, it all lands straight on the floor! It would seem you want to have mommy feed you a bit longer still.

NOODLES FOR PLAYING

As for the rest you are just now starting to grow some hair, very slowly....your peach fuzz is getting longer. But for now you are still my little baldy and I love it : )) I love smoozing on your soft little head.

Love, your adoring mama

Future musician?

First steps!

Yesterday afternoon, Joshi took his first steps! He was so proud of himself! It will be no time now before he is walking : ) He is still practicing his standing and isn't so steady yet, but he is already attempting to walk, it is cute!!!!

Joshi and his step stool : )

10 months and counting!

WEARING JEANS RAPPER STYLE

Dear Joshi,

Yesterday you turned 10 months old. This last month of development has been nothing short of amazing. It is sad at the same time too, to watch you get so big, you are starting to loose your baby-ness and starting to turn in to a toddler. As much as I am looking forward to your getting bigger and learning so many new things, I am also at the same time sad to let the baby you go, cause it was such a wonderful time. I do think though, having a baby is so much work and so exhausting as well as enlightening, if it weren't for the fact that the time flies by so fast, I don't think most parents would survive it.

This last month has been both wonderful and difficult, as I suspect most of parenthood is. What has been difficult for us is you being sick pretty much since before Christmas....until a week in to the January you had a stomach virus and after only five days or so of being pretty healthy, you got a nasty cold...that has been going on for about two weeks now. Teething has been really bugging you, especially having a cold to go along with it. You are therefore extremely needy and attached to mama most of the time like a suction cup. Sometimes, I can hardly leave the room without you having a melt down, as your separation anxiety and need for comfort are going on full force. If you wake in the night, if Papa goes to calm you down, you are super upset, cause you want mama actually. Even if he is holding you and I am next to him, that is not enough....you want mama and you scream and cry until you are in my arms, then all is well with the world again. Total mama's boy.
Since you have figured out how to stand up in your crib, it has been even more difficult to get you to sleep....you fight sleep as it is, even if you are dead tired, are rubbing your eyes and are nearly asleep, you decide to flip over and pull up to standing and crying to come out. I lay you back down, kiss you and tell you to go to sleep, then I rub your belly/head or hold your hand - let it go, let you try to fall asleep (and this is after nursing and rocking in the chair for 30-45 minutes. We do the up, down, up, down game for a while (if you keep getting up, I leave the room, let you stand and cry for a minute or two) come back in and say Joshua...it is time to go to sleep now and lay you back down. This whole thing went on for two hours the other night (with your mama getting madder and madder!) Finally I told you in no uncertain terms, mama wants you to go to sleep now! You complained a bit, but I did not budge, and you dared not get up again, you laid there for about 10 minutes staring at me with your blinking eyes until you finally, finally fell asleep. It was January 12th when you first figured out you could stand up in your crib (you have been standing everywhere else much longer, but without the sleeping bag around you of course) and you have been doing the crib standing-instead-of-sleeping, thing ever since. You even stand up in your sleep or half sleep! Anyhow, you end up in our bed after hours anyhow, and as long as you are next to mama, you sleep pretty sound. Even though you are 10 months old now, you are still nighttime nursing with the gusto of a 4 month old. I am considering night weaning you pretty soon here, in hopes it will push you to detach a little bit from mama, only enough to let others care for you as well, that is.

YOUR ANGELIC LOOK WEARING YOUR NEW HAT

You are developing like mad...it seems like nothing was happening for so long with the mobility and now it is like the flood gates have been opened and in this ninth month there has been no stopping you (okay, not like we would try really)! You started really crawling around and exploring on January 3rd, this was the first time it occurred to you that you are mobile and can determine where you go. You discovered you could follow mama when she leaves the room (instead of sitting there helplessly crying) on January 8th, when you followed me and the vacuum cleaner around the place. Since then that has become one of your favorite activities. If get out the vacuum you come "running". On January 10th it was the first time you realized you could leave Mama and go off elsewhere. We were in the bathroom and apparently it got boring for you so you ventured off into the hallway.
In the kitchen we have a plastic stepping stool. You love to play with it. You discovered you can pull up on it and since January 21st you have been pushing it around the kitchen, practicing your walking on your own. Since this last Monday, January 31st, you have been practicing standing on your own... when Mama is sitting on the floor you crawl up to me, let me help you up to standing and you push my hands away and practice standing by yourself. And you giggle caused you are so pleased with yourself when it works. You usually hold out about 5 seconds, but today you did it for a whole 30 seconds! It was so adorable with how pleased you were with yourself. I praised you and kissed you and told you what a big boy you are. You also practice walking around the apartment with Papa (mama refrains from this usually in order to save her poor back : ) )
You also have been waving to everyone, more to say hi than bye-bye actually...it is so cute, even strangers we meet in the store, you wave hello to them.
You have been really interested lately in exploring mama and papa's faces...which is sometimes annoying but still cute...You pull on ears, are fascinated with sticking your fingers up our noses and in our mouths, scratching on our teeth. One thing I have to commend you on, as wriggly as you are in all your mobility, you are still able to sit on mama's lap and hold still while she trims your finger nails. You only try once or twice to grab at the scissors, but I tell you, let mama do it and you do! I am always so proud of you for this and I tell you so :)
Other activities you really enjoy are: following the cat around, visiting and pounding on the bunny cage, looking at your books ( you love to stand at the sofa table where all your books are piled and look through them one by one, discarding them afterwards to the floor naturally) and playing with Papa's old turntable .
I wonder if in my next post, I will talk about how you are starting to walk!

Love, your adoring Mother

BITING YOUR LITTLE LAMB'S BUTT

STANDING ALL BY YOURSELF - SUCH PRIDE!

Fun with hairbands

Joshi with vaccum

Leo, Joshi and Erasmus

This 9th month

Dear Joshi!

Your papa and I are continually awed by your lightening speed development. You learn so many new things each day and seem to understand more and more. It is like you are a sponge just soaking it all up. You understand so many words now. Like cereal, guitar, necklace, lion, little lamb, dream catcher, bath, book, hungry, mama's milk, no no, brother, papa, mama, kitty cat, bunny rabbit. These are the words you noticably recognize. In other words, if I ask you where is mama's guitar you turn and look to where it hangs on the wall.

You had taken a while to head shaking, possibly because of the visual stimuli, the rhythm of it. You shake it while singing and find it very funny when we copy cat you. You also love to at play banging on the table, this is most fun when mama or papa also pounds on the table in imitation. You love that game. We took you to the Deutsches Museum, to the kid's play area, where they have a bunch of instruments. You found it great to bang on the hand drums and the piano : )

When mama plays her guitar now, you insist on playing to...there is nothing that quite excites you like the sight of mama's guitar, swimming and bath time come pretty close, but the guitar definitely wins.

You are crawling, pulling up, cruising furniture. And despite being sick so often (for most of the new year so far!) whether it be with a cold or virus, or getting your teeth, you are in such good spirits most of the time. You now have since the beginning of January gotten 3 of the 4 upper front teeth. This hasn't been much fun for you and has made sleeping really difficult.
Putting you to sleep for naps or for the night has been difficult since the beginning. Sometimes you really fight sleep, sometimes you have trouble falling asleep. It always involves much coaxing, love and support from mama and some tears (sometimes lots of tears) on your part. Even though we have you in your own crib in the evening (until we go to bed) you do go to sleep alone even if you still sleep best next to mama. Usually around midnight, if you are still in your room, you insist on going to mama and papa's bed. You are still nursing quite a bit and show no signs of wanting to stop or give that up! You eat pretty well, but mama's milk is still simply the best. Your favorite foods right now are avocados and anything with potatoes.
You also now dance and kick when we listen to music, especially to your favorite songs. It is so cute!
Love you bunches
Yo Mama

9 mos - Crawling to and pulling up on mommy

Happy New Year and Nine Months Old!

Dear Joshi,

You turned 9 months old on New Year's Eve and saw your first fireworks. You woke up because they were so loud...and we watched them from the kitchen window together. You thought they were cool, but were also quite sleepy and kept burying your head in my shoulder between curious glances. I was happy that you weren't afraid cause they were quite loud and plentiful!

Now we are a couple of weeks into the New Year and you have made a major leap in development on all levels. It is a whole new ball game now. You are crawling all over the place. It took you a while to actually realize what it means to be mobile, i.e. that you could determine where and when to go, that you could follow Mommy or leave Mommy. It was so cute to watch you make these discoveries.

You are able wave at people, although this surprised me, cause all of a sudden you could just do it, without any conscious effort on any of our parts to teach you to do it. You took me by surprise just a day or two ago, when I took you for a walk and we stopped in Wöllingers for a drink and to get warm by the fireplace, and you waved to (and flirted with) the older couple at the table next to us. I was asking myself, when did you learn to do that? I thought maybe it was a coincidence, but since then you have been waving hi and bye to people quite regularly. Stopping in front of the hallway mirror the other day, you waved to both of us : )

Mama is so much looking forward to this new year with you. All the things you will yet discover, all the things you will learn in 2011!

Lots of love, your Mama