Joshua's Happenings

I haven't written anything real substantial regarding Joshua lately... I guess I have quite a bit to update. The life of my baby has dramatically risen to the stature of a toddler recently. Here are the top 5 changes in his early life.
1. He has made the transition to a toddler bed. Surprisingly, this didn't come to be too difficult for Joshua. We set it up and talked about it for a few days. Then, I let him play on it. And on the day we made the switch, I just kept telling him how lucky he was to be able to sleep in a big boy bed. It was that easy. I have twice found him on the floor asleep with his head peering underneath the door, but only twice. A few times he comes to the door and cries, but after I explain to him that it's bedtime, he usually falls back asleep in his bed. I made sure to put his rainforest mobile (it lights up and plays lullabys) on the headboard, and occassionally I will wake up to music in the middle of the night on the baby monitor. The mobile was seriously the BEST present I ever received. It has saved me so many hours of sleep. Joshua uses it to self-console and I sleep through it. It's great!
2. He is using a LOT of words. He pretty much knows how to communicate anything he wants or gets excited about and often uses two-three word phrases. He said, "I WANT UP!" the other day, and I think that qualifies as his first real sentence. He also said, "it's being difficult." I don't know how he knew that one, unless I muttered it ahead of time. He's around his cousin Bekah a lot, who he calls 'Caca' and I swear he said, "Caca's annoying."
3. He bit another kid besides Bekah the other day. He's a biter, big time, and it's been kind of a problem. Time out doesn't seem to work, neither does flicking his cheek, and since he bites himself voluntarily--sticking his own hand in his mouth when he goes to bite doesn't seem like a solution either. I'm hoping he grows out of it soon. Poor, poor Bekah. Her arms look abused. But, until this week, Joshua hasn't bitten anybody else (besides me and Jon Mark). He tried to bite my friend's little one year old the other day because of a toy he wanted. What am I to do???
4. He is making the transition to a potty. We bought him a little toilet the other day that he likes to sit on. He pretends like he goes pee by making a "sppp-sppp" sound with his mouth. And, afterwards he'll sometimes wave to the potty and say, "bye-bye poo poo." Or, "bye-bye pee pee." It just depends on what he pretended to do on his potty. I know he is getting to the stage where he should be able to be potty trained because when he has to poop, he stops whatever it is he is doing and makes a beeline for my closet. He then shuts the door and does his business in there. I'm afraid my clothes will start smelling like toddler poop. And, sometimes when I let him run around naked, he'll accidentally pee on the floor and then say, "mom, I peed." Then, he takes me to where he peed and he points. Sounds ready enough, right???
5. He imitates people. His uncle Nick was over the other day and had his hands on his hips. Joshua observed and tried hard to stand with his hands on his hips in the same manner as Nick. Now that I am huge and pregnant, I have noticed Joshua walking around the house trying to stick his tummy way out far. Then, he ALWAYS starts laughing at himself. I think he's imitating my pregnant belly.
Well, I think those are all of the updates for now. I'm getting really excited about seeing how he reacts to Mercedes being born. He's sooo good with babies. He's very gentle and loving. He gets excited whenever he sees a baby and says, "Hi, baby, HI." Then, he tries to stick a pacifier or teether in his/her mouth. I think he is going to be a great big brother. I'm sure we'll have to deal with the whole jealousy thing too, but in the end, I think he's going to do great.