Smiles, Signing, Sliding, and Sitting!

This...

is how I start my day. Jealous? :)

From then on, it's nothing but smiles...

and more smiles....

and cuteness.

Of course, we have our serious moments...and sometimes there's crying. I don't have any recent crying pictures because the camera usually nips those in the bud. (Although there is plenty of "crying" when he finishes breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I say "crying" because it's usually fake. Oh, our son is a master fake crier. He can even work up tears! But he usually gives himself away when he looks out of the corner of his eye at you to see if the "crying" is having any effect.) But if you really need a picture to go along with this part of the post, you can just imagine Ben and I crying when Joshua has been up 5 times between 9pm and 1am. That happens alot.

But mostly, it's all fun and games with Joshua...All smiles... and definitely lots of giggles...Yep, that's how my days usually go.

We've been teaching Joshua sign language. So far, he has 'eat' down perfectly. Are you surprised? :) He uses 'eat' for hungry and thirsty, so it takes a little bit of deductive reasoning to tell whether he's hungry or wants some water. He also knows the sign for 'mama'....although that looks exactly like 'eat' too. I can never tell if he is hungry/thirsty or if he just wants me. We're working on that though. His most recent sign acquisition is the sign for 'daddy' (which is an open hand with your thumb tapped on the temple area, kind of like you're pretending to be a moose). And while it may not look pretty, I was thrilled that Joshua asked all day yesterday for daddy.

On a walk last night, we came across a nice little playground and decided that it was high time Josh went down the slide. He seemed to enjoy it!

Finally, this was Joshua sitting at his 12 month appointment...This was Joshua sitting at a doctor's visit last week (just turned 16 months)...Can you see the difference? :)