Pittsqueak

Thankful for a Sibling!

2008-11-27T19:47:00.004-05:00

Josiah (and the rest of us) have an extra reason to be thankful.

"Hmm... Why's everyone paying attention to this shirt?"

Puzzling

2008-07-30T14:46:00.000-05:00

This kid has amazed us with this puzzle. He has almost completely memorized the positions of the 45 pieces, he recognizes most of the states' names, he says quite a few of their names (Mississippi is a favorite), and he can put it together by himself if we tell him which piece he should place next. When we mention a state in conversation, he interrupts with a loud, "That's in the America puzzle!" Oh, and he says he will move to Africa some day. According to him, it's in Michigan.

Okay...

2008-07-28T14:53:00.000-05:00

He wanted to go out in the pouring rain. I gave him a swim diaper and an old jacket to ward off the chill. He had a blast.

Sleepyhead

2008-07-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

Can you tell someone just woke up?

He's Out!

2008-07-24T13:59:00.000-05:00

Disturbing

2008-07-22T14:56:00.000-05:00

The boy asked me to make a duck. When I gave him a knife, he said "I cut the duck." This was the result. Jeremy is proud.

Boy Teaches His Grandma How to Play

2008-07-20T14:52:00.000-05:00

Watch this part carefully!

You need to play with utmost care!

Playing It Safe

2008-07-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

He wanted to watch fireworks. He wanted to like them. As the booms were wearing his bravado thin, he begged to watch from the car. Here, he's standing in his carseat, looking out the back window. In his words, "That is better!"

Cheese!

2008-07-16T14:44:00.001-05:00

So he's a goofball. What can we say?

A Boy and His Grandpa

2008-07-14T14:41:00.000-05:00

This kid adores all of his grandparents. (Probably because they adore him.)

Boy and Grandpa Survey the Crowd

2008-07-12T14:40:00.001-05:00

The night was full of adventure for a little boy.

Vintage Boy

2008-07-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

I've captured vintage footage! My recording of him never goes as expected, but this time that was a good thing. He inserted several idiosyncracies into a very small amount of space. First, he is excited about singing his “goofy song.” Then he asks, “The goofy song is...?” the way he usually asks questions lately. The Mary Poppins song is perfect for him because it combines silliness with long words. He says the word and we start to sing it, but then he interrupts with, “I want to sing it on the camera.” I'm not sure why that was suddenly so exciting, but it still shows his typical personality. When I drop off for him to pick it up, he says “sound of” correctly, but then he launches into song babble. He keeps the basic tune, as much as usual for him, as well as the meter and feel of the song, but the words are nonsense. I try to help him realize when to end the verse with the last supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but he's still going strong. Then almost a full line later, he realizes he's missed his exit, and ends abruptly with the word. I love it! So, if you'd like to meet the boy, this is him in a nutshell.

4th Festivities

2008-07-10T14:27:00.001-05:00

The boy got to hear a live orchestra for the first time. After most songs he would request, "More music?"

Stomp!

2008-07-10T14:17:00.000-05:00

This is another favorite mall activity. This screen has changing graphics that react to the boy's movement.

More Fountain Loving

2008-07-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Loving the Fountain

2008-07-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

The boy already finds enjoyment in throwing our money away.

The Most Wonderful Place on Earth?

2008-07-04T14:27:00.001-05:00

Well, the bookstore ranks close to the top, at least.

Rain Dance

2008-07-02T14:14:00.004-05:00

It was sprinkling, and the boy loved it.

Blowing bubbles

2008-05-06T08:37:00.000-05:00

We've still got to work on technique.

Back to the chalk

2008-05-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

We're enjoying being able to play out back again!

T4G

2008-04-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

The boy found his dad's lanyard and put it right to use.

Diaper Rash?

2008-04-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

This one just had to be recorded for posterity. Somehow the boy got the words diaper rash and bubble wrap confused. I guess the syllables and emphasis are similar. So if you show him this stuff, he may well exclaim, "Diaper rash!"

Learning?

2008-04-26T14:50:00.000-05:00

You could learn a lot if you let the boy read to you. For instance, we've learned that G is for lamb, O is for lemon, W is for food (watermelon), and Z is for animal.

Growing up

2008-04-24T12:39:00.002-05:00

He's losing the baby look.

Bad Idea

2008-03-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

(He's on the couch, by the way.)

Hissing at the Snake

2008-02-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

What? Don't you hiss by scrunching up your face and blowing air out your nose?

Lovin' It

2008-02-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

Play-doh is so cool!

Deputation Here We Come!

2008-02-25T20:43:00.000-05:00

Well, not quite yet, but this is one step closer.

Warmer Days

2008-02-24T20:58:00.000-05:00

The boy enjoyed his great-grandparents' screened in porch.

Goofy Boy

2008-02-23T21:19:00.000-05:00

He was a little excited to get a Mr. Potato Head for his birthday--just a little.

Birthday Anticipation

2008-02-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

He was quite pleased with the train set.

Aunt Chrissy

2008-02-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

The boy loves his aunt "Ha-hee."

Three Generations

2008-02-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

Forgotten Photo

2008-02-19T13:03:00.003-05:00

We took this picture for Christmas, but never posted it here. I went through pictures from the last couple of months and I'll try to get all the postable ones up here over the next few days.

"Singing" ABCs

2008-02-07T13:03:00.000-05:00

The quality of this video is horrible, but the grandparents will want to see it. The boy decided he can sing whole songs (since he's two after all). He gets stuck and sings the h-p part three times before moving on, and he has yet to figure out how to carry a tune. That said, I love it! See if you can figure out what he's saying. When he starts "singing" a new song, it takes Jeremy and me a long time to figure out what he's singing, for some reason.

A Boy and His Great Grandpa

2008-01-30T22:43:00.001-05:00

We got the opportunity to take a "quick" trip to Florida, (with the grandparents and Aunt Chrissy while Jeremy worked on a paper at home) and it was good to let the boy get to know his great grandparents. It was nice to wear short sleeves again for a change, too.

Bookmark for Jeremy

2008-01-19T21:02:00.001-05:00

Enjoying a Christmas book.

Catch-Up

2008-01-16T21:49:00.000-05:00

Well, we've had a little more than a week to recover since our Christmas adventures, which started with a visit to the New York grandparents and ended with the SGI conference. We did manage to get a few pictures along the way.

The boy actually got the concept of opening presents this year, which made it much more fun for everybody.

Howdy, 2008.

2007-12-31T21:43:00.000-05:00

Boy Meets Santa

2007-12-17T22:36:00.001-05:00

...and dreams of a day in the not-so-distant future.

The Boy Greets the Season Cordially

2007-12-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

(Hold on, Mom. I'll be with you in a second. I've got to check this out.)

Pumpkin on the Cob

2007-12-10T21:05:00.001-05:00

The boy enjoys the holiday season.

Creativity

2007-11-29T21:25:00.001-05:00

The boy was feeling so creative that he used his PlayDoh in a completely different way. Hmm...When they pride themselves on inspiring creativity I doubt this is what they have in mind.

Forget Turkey

2007-11-21T12:10:00.000-05:00

This one's definitely a ham.
He found the hat somewhere and came in grinning, yelling, "Hat on!"

Messy Boy

2007-11-17T20:29:00.001-05:00

Brave Mommy

2007-11-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hmm... What should I do with this?

Do the Pumpkin Dance!

2007-11-04T22:46:00.000-05:00

Dreaming

2007-10-31T21:31:00.001-05:00

That's a lot of pie!

I Know I'm Small, But...

2007-10-29T16:18:00.001-05:00

Something still doesn't seem right!

Crazy Kid!

2007-10-22T20:39:00.000-05:00

The boy thought he was quite funny for grabbing his other bib and placing it over the first one. Usually he doesn't like bibs much, but apparently anything he does to himself is fine.

Bonding with Grandma

2007-10-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

Continuing our tour of the neighbor's treasures...

2007-10-11T20:35:00.001-05:00

She has two very different frogs, and Josiah examines one happily and suddenly points and yells, "other hob (frog)!" and goes to that one. Silly? Maybe. Cute? Definitely.

Sign Remnant

2007-10-09T20:27:00.001-05:00

Every once in a while Josiah still decides to use a sign. This time he did flower instead of saying "howoh." He has now converted the vast majority of his signs into words, besides saying many words he never signed. I have no idea how many words he has, but I am quite sure he's in the hundreds somewhere. He's definitely a lot of fun to listen to!

Chimes

2007-10-06T19:12:00.001-05:00

Josiah abuses the local wind chimes.

Multitasking

2007-10-04T20:32:00.001-05:00

Not everyone can study his shadow and take out the trash at the same time!

I'm Reading!

2007-10-01T20:36:00.001-05:00

Now if you'll excuse me...

Hunny By (Funny Boy, JoJo-style)

2007-09-30T21:55:00.001-05:00

This was the boy's breakfast one day. He wanted a baked potato and "beh-buh-bo," otherwise known as vegetables. I'm quite impressed with his tastes. I didn't appreciate baked potatoes until some time in high school, at least.

Happy Pittsley Boy

2007-09-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

I love this picture, and the boy really looks like his daddy here.

Josiah Likes Chickens.

2007-09-16T16:12:00.000-05:00

And he clucks, "Bah-bah-bah!" to them as they go down.

Haircut

2007-08-17T07:14:00.000-05:00

Tuckered

2007-08-09T20:05:00.001-05:00

Cheese!

2007-07-31T20:52:00.001-05:00

Here, Mom, I'll Push the Stroller For You

2007-07-29T21:14:00.000-05:00

Alex and JoJo Enjoy the Turtle Tank

2007-07-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

Kangaroo?

2007-07-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

Hmm...I don't think I've seen you on my lawn either.

Peacock!

2007-07-22T20:35:00.000-05:00

How come I never see you on my lawn at home?

Hey, Alex! Check out those lemurs!

2007-07-21T13:49:00.001-05:00

The boys enjoy their zoo trips together, and they're starting to take an interest in each other sometimes, too.

Sweet Discovery

2007-07-20T20:13:00.001-05:00

Ah, the joys of aquariums and cooperative turtles.

Spoons Are Overrated

2007-07-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Focus!

2007-07-14T21:40:00.000-05:00

When you're on your favorite slide, the one that you yell "dat! dat!" at as soon as you reach the bottom so you can go again, you must approach it very seriously.

So What If I Decided I Like Spinach Today?

2007-07-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

I reserve the right to return to my former position tomorrow.

"Meem" Take Two

2007-07-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Speaking of Josiah's strange words, his weirdest one is probably "memmee," commonly known as maybe. For some reason this word fascinates him, although he doesn't understand what it means. He delights in shouting it out when Jeremy or I mention it in passing. Jeremy was recently singing "A Mighty Fortress" to the boy to calm him before bed. It took Jeremy a while to figure out why the rapidly fading kid suddenly perked up and started chanting "memmee." Repeating the lyrics in his head, Jeremy finally came up with "Dost ask who that may be?" So much for sleeping!

A Boy and His "Meem"?

2007-07-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

Because the boy has a large signing vocabulary, he feels he can choose his new spoken vocabulary luxuriously. If a word strikes his fancy, he might adopt it, so his collection of about 20 words or so is quite a motley assortment. "Meem" (name) is one of his latest casualties, reflecting his new interest in "ah ee," otherwise known as ABC's.

Look, Mom! No Hands!

2007-07-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely he's letting go. No walking, though.

Are You Happy?

2007-07-06T20:49:00.000-05:00

How many times are you going to make me stand here before you're happy with the picture?

Hey Dad, you gotta see this!

2007-06-23T20:24:00.000-05:00

Brush

2007-06-22T21:06:00.001-05:00

The boy is proud of the snow brush he found even if it didn't work so well on his hair.

1 Down, 25 To Go!

2007-06-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

Josiah noticed that his stacking ring resembles his Cheerios, so he has to make sure we know it is an "O."

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

Dads are the best!

The Favorite

2007-06-16T20:11:00.001-05:00

This is Josiah's best-loved zoo experience to date. The penguin exhibit in Syracuse was very well done, and the penguins were taking their job seriously. They made sure to swim right up to the glass and sometimes even interact a little with the kids. Josiah even started to cry when he thought we were leaving them!

Which One's Which?

2007-06-15T20:36:00.000-05:00

Um, excuse me, Mr. Bear, would you mind letting me out?

Up Close and Personal

2007-06-14T13:22:00.000-05:00

Here's one advantage Syracuse's zoo has over Detroit. Not only did he get to see an elephant, but Josiah also got to pet it. (I think he preferred just looking, though.)

Amateur Zoologist?

2007-06-11T15:54:00.001-05:00

The boy has a fascination with almost any animals, and the monkeys at the zoo were no exception. Ironically, some of his favorite things in life require a stone face.

Blocks?

2007-06-07T10:12:00.001-05:00

It's amazing what household objects become!

Why Bother?

2007-06-02T20:59:00.001-05:00

It's a good thing the bib covers my clothes, huh mom?

Parallel Play

2007-05-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

JoJo enjoys having Stelly, who he calls (signs) "girl," come over to play, but he still spends much of their time together ignoring her.

Some Day

2007-05-25T08:45:00.001-05:00

This toy has really piqued the boy's interest in this whole walking business, but why would he want to let go?

The Ideal Dispenser

2007-05-23T12:33:00.001-05:00

This is as far as we've gotten on our quest for the perfect way to serve Cheerios outside of the high chair. If the container is more shallow, it spills its contents; if it is deeper, he can't reach the bottom; and if the hole is smaller, the container becomes a game to extract every Cheerio without eating any. I have yet to figure the kid out, but for now we have a serviceable dispenser, at least.

Pleasantly Making a Mess

2007-05-21T20:55:00.001-05:00

Josiah spreads joy and cheerios throughout the world.

"Up! Up! Up!"

2007-05-18T21:31:00.001-05:00

(Actually, Josiah says, "Ah! Ah! Ah!")

One more old window shot

2007-05-08T22:20:00.000-05:00

Hmm... Why is it snowing in April?

Our Verdict

2007-05-04T14:53:00.000-05:00

As you may know if you've been reading this blog for the past 6 months, we decided to try baby sign language with Josiah. We started with the basics, but we kept learning and adding more signs as he progressed. Now that we have gone much further down this path we are positively thrilled with the result so far. We used some flash cards, as well as Baby Signing Time and Signing Time, all of which Josiah loved, and after several long months we started ticking off the signs. Fast forward to now, and we can't imagine not signing. Josiah would be a different child for sure. He memorizes signs from his videos even if he doesn't know what they mean. He loved learning the colors of the rainbow, and can sign green, etc. if you ask him to, even though he can't identify colors on his own yet. All told, we're right at 165 signs now, and trying to figure out which direction to head next. We only have two Signing Time videos, so we'll probably look there.

Josiah loves being able to comment on his world. He tunes in to a dog's bark or the noise of an airplane in the distance and starts signing the word like crazy. He's less likely to sign about "important" things, like his needs and wants, but he'll usually respond if I ask him what he wants. I guess most toddlers are like that when they learn to talk too, though. Signing has been different from our expectations in a few ways. First, I never thought he'd catch on so quickly and learn so many signs by 15 months. It hasn't been hard for me, because until now I've been able to learn new signs either on the videos or by looking them up online one or two at a time. On the flip side though, I would have thought that if we had 165 signs, we'd be communicating a lot more than we are. I've since learned that the same applies to learning to talk, but even if Josiah understands a word and can produce it, he might not use it when it would help. His first reflex is often still to start crying when he wants something, although signing is helpful in figuring out what's wrong. He's just barely starting to sign mini sentences, like "hear bird," "walk stroller," and "milk, please." If an adult had a vocabulary of 165 words, he'd be doing a lot more than that with them. It's still worth it, just different than I'd expected.

The amazing part is, though, that Josiah is not way above average for kids whose parents keep introducing new signs. The communication we have could be anyone's. Every baby is different, but I'm gathering that Josiah is fairly typical. We've enjoyed this so much that we wanted to update you on our progress and encourage you to think about it for your kids. We haven't been super zealous to teach Josiah, and we were not even very faithful at remembering to sign at the beginning. It did come more naturally as we went along. When we added the flashcards and Signing Time DVD's, he really took off, without much effort on our part. (He watches Signing Time instead of Baby Einstein, so it's not that expensive. A lot of kids have a couple Baby Einstein DVD's.) So, signing is not that hard, and the dividends are great! What do you think?

By the way, the picture is Josiah just finishing his sign for grass as he sees it out the window.

Cheater!

2007-05-03T22:12:00.000-05:00

What's this like if I do it from here? Well, at least I don't have to stand.

Serious business

2007-04-27T15:38:00.000-05:00

We always love the look on this kid's face when he concentrates on his straw.

Looking outside

2007-04-24T08:24:00.000-05:00

The boy loves to check out the action.

Playin'

2007-04-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

JoJo enjoys his favorite toy!

Practicing for Grandma

2007-04-18T07:53:00.000-05:00

The boy has found a new reason to stand and move around, and he likes it very much!

On a much warmer day

2007-04-14T14:55:00.000-05:00

Remembering

2007-04-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed having Aunt Chrissy with us, and the weather was even nice for us some of the time!

Hungry?

2007-04-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

How much quesadilla do you think I can fit into my mouth at once?