Doctor's visit

I took Joseph to a well-baby visit at the doctor today. He is 35 inches tall (95th percentile), weighs 29 lbs (80th percentile,) and his skull circumference is 19 inches (90th percentile.) That is pretty technical, but some of you are interested, I know. The doctor said he is doing well and is very bright. At first Joseph was friendly with the doctor, but then was scared of the stethoscope. The shots were the worst part, of course. Luckily when we were leaving he was pretty calm. It was actually very funny when we were just about to go because I was spelling our last name to the receptionist and then Joseph started saying 'AB, AB' with a big smile on his face. He is just so funny!

We're almost there

With potty graduation that is. For those of you reading who don't know I am doing early potty training with Joseph, also known as Elimination Communication (EC.) You can read more about it here. He is 20 months old and hasn't really pooped in his diaper since he was 5 months old (just three days after I started EC with him was the last consistent time; after that only five or so accidents.) We were doing really well with him peeing in the potty too, until he was about one year old. Then it seemed like he figured out that I would leave him alone if he stopped 'communicating.' He did always seem to tell me when we were out though, until recently. So last Friday I took the plunge and put him in underwear full time (at home) except at night, even during his naps. It is going very well. We are having about one wet per day. Yesterday I was getting him ready for the store and I wanted to put a diaper on him and he asked for underwear instead! This morning we went to mom's group and he stayed dry the whole time and this afternoon I am taking him to the doctor, and I think I am going to put him in underwear then too.

Knitting Success

I am proud to say that I have successfully sized up a sweater pattern. The sweater that I made for Joseph only had directions for up to 18 months, but I wanted to make it in size 2T. I was stuck on this problem for a long time and then I happened to read somewhere, quite by accident, that the armhole shaping (which is where your armpit is) is always 1 inch whether for a baby, child, or adult. It seems strange, but it really is true, and you will see this if you compare patterns. Anyway, from there I just increased the number of stitches proportionally, and left he armhole shaping and neck shaping the same size (because that was also the same size of 4 inches wide in all of the smaller sizes.) TA-DA- here it is, a 2 T size sweater! I took a photo of the old sweater that is size 18 months laying on top of the new sweater for comparison ( If you click on the photo you will get a bigger image and actually be able to see that it is two sweaters.) Obviously I used the same yarn- I just love that leaf green!

Finishing up projects

I have been finishing up projects this week. So far I finished a sweater for Joseph, a hat that I made for someone (who for the moment shall remain nameless,) and a french children's story that I copied and re-drew. Here are some pictures of those things. Joseph is wearing both the new sweater and the gift hat. There are sixteen pages to the story, but I am only going to show two here. I got a laminator for Christmas, which I wanted so that I could start laminating my illustrated stories for Joseph.

Happy Birthday Mem!

Today is my Mom's birthday and Joseph and I wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Here is a video where Joseph says happy birthday. The other day was my sister-in-law Nicole's birthday also. I have been singing to Joseph a lot lately, so I sang happy birthday before calling her because I thought he would like it. Today when I told him it was Beppe's birthday and sang it, he started talking about A Cole (which is how he says aunt Nicole.) Toddlers are truly associative thinkers.

Getting used to the Cold

I think I am getting used to the cold now that it has been really cold for a week. This morning was my mom's group at the church down the street. I normally walk and wanted to walk this morning, but it was 0 degrees F outside. I looked up on the internet how cold is too cold to take kids outside and read that if it is not too cold for yourself, then it is fine for kids too. So I bundled us up completely, put Joseph in the ergo in the front carry position and headed out. It really was fine, and we were both toasty warm when we got there. I'm really glad I went too- it is nice for both Joseph and me to get out and see people. When we went home it was 12 degrees F, and really felt warm compared to earlier. I decided it would be good to take Spot for a walk right away, and Spot was very happy about that. We took a 15 minute walk and it was beautiful with all of the snow on the branches of the trees and bushes. By the time we got home Joseph was asleep and completely warm, including his cheeks and nose. So, I guess now we are real Midwesterners!

Sitting at the table

Joseph can sit at the table! He climbs up on the chair, and sits safely all by himself, and as you can see is quite happy about this. This photo is of him the very first time he got in the chair by himself.