Joseph

I didn't think much of this picture when it was first taken, but I am in love with it now that I have stumbled on it almost a year later. I can see my sweet Joseph in that puffy newborn face and I love that he is looking into my eyes through his drowsy-looking eye slits.

Joseph doesn't get as much face-time on this blog as he ought to, so here is a post dedicated to getting to know 11-month old Joseph.

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For the last several months Joseph's favorite activity has been shutting doors. Before he could crawl, he would roll over to the door, and laying on his back would push the door shut with his legs or arm. When he learned to crawl he would head-butt the door closed. That progressed to shutting the door by walking on his knees with his hands against the door. And now that he walks, Joseph likes to walk the door nearly closed, then swing it open again, then walk it closed, and over and over again. He has slammed his fingers enough times to know that he needs to be cautious -- when the door is nearly closed he'll squint his eyes shut and wince a little, as if preparing himself for the pain of getting his fingers smashed.

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Joseph is very interested in doing 'big boy' things. He wants to drink from a cup (and not even a sippy cup, but a real, open-topped cup. It's a very messy endeavor.), and he also wants to scoop his own food with a spoon. He doesn't usually get much into his mouth, but likes to practice anyway.
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Joseph can say "Uh-oh" (it sounds more like "Uh-uh", but with the inflection used in "Uh-oh") and he can say "Daddy". All beloved objects = "daddy". He gets really excited when he sees Ian's bunny unattended and within reach, and he exclaims "daddy!" with lots of affection as he moves towards it.

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I tried to get Joseph to put his two words together one day, and said "Uh-oh, daddy!", hoping he would repeat it. Scott was at work at the time, but Joseph immediately turned toward the entrance to the room we were in, looking excited at first and then confused, probably because he was expecting to see that daddy had just walked in. It was really cute to see that Joseph understood what "uh-oh daddy" could have meant in that circumstance. (Now whenever Joseph drops something he says 'uh-oh daddy!').

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I often say "uh-oh, Ian" when Ian "makes a bad choice", like, say, hitting his baby brother with a spatula. So when I tried to get Joseph to practice saying "uh-oh, Ian" Joseph quickly turned to face Ian while leaning away from him, with all the instinct that a younger brother possesses.

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Joseph is getting steadier on his feet, and looks less like he is marching than he did at first. He still topples over frequently, and for some reason, all the bruises are on the left side of his head. Perhaps that side weighs more? At any rate, the bruises do little to blemish his irresistibly cute face. I hear regularly that he looks like the Gerber baby (even Ian asks to see 'Joseph' on the box of baby cereal) and twice in one week elementary age boys asked if they could "pet my baby's head". Like I said, he is irresistible!

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Joseph is also starting to put on some weight. He has always had a lean build, but favoring the skinny side of lean. In the last two weeks he has starting drinking his bottles instead of just squirting the carpet. And without much coercion he now consumes near the recommended daily amount of formula. People have been commenting on his chubby cheeks and rolly thighs all week. And the chubbier Joseph gets the more I can see resemblance to Ian's baby pictures.

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Joseph loves a blanket his Great Mama (my grandmother) made for him. His favorite is actually the one made for Ian (big surprise) but his own yellow version is also well loved. Just this week he has started wandering into his room to retrieve it from his crib and drag it around the house. It is so adorable how he lays his head on it immediately when I put over my shoulder, or how when he finds it on the floor, he lets out a gleeful noise and then flops his body down on it and lays there for a minute.
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Joseph also loves binkies. It is not uncommon to see one in his mouth and one clipped to his shirt, for backup.

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There recently was an incident that involved Joseph eating in his high chair and a very large pile of... feces... under his chair. So we did what anyone would do: Scott took him outside and hosed him and the chair off at the same time. Joseph loved it.

It's hard to believe Joseph is only a few weeks from his first birthday!