Joey is 4!!

Behold, everyone, for I give you something rarely caught on camera: Joey's real smile, not the "Chandler Bing face" he gives anyone who aims a phone at him and says, "Say cheese!" Unfortunately he had some jelly next to his mouth when I took it, that I tried only somewhat successfully to fix with the Snapseed healing tool before deciding to give it to you in its unretouched glory. 

Joey has me several times, "I can't believe I'm four!" That makes two of us, Joe. I've told him time and time again that he's not allowed to get any bigger; he has to stay little forever. He just grins at me and of course does not listen.

His mouth has been growing faster than the rest of him. He is the king of witty retorts these days. Examples include:

Delaney: Can you pass the ketchup?

Joey: Yes, Your Highness.

Me: Did you toot?

Joey: That's what you paid for!

And this is the one that could get him in trouble: "That's not my problem." I think we all know who he gets that from -- his father. That is Tim's favorite comeback, and his response to pretty much anything he disagrees with.

I am so crazy about this little boy who just the other day, hugged me and said  "Woo-hoo!" when I picked him up from preschool, and who tells me I am his "best ultimate friend", that I can forgive him for almost entirely giving up his nap within the last couple months. I did not give up trying easily, but after a couple weeks of going through the song and dance of trying to get him to go down and stay down, I threw my hands up and said (no, just thought), "You win." But he has been such a bear without naps, the longer the day wears on. Sometimes if I lie down, he will get in bed with me and go to sleep. Other times he just jabbers in my ear incessantly or climbs all over me until I finally tell him naptime is over. On the days that he does nap, he sleeps quite heavily and then has a hard time settling at night. So we're kind of in an awkward phase of not-needing-but-still-needing the afternoon nap. I expect that will pass after another few months.

Most nights after initially going to sleep, he wakes up two to three hours later to go sleep with someone else, usually Annie. Then he started coming to our bed, and since he is so little and cute, we are loath to turn him away. He brings his own pillow, and tucks it right in the middle. For one of his birthday presents I gave him a Twilight Turtle like Delaney's, in hopes that it would help him like his own room better. It didn't. I enjoyed all the stars on my walls last night.

We have done absolutely nothing to move him in the direction of being nighttime potty trained. He continues to soak a pair of Paw Patrol training pants every night. I really need to get over my laziness and start training him the same way we did Delaney and Annie way back when. The thing is, I don't know if he'll be as compliant as the girls were with being woken up and brought to the toilet late at night. It took months of that, and then still having wet laundry in the morning, before it worked for the two of them. I think I might be a little afraid of the specter of a grumpy Joey being dragged out of bed. It is so much easier for us all to just sleep, and for our beds to all stay dry. Why couldn't he have made it easy for me like his brother did, and start spontaneously waking up on his own to go to the bathroom at night? Because he's not Timmy, and Timmy was an aberration, that's why. Before disposable diapers and "training pants" (a misnomer -- they've never helped train anyone) became so cheap, everyone had to do what it took to potty train their kids for day and night, the sooner the better. And as Joey might say, "That's not my problem."😆

I want to talk about something besides Joey's sleeping and toileting habits, so I had to start clicking through pictures to jog my memory. And, a-ha! This is one of my most recent and will be for all time, one of my favorite Joey stories. Tim and I ran the Turkey Trot this year, as we also did last year. The race takes place in our neighborhood, and the route takes us right by our house in the home stretch. Wouldn't it be something to see a kid or two outside cheering us on? Last year, nothing but crickets. So this time on Thanksgiving morning, we made sure they wouldn't forget. "Did I mention already that Daddy and I are going to be running right by this house?... Oh, I did just five minutes ago?" Well, someone was listening. At the end of the 5K, as we were running toward our house we saw a little figure in blue standing next to a race volunteer in our yard. It was our sweet Joey smiling and waving. Tim dashed over to give him a high five, then we ran through the finish line and turned back around right away to go squeeze that boy. And with that, he secured his place as our favorite child.

It makes me a little sad to say, after nine years in our family, the jig is up with Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf. What could I say in the face of his increasingly pointed questions that went something like: "Did you put him there?" "Can I touch him?" "Is he real?" He wasn't buying that it's "magic". So I gave him the truth.* "You're a smart boy, Joe. Chippy is just pretend. Yes, you can touch him." (Sigh) The Big 3 were very much into Chippy for years, but maybe that was because they were all so little? I don't suspect any of our other kids of spoiling Chippy for Joey, but I think that just being around them and all their talking and arguing over just about anything, has maybe made the logical part of his mind develop a little differently. I won't lie, though, I'm a little relieved. It was so hard to stay on top of moving that elf around every night, but I didn't want to stop if it was something Joey was still enjoying. If I were to offer any Elf advice to new parents, it would be, "Don't do it!!" That's what Tim tells all his Marines.

So far, he hasn't asked any pointed questions about Santa, and that's great. Santa is way more popular in our house than the Elf ever was, furthermore, he is real.

Joey loves school. His favorite things to do there include running around the playground with his friends Noah and Ethan. He can recognize his name and spell it. He does not like girls, and shies away from their friendly advances. He's getting better at counting all the time, counts things every chance he gets. Once a month, I pack him a lunch and he stays an extra hour for "lunch bunch". He really looks forward to that. He also asks me all the time when he's going to be the "snack helper" again, because the snack helper also gets bring something for show and tell. His turn for that comes once every month, he does not grasp the concept of time. As with everything else he looks forward to, he keeps asking me when is it going to happen, but doesn't understand my answers.

We celebrated his birthday a few days early because of this upcoming weekend being a busy one with half of us going out of town. He was one excited little man as we sang "Happy birthday" and he got ready to open his presents. Then Tim played a mean little joke on him that started with, "Smell this spot on the cake."😦 Poor Joe was in tears with cake all over his mouth and nose. I didn't take a picture, which would have added to his humiliation. A few moments later, all was well as he was opening all his presents. He even said something about it like, "Yeah, that was great!"

I know that everyone thinks their own child is the most unique, amazing, and intelligent creature to walk the planet, especially in these little years when they change so quickly. Even though he's our fourth four-year-old, I still feel this way about Joe. He makes us all laugh, melts our hearts on a daily basis, and completely wears this 40-year-old mama out.🤣 I am excited to see everything that age 4 holds for him.

______________________
*After all, we're bringing them up in the Catholic faith, which requires belief in things we can not see, and things that don't make logical sense, such as bread becoming the body of Jesus. In light of that, many would say it's never a good idea for us to tell our kids that Santa comes down the chimney and the Elf flies to our house every night from the North Pole. I would disagree. I think that pretending things is OK when they're little, and I cherish my own memories of looking out the window trying to see Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. But when they ask questions, they are ready to hear the truth, and we owe it to them. 

Joey's first field trip, and thoughts on being a SAHM

The weather kept us guessing right up until the last minute, but the rain held off just long enough for Joey to go on his first ever field trip: a bus ride to a farm. Joey would have been thrilled to go on a bus ride anywhere, and in fact when I first signed the permission slip and told him about it two weeks ago, he started looking out the window and asking when the bus was going to come.

So when the big day dawned gray and drizzly, I kept my lips zipped about it even though I couldn't hide my extra air of urgency about not being late.

Knowing that there would be limited space on the bus, I opted to drive separately. His teacher sent me this photo, along with several others. When I put her photos and mine together, I've got the makings for a nice little blog post.

He hasn't stopped talking about the big white bus with two doors.

We got to see ducks, geese, turkeys, cows, goats, sheep, potbelly pigs, peacocks, ostriches, an emu, horses, chickens, llamas and alpacas.

We took a hayride tour around the farm. Joey was fascinated by the tractor's huge wheels.

This is one of Joey's two teachers, Ms. Nikki. She is crazy about the kids, and so sweet to my Joe.

Once the hayride was over, our tour guide showed us the llamas and alpacas, helpfully pointing out which was which. She told us that these ones don't spit, and as if on cue, an alpaca spat on her. Joey laughed and laughed. Farm animals are fine to visit, but I wouldn't want to have one of these ornery things with matted, dirty fur and a penchant for spitting at people, around.

Once the tour was over, the kids played for a little while on the little playground until it was time to leave. Joey wasn't sure what to think about the way the girls fussed over him (look at his fake little smile!). One of their mothers told me that her little girl talks about Joey all the time. I can't blame them; he is kind of irresistible.

I would have just as soon taken Joey home with me after that, but I didn't want to deny him the bus ride back to school.

Looking through the pictures and thinking about what a fun morning we had, has me thinking as I do many times, about how glad I am to be a stay-at-home mom. Tim's career has afforded me the ability to be there for things like this and for a lot of other things, big and small. I can spend a morning seeing a farm through a three-year-old's eyes, or watching my oldest compete in the Battle of the Books. I can be there for the small, ordinary things like books at naptime, yet another game of Uno with a boy who's on an indefinite screen timeout, and running outside to see the baby turtle Joey found out on the driveway. It often feels like drudgery, with the messes, meals, and a never-ending to-do list. But I have all day for the messes, meals and to-do list instead of having to cram it all into a couple hours. To boot, I have a husband who's happy to do errands when he's home, and he'll take a kid or two with him. I can plan my days however I see fit, and in any given one I can allocate time for, in addition to the work, prayer, for rest, for school, for exercise, and for things that recharge my battery like chronicling our life in this little blog. This is a privilege.

I don't know what the future holds. With Tim retiring next summer and everything that comes with it -- getting established in a new place, buying our own house, and getting used to a new way of life (the civilian one😮) -- things are going to change. I may need to go back to work sooner than I might have planned. Maybe I'll even be ready to sooner than I thought. But to have been home all these years, especially through the little years of my kids' lives, is something I wouldn't trade for the world, even though it's exhausting and frustrating, and I'm positive I'm doing things wrong. Making a home -- turning a space into a haven that reflects our personalities and is cozy and at least somewhat clean -- brings me its own satisfaction. This life is the one I always wanted most, and I am embracing it for the time being.

Joey: 3 Years Old

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: someone needs to figure out a way to stop time, because my baby is growing up way too fast, and he is just the cutest right now. Just last night at bedtime, Joey was trying to put back together one of his little cars, and he was fending off Timmy's and my offers of help. He said to me, "Would you please stop saying that and let me fix it?" I cracked up and said to Timmy, "This is three."

We love reading books together. We read about four to six books a day, at naptime and bedtime, and anytime on request. It's supposed to be two at naptime, two at bedtime, but he can often sucker me into one more. He's gotten a lot of nice new books of late, and his current favorite is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is another one he chooses often, and he has it memorized, so he can "read" it to me. It's the best! I have to find a way to record him without him knowing. He really enjoys his Clifford books too. He asks the same questions on the same pages, and in response to the same answers I give him, he says, "Why?" 

Joey is signed up for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and he gets a new book free every month. I don't know who's more excited about a surprise book in the mailbox -- him or me. From them we've gotten The Snowy Day and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as well as The Little Engine that Could, and a couple of others so far. 

He and I have this little game we play right before I leave the room after putting him to bed. He opens his arms wide and says, "Come here." I kneel down by the bed and he either wraps his arms around me or holds my face in his hands. Then he says, "That's not my Mama! Her face is too ... " he searches for a description that he thinks will sound funny. "... bumpy!" I laugh and say, "That's not my Joe. His earlobes are too stretchy." Then we go back and forth for a couple minutes until I say "enough" and extract myself. For awhile he was into a series of Usborne touchy-feely books called That's Not My Truck, That's Not My Tractor, and so on. Each page would say something like, "That's not my truck. Its hubcaps are too shiny." I thought it was the silliest thing, but he was mesmerized. Now it's like our little inside joke. He does it with Annie too. Annie is like a little mama to him, when he allows her to be.

For the past couple months, after it was suggested by Timmy's CCD teacher, we've been going around the table at dinnertime and having everyone share their "roses and thorns." It's intended to be a little exercise in examining our consciences -- to think back on situations we wish we could have handled better, or things we said that we wished we hadn't. In theory it's a nice, small way to help prepare Timmy for his first confession, but in practice it's been an occasion to air our petty gripes (as well as the thing that made us happy). At least it ensures about five minutes of conversation. Joey always wants to go first, and he almost always says, "My rose is fire trucks and my thorn is ambulances." 

Just like the other kids did, Joey is going through a "backseat driver" phase. He tells us to watch out for this or that person or car, and lately he's been asking Tim or me if we have both hands on the wheel. I don't even know where he gets that. Just today, while I was waiting at a light, he said, "Mama, could you back up a little? You're gonna hit that car." What?!? He also regularly asks us to turn the music up or down, or the heat. It's funny, as well as a little annoying.

We've had no more lapses in potty training, and he stays dry all day and through his two-hour nap, as long as he's gone to the bathroom beforehand. I finally got rid of the yucky little potty, and he uses the big toilet with a stool. If I'm there when he needs to poop, he says, "Would you go away and shut the door?" He wears a pull-up at night for now, but I'll try to see if I can't get him nighttime trained by the time he's 3.5. I recently read that once a kid reaches 3.5 and is not nighttime trained, it becomes a lot harder from that point on. Their bladder is trained to NOT hold it. I hadn't looked at it that way before -- that their bladders are being trained one way or the other, even if I'm neglecting to try training them at all. When I think back on my experience with the other kids, I believe that's true. We nighttime trained the girls together at the ages of 3 and 5, and Delaney was the longest to need a pull-up at night simply because we thought she'd eventually figure it out. We lucked out with Timmy waking himself up to use the bathroom at night soon after he turned 3. So if Joey hasn't figured it out by himself in the next few months, I'll have to take action. These darn disposable diapers and pull-ups make it too easy to be lazy.

And now we're off to take him to his first day back at preschool after the break. I'm hoping he takes a good nap afterward.

Joey at 2 and three-quarters (holding onto 2 as long as I can)

You always hear the term "terrible twos", but I love this age on Joey. He continues to delight and amaze me with his growing vocabulary, in that chirpy little voice. He has us all eating out of his hand. The challenge right now is not spoiling him because we love him so.

The other day I was getting really irritated at all the noise, fighting and messiness in our house. I walked into the room and said, "I'm not happy with you guys right now." Joey piped up in his chirpy little voice: "But Mama, are you happy wif me?" I grudgingly said, "Yes, Joey, I'm happy with you -- for now." He replied, "Oh! Then you're not happy wif da kids?" I couldn't help laughing at this little squirt who doesn't think he's 'one of the kids'.

The boys got a haircut from one of Tim's old Marine buddies while we were evacuated to Winston-Salem. I love this picture because it captures Joey's sweet, sociable personality.

His preschool has started back up since the hurricane, even as we're headed into the third full week of cancelled school for his siblings. They've tacked another half hour onto the school days to try to make up for lost time, so now he goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to 12:30. He's always super excited to go, and all the way home in the car he talks about it. His favorite part, of course, is playing with the cars and trucks. Later in October he'll be doing school pictures and a farm field trip. I really like his teacher. She seems crazy about the kids and I often get a text and/or a picture telling me about how he did that day.

Here he is the first day of school.

Here's one of the pictures his teacher sent.

I never want to forget how he uses "my" in the place of "I" in sentences, or still calls a motorcycle a "ga-go". He also calls his prized new ambulance that Annie got him a few days ago an "ajh-wents". I might be encouraging his mispronunciations by using them myself. I've always been guilty of that with my little kids, and somehow they still have always managed to learn the correct way to say things.

He's been a solid sleeper these last few months -- finally, just in time to get a puppy.🤣 They've all been going to bed at 8-ish, and I read him two stories before I turn out the light. He may or may not be listening because he and his brother are busy jumping on the bed.

These next two photos sum up the relationship between him and our three-month-old puppy, Willow, whom we've now had with us for three weeks. He's pretty wary of her still, and she knows he's an easy target for tormenting.

We haven't started potty training yet. I guess I'm holding onto diapers as long as I can too, because they're convenient. But it's right around the corner. He's been showing signs of readiness these past couple months; for example, removing his own clothes and letting us know he's going to poop. He hates being wiped, and not having a messy diaper will solve that problem for him really fast. I had planned to wait till December to start potty training, but I'm thinking I should give it a whirl maybe as soon as next week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Joey has not been a 'terrible two' by any stretch, but he does get in trouble sometimes. Usually it's just a time-out for hitting or being disobedient. He still lets out an earsplitting screech when he doesn't get his way, and he clashes with Timmy all the time. He hasn't been a sneaky troublemaker who flushes things down the toilet and makes big messes. It might be because I typically don't afford him the opportunity because anytime I know he's somewhere by himself being quiet, I send someone to check on him. But there was that one time he slipped through the cracks for a few minutes..

That was about $30 worth of nail polish, and it's a good thing I never had much of a collection. I was mad at Annie because he'd found it all on her bed, and all the while I thought my nail polish was safe and sound on the high shelf of a closet where I keep it. And go figure, the girls had just put a cover on their doorknob with the intent of keeping him out of their room when they weren't in it; and then left the door wide open. Joey was not in trouble for this. And do you want to know how to get nail polish off of skin and blankets? You don't. First you lose your mind frantically texting your mom and sisters, and scrubbing at it in the bathtub until the kid will take no more. Then you put long sleeves and pants on him, and wait for it to come off on its own (every last trace was gone after a few days; every speck came off his hands within the first 24 hours). You wash and dry the plush Pottery Barn blanket and tell yourself you can't really see it anyway. You throw away the quilt, telling yourself you planned on replacing it within a year anyway.

That's all I've got for now. If anyone figures out a way to get him to stop growing up so fast, let me know.

Joey: 2 1/4 (and thoughts on weaning the fourth time around)

It's time for an overdue quarterly update on Joe. I am amazed at how much he's changed even since he turned two. I just love this age on him. He is hilarious with the things he says and does, makes "duck lips" when he pouts, thinks Tim's truck is a "monser truck", and gives the best hugs.

For the record, he is still in diapers and still in a crib. He wears 2T clothing and size 7/8 shoes (cutest little feet ever!). He takes a nap every afternoon for two to three hours, and is in bed every night from about 7:30 to maybe 6 or 6:30. He is not asleep that whole time. He usually cries for me at least once to come cover him up again. (The weighted blanket is heavy, but it maybe, possibly helps him sleep as long as it's on.) Still, we're in a lot better place than we were around the time he turned two. Are we out of the woods yet? I dare not say.

He is getting to be quite the little chatterbox, and he's been starting to use phrases and sentences more. "What time is it?" is his latest favorite. He likes to assert his opinions loudly. This past Sunday in Mass he declared right at Communion time, "No Jesus. Not like-a Jesus."😬 Last night when he was in the bath, I was being silly and acting like I was about to get in with him fully clothed. He said, "No, Mama." I said, "Why not?" "Clothes off."

Bathtime is his favorite. Unlike the other kids who regularly skip a day or two, Joey doesn't miss a night of taking a bath, and sometimes he gets more than one a day if he's had a messy enough diaper (since he is intact and pulling back the foreskin to clean is a big no-no). He'll sit there till the water is ice cold if I let him, filling up the cup, dumping it out, putting the cars in the cup, lining the cars up on the edge of the tub, etc. He hates it when I wash his hair, so I only do that once every few days.

He was getting so fast on his Strider Bike before we moved. I can't wait till he gets it back. He was riding it to the playground and back, and coasting down the little hills.

In the midst of all the chaos of the last month or two, we've reached a big milestone: he is completely weaned as of March 18. And I was (am) OK with it! I didn't get depressed for days like last time, even though I was more apt to since I'm only becoming more sentimental the older I get, and that much less willing to let go of the babyhood of my littlest. I applied the lessons I'd learned from weaning Timmy and did it a lot differently this time. We were already down to just one session, the bedtime one, for several months. Dropping that last session was a big deal to me though, so I had to take it slow. First I started to mention to him frequently at bedtime, that he was getting too big to nurse and we'd be all done soon. I don't know if he understood that at all. This was January or February. In the back of my mind, a deadline was looming; we'll be leaving all the kids with Tim's parents while we go to Quantico for about a week at the end of this month and beginning of May. To say I found this daunting would be a huge understatement.

Then I tried testing the waters, omitting nursing from the bedtime routine. If I distracted him by maybe talking about something, or having someone else come into the room, he'd forget and go to sleep OK. But more often than not, he'd say, "Nurse!" if I tried taking him straight to bed after we'd looked out the window and said goodnight to the ferris wheel and the tree and whatnot. If he requested to nurse, I'd nurse him.

That went on for a couple weeks, and then I started to get more intentional. For two nights in a row, we'd skip nursing, and I'd either distract him and he'd forget or if he remembered, I'd say, "It's not a nursing night." He only got upset once, and between Tim and me, we managed to soothe him. Then the third night I'd nurse him. I worried that this would confuse him, but forged ahead anyway. Dropping it cold turkey like a bad habit the way I'd done with Timmy, hadn't worked out at all for me at all, emotionally or physically. It takes awhile before the milk factory gets the message to shut down, so this gradual approach was mostly for my benefit, I admit. Fortunately he adjusted to this schedule with minimal fuss.

Then I stretched it to every third or fourth night, with him sometimes remembering to ask but most of the time not. I told Tim that I was sure we'd be done for good once we moved out of the house and into the hotel, and we were in new surroundings; and I was right. He forgot all about it and that was that. I feel relieved and a bit wistful whenever I think about it, but all the distractions and busyness of the past several weeks have been good for my coping. Nothing else has changed -- he's still my baby. Whenever he wants to be held or to snuggle up to me, I just drink him in, more grateful than ever for those moments.

Joey is TWO!

I just love this little face.

Our Joe turned two yesterday, and birthdays at this age are the best. The kids all counted down the days almost as eagerly as they count down to Christmas, because they couldn't wait to sing 'happy birthday' to their baby brother and lavish him with gifts and extra love.

We began the day by seeing the Big 3 off to school and heading to the naval hospital for his well visit. Joey is a hale and hearty 25.4 pounds and 33 inches tall. He's sitting just under the 20th percentile for his age. He stood on the scale and put his feet against the wall to be measured, no problem. After chatting with the doctor about what a bad sleeper and picky eater he is, he trotted out the door after her when she offered him stickers. No shots were due so it was an easy appointment.

Back home I got the house in order, made lunch and let him play outside before his nap. He happily pushed around his handmedown Strider Bike friends gave us a few days ago, and the scooter that he's commandeered from Timmy (both of which he's still too small and uncoordinated to use, but no matter). During his nap I baked his cake and blew up a bunch of balloons. When he woke up cranky as usual, I brought him downstairs and he saw those balloons and forgot all about being cranky. First he batted them around every which way, then tried putting them in the cabinets and in the kitchen sink.

Annie and Timmy came home, Tim got home from work early, I picked Delaney up from school where she'd stayed for board game club, and then came back home. When the breakfast casserole stubbornly refused to be done, and Tim and Timmy were going to have to leave for basketball soon, we were left with no other choice -- dessert before dinner!

It was everybody's lucky day. Here is the link to the video of Joey as we sing happy birthday to him. Maybe one of these days Blogger will make it easier to embed videos, but not today. I loved watching his expression as it changed from one of bewilderment to enjoyment.

He ate nearly all his cake and ice cream, and unlike last year, was a very polite young man with his fork. Once we were done with that it was time for presents. It was a bit chaotic, but once the dust settled Joey had some nice new things from us and his grandparents, including a toy truck, motorcycle pajamas, some clothes, books and a Plasma Car. He's got quite the collection of wheeled things now!

At two he seems to be changing at warp speed. I felt like even just driving away from his checkup he was talking even more than he'd been going in. He says short phrases and sentences now, like "Baby crying", "kids school," "Annie meanie", and "Mama, (where) are you?" Whenever I sing he says, "Mama, sop!"

He loves his outside time, and the weather here is beautiful this time of year so we're outside every day. After lunch and before nap I sit out back and watch him play and sometimes follow as he wanders around the grassy area behind our houses. I know my favorite memories are going to end up being those times. Then once the other kids get home from school, he can't wait for Annie to take him to the "gound" (playground). He needs lots of time outside. He turns into a little monster without it.

He really enjoys his baths too, and has one just about every day, many times on request. Every time he poops and doesn't like me wiping him a whole lot, he says, "Bah! Bah!" Sometimes it is easier to just plunk him in the bath than to wipe him completely clean.

He nurses just once a day, right before I put him to bed. As part of our bedtime routine I read him a story and then let him make his rounds giving out goodnight kisses. He goes down easily by 7:30, usually with a little car, truck or train in each hand. Sometimes he sleeps through the night, but more often than not he wakes up once or twice and needs to be resettled. We had a few really bad nights this month that made me desperate enough to reach out the Young Living rep on Oki and order him a weighted blanket from Etsy. Still waiting on the blanket, and my meeting with the busy Young Living rep isn't until the 20th. When I'm not having the really bad nights I don't mind waiting forever, but when he's waking up four, five or six + times in a night, I feel like I wait forever for anything that might give me relief.

He might drive me crazy sometimes, but I sure do love this little man.

Joey: 23 Months

Very early this morning I looked at the clock when I heard Joey whimpering, and thought, It's been four hours. Great! Yep, things have gotten that bad, and our almost-two-year-old is sleeping worse than he did as an infant. I don't know why. No new molars, no big changes, only one very short-lived sickness .. I am stumped as to why we're having these issues. He has no trouble falling asleep when I lay him down around 7, but for about the past week starting at 11 he wakes up as often as once or even twice an hour. I go in there, tell him to go back to sleep and cover him up with his blankie. And he does .. but then a while later he's up again. The closer we get to morning, the worse it gets. Our "Mr. Clock" worked well for the girls with early rising, but it's since gotten old and can not be relied upon to always be yellow or blue at the right times. Then I read yesterday while Googling about toddler sleep, that most nightlights inhibit the production of melatonin. The "soothing" colors of blue and green are the main culprits. Once I read that, I banished Mr. Clock to the spare room, which is just a way to delay throwing it away. I'm so bummed because I'd planned on getting Joey a different kind of clock from Amazon that was newer and better, but I think it's blue at night too. Now I don't know what to do.

I started saving most of Timmy's things around the time I started thinking maybe there'd be another baby, so starting around 2T. I'm so glad I did because I love seeing my favorite things of Timmy's a second time -- like this Superman shirt. He also has a green airplane shirt that is so soft and has three-quarter sleeves which are the best! and so hard to find.

During the day he's pretty much his normal self, although he does tire out more quickly since his nighttime sleep has taken a turn for the worse. He's talking more and more, and starting to put words together too. His word choice in some situations makes us laugh. One time he was begging to go outside, and really getting upset because he was being ignored. "'Side .. 'side .. 'side!" he called, starting to cry. At last Annie said, "OK, Joey, I'll take you outside." "Fine!" he said, instantly done crying.

Once I told Timmy to go upstairs and take a bath, but he was trying to procrastinate. Joey wanted a bath with him so he went up the stairs and called down, "Mee (that's how he says Timmy -- that or just "ee")! Baf! Now!"

He accuses all of us at different times of being mean. "Mean Annie!" "Mama.. mean."

This is the green airplane shirt! And the yucky teeth are from cookies 'n cream ice cream.

At any given time if he's upset and I ask him what the matter is, he says, "Aaaa-niie.." We have a running joke that it's always Annie to blame when Joe's upset, and then I come after Annie threatening her with punishments. "What should we do, Joe? Throw her out?" But at the same time he loves Annie and is most excited to see her when they get home from school.

He still runs like a drunk pigeon, and I love it.

He's started letting me read him books instead of just impatiently flipping back and forth through the pages, and wanting to talk about the pictures.

He's figured out doorknobs.:( Darn it. Must buy doorknob covers and hope those keep him fooled for a good long time.

His current favorite toys are his "ga-go" (motorcycle) and his "dus" (bus). For some strange reason he can pronounce the "b" sound in every other word besides bus. We're giving him a plasma car for his birthday, and I can't wait. We're going to tell him it's a "ga-go".

He wasn't much help looking for sea glass, but he had a blast picking up rocks and shells and throwing them in the water.

Joey: 22 Months

Our Joe.. When he's good he's very, very good. When he's bad he stomps his feet, he snarls, he growls, he throws things, he hits, he glowers and shrieks. Just this morning I had to put up his wooden train set because he was swinging a couple of the tracks at Timmy's head. He exhausts himself trying to compel us to do his bidding. He's waiting for us to realize that he's really the boss of this house, and once that happens everything will be so much easier.

As of the last couple weeks we are down to one nursing session, the one right before bed. I'm thinking I'm going to have to wean him completely by March. That way when we can leave him with Tim's parents when go to Quantico for a few days this spring. (Deep breaths) These are big steps for me. Even after months of preparing my heart, I will probably not be ready -- either for the weaning or for the trip. But time marches on.

When the Big Three are getting ready to head out the door to school, Joey asks for his backpack, and I put our little old Paw Patrol backpack on his shoulders. He loves walk around with it on and feel like one of the big kids. He makes sure I put water in it too. I tell him to get on the "bus" which is one of the couches.

When he and I are getting ready to go somewhere and I'm getting my things together, he always says, "Keys!" I am so glad I have this little man to remind me I need my keys. I say, "What would I do without you, Joe?"

Always take a water bottle when you go down the rollerslide.😆 Also take something to put under your bum because yoweee!

When I'm getting to the bottom of my cereal bowl, he demands that I give it to him so he can slurp down the remains. He thinks cereal-flavored milk is the yummiest.

His face in this picture -- I die!

The one big bummer of this last month is that he woke up more nights than he didn't -- usually just once or twice a night but three or more times definitely happened too, on at least one occasion. As soon as one of us goes in there he flops back down onto the mattress and just wants to be covered back up and told to go back to sleep. Last night he didn't even wake up once, and I don't know why it can't be this way every night. Of the four he is taking the longest by far to become a consistently solid sleeper.