living with royalty: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Lloyd Christmas.

A common theme, I suppose in the Rich household...but I am once again coming out of a whirlwind. I never got to follow up on the toddler bed transition because I had to work and then we left on Sunday to travel to Cincinnati, OH for the week. So before I tell that story, let me say that the toddler bed has been a seamless transition and easier than I could have possibly imagined. Josiah is very obedient to stay in his bed all night and during nap times. He actually loves it very much! I can only proclaim grace from the Lord for how easy the transition has been for us. The crib is in pieces and will be put away until further notice!

Last Sunday we accompanied Jonathan who was to do music for a youth camp at his uncle's church in Fairfield, OH. Josiah was a perfect angel on the whole 8 hour drive up and back. I took his 5 favorite books, and he was perfectly content to read them over and over and over and over. and over. I think I started reading with my eyes closed at one point. He took intermissions to demolish mini boxes of raisins, which led Jonathan and myself to "rock, paper, scissors" over who changed the morning diaper. I think the adjective used was "gnarly." Anyway--

This is how he pulled the blanket up around him before he took a nap:

And the after:

We had a fun time hanging out with all of Jonathan's cousins, whom we love dearly. Josiah spent a little time playing with his cousin Annabella, the one only 5 days his inferior. Now, that is certainly a figure of speech when you see a picture of them side by side.

I would like to claim she was standing closer to the camera, but she isn't more than 4 inches closer. He currently weighs in at 26 lbs, and she is pushing 34 at the moment. I'm not sure what any of that means, except that she is in fact NOT his inferior. Once again, it was interesting to watch the gender differences. She is such a sweet tempered, gentle girl. Josiah was climbing the walls. That is, until he decided he liked to push the baby stroller:

She would carefully put the baby in the stroller, but Josiah's cavalier driving left the baby in the dust more often than not. They had a good time, and were very generous with hugs for each other.

I was trying to corral them for a picture, but Josiah wasn't very excited about it.

I love the second picture because when it was taken Josiah was trying to push Annabella out of my lap so he could have me all to himself. He did NOT want to share HIS mama. Typical Annabella, she just smiled sweetly.

Beyond our travels, Josiah is rapidly changing every day. He is expanding his vocabulary with multiple words a day, though very few are clear. Even I need context clues sometimes to understand what he is talking about. At least once a day he is persistent to tell me the same thing over and over, and I cannot decipher what he is trying to say despite my best efforts. This week he started to refer to Uncle Christopher with a name. Sometimes we call him "Topher" for short, and Josiah decided that's what he would call him, too. Unfortunately, Josiah can't say his "F"s, so it comes out sounding like, "Tote-r." He definitely knows who he is talking about when he says "Toter." He enjoys talking about drums, and I love to hear him try to say the word. Something about the way he pronounces the "u" sound is incredibly endearing. Phonetically, his version of drum comes out sounding something like, "dounm."

Josiah's current Top 5 favorite things:

1) "Sooting" (the way he says it) basketball, which he has become quite proficient at. He can actually swish the ball from a few feet away. Jonathan and I remain pretty astounded at his skills for being 4 months shy of two years old, but we are fresh meat when it comes to these kinds of things. I took a little video of them playing and will post it to the video bar.

2) Playing drums

3) Eating peaches

4) Listening and dancing to "Dada's" music. Uncle Toph showed him how to listen with ear buds, and now he is insistent on the opportunity to use them whenever they are in sight. He always requests Daddy's music and then dances away. There is also a video to accompany that.

I can see the teenage angst now...

5) Taking the cushions off the couch and bouncing on the springs. This is NOT on Mommy's Top 5 list.

Of course, there is also an accompanying video.

Yesterday I called Jonathan into the bathroom declaring, "I've made a big boo boo!" I was cutting Josiah's hair and cut one part of his bangs too short. There was no way to remedy it but to make the rest of his bangs even with the short piece. Jonathan quickly declared his uncanny resemblance to Lloyd Christmas. For those of you that don't remember who Lloyd Christmas is, let me take you down memory lane: