One and a half

At eighteen months, Joseph is so much fun.  With a great little personality, he is generally happy, easy-going, and keenly interested in everything that's going on around him.  It's interesting how with him I notice many more personality traits defined by how he relates to his brothers, since they're such a huge part of his life!  He loves to play with them and tries to keep up, playing chase, sitting right in the middle of their train tracks, and playing with cars.  He's also very protective of his things - he can screech and do a close approximation of "Mine!!" when Malcolm tries to take a toy away.  We're continuing to work on the concept of, if you want to play with Joseph's toy, you need to offer him another one in exchange first.  That usually works pretty well since Joseph is still quite distractible.  Joseph loves to play games like his big brothers too.  He likes to kick the little soccer ball during their soccer practices.  He also carefully placed the big soccer ball on the t-ball stand a few times and tried to bat it, which we found hilarious.

He can get on the tricycle by himself now too!

A little more adventurous than I would like at this age on the playground

 Joseph's expanding vocabulary now includes most prominently "no," which he deploys constantly.  I'm trying to teach him that "yes" (or "si") is another perfectly acceptable reply to us.  He can also say "up," "go," "Elmo," "on," "sit," "appa joo," "crack-uh," and "nana."  His signing vocabulary includes quite a bit more, with some new signs including "hurt," "outside," "help," "cookie," and "hat."  Not having the benefit of being around Elizabeth like the other boys did, :( I still have managed to teach him to answer "uno!" when I ask "Cuantos anos tienes?" :)  I love how much one-year-olds can understand - he can follow directions quite clearly, like if you ask him to go bring something to Dad in the other room, or put something in the trash.  He can identify the fish, dog, cat, bird, and frog on our wooden puzzle (and he goes to get his puzzle out if you ask to play it with him.)  And of course that physical communication works great - he loves to grab Mike's and my fingers to lead us exactly where he would like us to come.  If we let him lead us along, he'll have a pleased look on his face and wave "bye!!" to everyone else in the room.

The cutest

Joseph is also a nice helper around the house.  He likes to help us sweep, and scrutinize every purchase at the grocery store before tossing it into the back of the cart.  On one trip he came with me to Walmart, he spent the whole time noticing Elmo all around the store and chatting away unintelligibly about everything he saw :)

Joseph still loves to read his board books and will happily go get some books for you to read to him anytime.  He's such a busy little toddler that I just love when he still wants to snuggle up to read a book or put his head down on my shoulder.  I do continue to wish he'd sleep through the night but as long as those sweet little arms are reaching up to give a hug when he says "Mama," I still can't  mind too much.  We love you, Joey B.