For the first time....

For the first time, I have a 21 month old without a newborn or baby soon to be born. Wow, what a difference this time around! In my heart, he's still such a baby, yet when they were this age, his siblings seemed so grown up. And for the first time, I think I am REALLY soaking up the joys of this magical stage of toddlerhood. Joel is such a delight and though he definitely has his days of pushing my buttons, I just can't get enough of his adorable toddlerisms. Here are a few:

1. He carries his blankie around ev-er-y-where! I might not have let something like that fly with #1 and #2, but sometimes the baby gets away with a bit more!

2. His "banky" in hand means his thumb is in the mouth. Again, not something I'd appreciate with #1 and #2, but he is my baby!

3. He is very into books and often reminds me of Caleb at this age. Sometimes, when I don't hear anything and go into panic mom mode where I wonder what trouble could be brewing, I find instant relief when I see him sitting in a corner somewhere "reading".

4. He has a very clear (and quite adorable) way of saying "yes" when he wants something or agrees to something.

5. He went through an entire month of sleeping horribly and waking up at the crack of dawn. We finally realized it was because he was hearing Tyler's alarm clock. Thank goodness for sound machines!

6. He "runs" everywhere. There is no walking in Joel's world. I guess he just wants to keep up with the rest of the kids.

7. He loves to entertain. Nothing makes Joel quite as happy as getting his siblings to laugh. And the smile the comes upon his face when he gets their attention is priceless!

8. Joel has an amazing vocabulary. Some of our favorite words are "mohockle" (motorcycle), "hairpane" (airplane), "Eeuh" (Leah), "Tayub" (Caleb), and of course the fact that he still calls Grandma "Mama"!

9. He is still a super picky eater. There are days when I wonder if he has eaten even a single thing of nutritional value. One of his first audible words was "cookie" - enough said!

10. He is still my best cuddler. He could and would be held all day if you let him. And sometimes, the housework and millions of other things on my to do list, just have to take a backseat to precious snuggle time with my baby!

Pumpkin Fun

Every year we try to make a trip to a local Fall hot spot called Konow's Corn Maze. The kids always have tons of fun on the giant jumpy pillow, riding tractors, playing in the huge corn bin, running through the straw playground....the list goes on and on. This year, we've had some very random weather shifts to work around as well as some very busy mornings schedules. Having a kid in school five mornings a week makes it hard to do much of anything after he gets home and before the other two need naps. Thankfully, a good friend planned at the last minute to go one evening and invited us along. The weather was perfect and might be the last nice evening we'll have all of Fall! The kids has a blast, especially since they got to enjoy it with a bunch of their buddies!

Field Trip Fun

 Leah got to have her first official field trip on Wednesday and she had a blast. We went on a "leaf walk" through a local forest preserve. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous, so the kids all had a great time. I enjoyed getting to spend some one on one time with our poor, neglected middle child (haha, total joke, she won't let herself fall into the neglected category)!

The most surprising part of the trip was seeing my shy girl marching towards the front of the group at least 10 feet from me at all times. Many of the other kids clinged to their moms or dads, but Leah joined the few who decided to make it more of a buddy walk. I almost took it personally and wondered if my kid has already started the junior high mentality of choosing friends over mom. In reality, though, I know she was just having fun and I'm actually quite relieved that our shy kid has the confidence to leave my side!