The Rest of the Week!

Sorry, but we were just having too much fun for me to have time to blog while in Atlanta! I'll start off with the rest of our zoo pictures that I couldn't get to load last time. These are mostly fun pictures of Mom & JJ taken by Dad. Just to sneak a few in. I would post panda pictures, but you didn't come here for pandas, now did you??

On Monday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. Jon and I got to go there in 2006, so we knew Joseph would love it. He really has a thing for fish and water. It was still pretty awesome, but our little boy wore out pretty fast.

Looking at the alligators (another one of the many words he can say)

Checking out piranhas with dad.

Making sure no one misses the beluga whales...

Not even the group of 4 & 5 years olds...yes, he is almost as big as they are!

Isn't he CUTE???

On Tuesday, we "rested". At least that was the plan. But, we still ended up going back to the downtown area, and we visited Centennial Olympic Park. The best part of the park is the Olympic Rings fountain for the kids to play in. We obviously didn't dress appropriately, but we still had fun (and squishy shoes). Joseph is now saying "water, touch it" because we "touched" the water of the fountains. He also played on the playground there.

On Wednesday, back to the same area, but to World of Coca-Cola. Joseph can now say "Coca-cola" and "polar bear". We saw the Coke polar bear, and Joseph just kept saying "pol-ar bear", until we finally got close to him, then he balked. He did pick out a stuffed one from the gift shop though. As you are leaving World of Coca-Cola, you are given a commerative glass bottle of Coke that was bottled there on site while you were probably going through the exhibits, so we brought those home, and will share them with Joseph soon.






Thursday, Friday and Saturday--the real reason for the trip. Mom went to her conference which was amazing and so very educational! While she was learning away, Joseph & Dad roamed. Here they are in Piedmont Park...Jon was lucky to get in considering he was actually bring his own child and wasn't a nanny!


Joseph had to learn to share the swing on the 2nd day...he didn't like it.



Loved the firetruck day 1, didn't go near it day 2!!

And finally, the only way we survived a 9 hour car trip..."Movies, On, PEASE!!" Joseph really enjoyed watching the SAME video over and over again on the built in DVD player. At least we only drove as far as Tupelo on Saturday, then visited part of the Natchez Trace before coming on back to Little Rock on Sunday.

Sorry it took me so long to get this out, but it was worth it, right? Ya'll have fun!

More Atlanta

Wow! We've been busy, but having lots of fun. Overall, I must say, Joseph is doing really well, considering it's a strange environment and he's very tired! He's had a blast so far. Here's hoping the days with him & Dad are just as fun.

Sunday...Zoo Atlanta

We had a great time at the zoo. Joseph enjoyed running around to all the animals. We got to see the much anticipated baby panda, but all she did was sleep! She's about 3 weeks older than Joseph...too bad he doesn't sleep that much anymore. They have some really great exhibits, and lots of neat animals, but I know who you are all here to see, so I won't bore you with pictures of animals.

Joseph & Dad checking out the giraffes...

He's supposed to be looking at the Western Lowland Gorillas...lots of babies in this family group.

Now, he's looking at the gorillas...

While I was waiting in line to get the tickets for the train and carousel, the lady running the carousel told Jon and Joseph to go ahead and get on, thinking I would be there soon with the tickets! Well, the line was longer than she expected because they were almost done riding when I got through! So, lucky Joseph got to ride the carousel twice. As for the train...OMG! He loved it. Thanks to Mawmaw Mae, he now says "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo" almost all the time. It's cute...but sorry, Mom, it gets a little old!

And, finally, what's the most important part of visiting the zoo? Playing on the playground!!

On Monday we went to the Georgia Aquarium, which was awesome, and Tuesday was a bit more restful. We still managed to wear ourselves out with a visit to Centennial Olympic Park. But...I'm worn out and posting is slow tonight, so those pictures will have to wait. I want to do them justice! There are still more pictures that I want to post from the zoo, but right now, I really want to go to bed, so they (and you) will have to wait! Sorry...more soon.

Welcome to Georgia!

Well...brave souls that we are, we left Little Rock this morning for a drive to Atlanta Georgia. We survived, with very little crying! YEAH! Now, for a week of fun, and a little bit of work for Mom in the big city! Plans are for going to the zoo on Sunday, and the aquarium on Monday. After that, who knows? Until Thursday, when Mom will attend her conference, the basis for the trip. Here are Joseph & Dad at the Georgia Visitors Center, right across the state line, and a perfect place for a little boy to run after a long time in a car seat.

Big News

Ok...first big news is that I am posting twice in 2 days. That's a new record!

Second big news is that Joseph has pee-peed in the potty TWICE now! The first time, he simply wanted to sit on the potty and sat there for about 15 minutes. Well, of course, in that amount of time, he eventually went. Tonight, he was running around naked after his bath and started to pee-pee on the floor of his room (not very nice considering how hard his dad worked putting that floor down) so we grabbed him up and ran for the potty. Of course that scared him, but after he calmed down, he managed to go in the potty! Unfortunately, he was holding a piece of toliet paper in front of himself and peed all over it too!

Now, that might not sound like much, but we sure are proud! We're not pushing the issue but giving lots of praise when he goes! Such a big boy!

Slide, baby, SLIDE!!!

A quick post...I've only got time for a picture tonight, but what a picture! This sums up our weekend pretty well...Joseph having a great time! We went to the playground at Pinnacle Mountain State Park and he loves the tube slide there, as you can obviously tell. He still had plenty of energy, but the rest of us were dead because we climbed to the summit! He got to ride all the way up (with Daddy) and back down (with Papaw Jack).

18 Month Check Up

We had Joseph's 18 month visit with Dr. Freeman today. He's doing great. Here are his stats:

Weight: 32 pounds, 4 ounces
Length: 35 1/2 inches
Head: 20 inches

As usual, all of those are greater than the 97%, which makes him about the height of an average 27 month old.

He should be using about 25 words now, and he's well above that, probably close to, if not over, 100 words. Of course, he didn't say a single one while the doctor was in the room. He is always very still and quiet for the exam.

Overall, he is doing wonderful and this was a no-shot visit, so we all left happy. His tubes are still in good position and doing well. Our last sick visit was January 21st. We aren't scheduled for another check up until 24 months, so hopefully we won't have ANY visits until September.

Pictures

With the big post of 2 weeks ago, I forgot to include any of the pictures of Joseph in the snow, from March 7th, so we'll start with those...

He's going to need some arctic camo to blend in...

Now...on to Easter! Here is Joseph with Great-Grandmaw Johnnie hunting Easter eggs.

The 2nd Easter egg hunt, at the Nichols' place. 1 boy, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 1 uncle & 27 eggs! And those were REAL eggs! We heard each one crack as he dropped it in the bag! As usual, there was a cool snap Easter Sunday.

Joseph is all boy. As soon as we got out of the car at the great-grandparents, he was headed for the tractor. He enjoyed "driving" and "shifting", and even looked at his dad and said "keys".

Driving the backhoe with Papaw Jack.

Joseph has learned to do yardwork. We got him a little set of lawn tools, and he's started raking. Yesterday, he noticed that Jon and I were wearing gloves, so he took them away from us, and put them on himself. He's going to motivate us to work on our yard!