James at the start of the 2008

James has changed a tremendous amount in the past couple of months, and we just love the little boy he is turning into! His babyness is slowly disappearing and being replaced with independence, a bigger personality, and lots of fun and laughter.

With independence comes what I call "stinkerness". I used to think my precious baby could never do anything wrong, but that is changing! He is not a big tantrum thrower, but we do have to deal with them on occasion. Mostly when he's over-tired, hungry, or teething. He will plop himself down on the ground and do a fake cry. We try to walk away and ignore them most of the time, which is what you're supposed to do, but it's so hard when you're in the grocery store and all he wants is my cell phone, drink, keys, etc. He makes me work and think in advance to try to avoid those situations as much as possible! His recent tantrums have to do with his Thomas the Train addiction. He's just recently gotten to where he will watch a tv show all the way through, but it seems he's already craving his favorite show, Thomas the Train. Josh showed it to him a couple of weeks ago, and now he goes up to the tv and begs for "choo-choo" to come on. When it's over, he CRIES! This boy hardly cries about anything, but he cries for his "choo-choo" show!

James seems to always be on a mission, and he wants me right by his side. He will decide that he wants a bath, let me know, start running to the bathtub, stop and turn around to make sure I'm coming, lead me to the bathroom, tell me to turn on the light, wait for me to do it, and then start trying to take his clothes off. It is always something. One difficult thing that I didn't appreciate before now, is that he will think of something he wants to do now, and whine about it for a while (when I say whine, though, it's more of a loud, passionate, explanation/demand of what he wants...over and over). Sometimes it's okay if it's feasible, but we have to be more creative to distract him from things he wants but can't have.

James' vocabulary has doubled, if not tripled in the last couple of months. Some funny things he says are... "alwight!" when he makes a basket or gets something he wants, "He go" (here ya go) when he gives something to us, "sure" (but think New England accent "shoowa!"), his first complete sentence "Ont su-more gookie!" (I want some more cookie), and during the wheels on the bus song, during the baby on the bus part, he'll growl "ma ma ma" (wa wa wa) with his hands up to his eyes. Another funny thing is he has been adding the "ee" sound to the end of a lot of words. He says "ballsies" instead of balls, "jucy" instead of juice, "bisi" (feetsies) instead of feet, and a few others. Some sweet things he says are...very lovingly, "My mama" and "My daddy" when he sees us for the first time, "ahhhh" when he hugs, "bisis!" when we tickle his feet, wash his feet, etc. When something hurts, he'll rub it and say the name of the body part, like "ir...ir...ir" (for ear), "her...her...her" (for hair...when he bumps his head), etc. He is saying between 200-300 words now, and lots of phrases. He can also repeat a lot of short phrases we say. This can be bad, though! The other day, he got into something, and I said, "Oh, gosh", and he said, "Oh....JOSH!". He has just started singing, and it's so cute! All during Christmas season, he "sang" "uh uh uh...uh uh uh...uh uh uh..." for Jingle Bells, and he's "jibberish-singing" songs, where they sound familiar, but I'm not sure what it is exactly. He's bowing his head during prayers (and smiling because he knows it's cute) and then will growl "AMEN!" at the end. I'm going to have to get his growl on video, because it's too funny.

James doesn't have as much time for affection these days, because he's too busy, but he will make it count when he does decide to give it. He loves "family hugs and kisses" and will pull Josh and me in to kiss him at the same time over and over. Josh started this one, but James loves it and laughs the whole time.

We might have a neat-freak on our hands. Anytime he sees trash on the floor, he'll pick it up and throw it away. He knows what's trash and what's not, too! He also hates to have food on his face and hands when he all finished and will let us know that he wants it wiped off immediately, although his STILL hates the wiping process and fights it. I don't know what he's expecting! He combs his hair, picks up toys and puts them away (sometimes), and loves to have his hands washed and dried.

James weighs a whopping 30 pounds now and is in a size 8 shoe! The other day, I thought to myself how James looked rather plump for himself, and then Josh mentioned that night that he looked bigger to him. My family will pick him up and say, "Goodness gracious!". He must be about to shoot up, because he's eating us out of house and home! Friday night, I made Jessica Seinfeld's chicken nuggets, and James ate about as much as I did. Another change is that he's given up milk! He won't touch it! He stopped drinking it when we went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, which at first I thought was the reason, but I think he's done for good. His doctor said that kids in Europe don't drink cow's milk, so it's not a problem at all, as long as he gets the fat and nutrients from other sources. He loves yogurt, so we just load him up with that. He's also gotten really into dipping and will eat just about anything if he has salsa, dip, or ketchup to stick it in. This has made meal time a little bit easier for us. Going out to eat, on the other hand, has been so, oh, so difficult for us lately. We maybe go out once a week these days, because it's not fun for anybody.

He's been working on his two year molars for a while now, and his first one just popped through. Those are supposedly some of the most painful, so I'll be glad when they are all in.

James continues to be a rough and tumble kind of guy, getting more so with every month that goes by. Everywhere he goes, he runs. Even if it's a few feet away, he has to get there as fast as he can. That is one of the things that I get most tickled about with him. One thing we are enjoying so much about him right now, is how he's becoming more of a big guy and helping us, and doing pretty much whatever we do. He's a big mimicker right now, from tapping his hand like we do, to wadding up trash, opening up the trash can drawer, and throwing it away. He likes to be involved in the process of whatever we're doing. Yesterday, he helped his daddy do yard work and his mama pick up the house. He really is helpful sometimes, when I need an extra set of hands! He's such a joy to be around!









Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2008 is a blessed year for every one of you!