Joey and Me

I thought that I would share the wonderfulness of all things Joey! He is seriously the funniest kid I know. And the great thing is that he isn't even trying to be funny, it comes naturally with his personality and entertaining ways.

First off, Joey is a big Mommy's helper.

He knows that before he goes to bed at night he has to pick up his toys, so we spend 5 minutes cleaning up our "toy tornado swept" living room. He will even put his sippy cups in the sink for me.
Sometimes his dirty clothes are on the couch downstairs. The other day I watched Joey do his clean up and he also picked up all of his dirty clothes and threw them over the stair gate onto the bottom of the stairs where I typically set things that belong up stairs. For that Joey got Jelly beans for being such a good help. He doesn't get rewarded everytime for helping out, but just enough so that he knows I love it when he does.
I don't know if you would consider this one really helping but Joey tends to throw his unwanted food from his meals onto the floor. It's frusterating that he does this, but instead of picking it up I leave it until dinner is over and I make him pick it up. I know by dropping things its his way of making me do extra work, so instead I make him do it. He doesn't seem to mind though and thinks it's a game! =)



Joey loves appliances!

The washer, the dryer, the fridge, the dishwasher, and the stove. You name it, Joey thinks it's a toy. While folding laundry Joey enjoys reaching his tiny fingers and lifting the washer lid (no harm/no foul) but he also likes opening the dryer and crawling inside. This makes me nervous (for obvious reasons) so the laundry room door has a lock on it for him to stay out when Mommy isn't in there with him.

I recently discovered the hard way that my dishwasher has lock control's for the buttons. After numerous times of Joey turning the dishwasher on and off and finding the dishes I loaded did not come out clean I finally payed attention to the little label on the inside door that explains how to use the lock controls. Potential disaster averted there!



Thankfully Joey doesn't pay too much attention to the oven/stove. The only time he acknowledges it's presence is either when he is throwing a tantrum and tries to hang on the towel rack attached to the oven or when it's slightly warm from me cooking. All he says is "oooooo! Hot!" I've taught him well and thankfully he doesn't try to reach up onto the stovetop (too often). =)

The big appliance that Joey loves is of course, the fridge! NO surprise there. We have a clamp that we put on our side by side fridge on top so that he can't open it, but of course I always forget to put it on. He only knows how to open the freezer, I suspect b/c its much lighter and smaller to force open. Sometimes he rummages through the vast array of frozen goods, pulls out what he wants and closes it up. Sometimes I catch him sitting in the freezer. (don't worry, the door can't close with him in there)

Terrible and Wonderful Two's

Remember when your baby was so tiny that all they did was eat, sleep, drink, cry; and how you couldn't wait for them to be a bit older so you could play with them? Yah, I remember that one.
Remember when your two year old...
-pulled your hair
-screamed at you
-banged their head on the ground in frustration
-threw their toy at you (swearing they purposely aimed right at your head)
-Dropped the liquid laundry detergent out of your cart and it broke open in the middle of aisle 12
?????
Remember thinking you wished they were those sweet innocent little babies that you just brought home from the hospital?
I remember that one too!

haha, its ok b/c those feelings are pretty normal as a first time mom (I think).

No but in all seriousness, there is no doubt that Joey has entered the unavoidable terrible twos, and yes they come early!
Joey has his moments, well quite a few of them, but they are what makes Joey, Joey!
When they happen I think of it as a game and its up to me to try thing to get him to be happy again. He's acting out b/c he is in need of something. He can't use his words as much (although it something we WILL be working on)so acting out gets the trick done....sorta. =) Sometimes its frusterating, but let me tell you a story....
One day last week, everything that could happen with a toddler, happened.

-Joey tore his wall paper off in his room....again
-He opened up his sippy cup full of milk and poured it all over his bedding.
-Only took a 30 minute nap (they normally last 2 hours)
-Screamed the entire time at the grocery store and proceeded to throw everything out of the cart.
-Refused to eat dinner and proceeded to throw the entire plate on the floor.
-Got so mad at me b/c I was trying to wash his hair in the bath that he banged his head numerous times on the tub and created an instant bruise right smack dab in the middle of his forehead.

That day was just one of those days that life was tough, for both of us. No one was at fault, heck we were both fussy. But at the end of the night when I laid Joey down for bed, prayed for him and with him, turned his music on, and gave him his sippy cup of water, I said to him, "Did you know that your Mommy loves you so much" and he said, staring at me with his cute eyes, "I Dooooo" in a high pitched squeal. He then gave me a big, slobbery kiss and laid back down and went right to sleep. I turned off his light and closed his door and I truely teared up. Of everything that happened that day, the frusterations, the breakdowns, the throwing it was all mended and went away by those two words.

So even though the terrible twos can be heartwrenching and frusterating, there will always be burst of wonderful moments. On any given day, Joey is a very good kid. Very loving, always sharing, constantly smiling. But of course there will always be those times when he knows he can get away with being mischevious only in front of his mommy, b/c he knows his mommy will always love him.

Throwing a fit


Joey Mannerism's

Last night I was standing in the kitchen chopping up vegetables for dinner. I looked over at Joey and I watched him pull off his pants and tear his diaper off. Apparently he wanted to be more "free." =) It made me laugh out loud! Thinking of that story, I seem to remember that everytime I am busy doing my thing in the kitchen, Joey silly mannerism's seem to come out, when I am not looking. You know how normal people sit on couches and chairs when they watch tv? Not my Joey. You put Little Einstein's or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on and you will catch him sitting on the coffee tables fully engulfed on whats on tv. Normally during his show's he likes to remind me that he's still there and will either 1.)stand on the table or 2.) take two quick toddler laps around the kitchen island and go back to sitting on his table. It's weird, but it's so funny! (well not standing on the table, but you know what I mean).

(Notice the perfectly good Elmo Chair he has)

One other mannerism Joey has is that he loves buckles. You know the ones that come on the high chair or stroller? The one's where you squeeze both sides and it comes undone? Yah, Joey likes clasping them together. He can't quite figure how to undo them yet, but thats where Mom or Dad is his hero. For example he will hand you his harness and say "on on" (He get's off and on confused). So we will just undo it and he will go back to putting it back together. You can seriously distract him for 20 minutes by just sitting there with him and doing the same thing over and over. It's how I get to read my beloved Good Housekeeping magazine!

And to add in for good humor, Joey covets his sippy cups. In the morning he grabs my hand and leads me to the fridge and points to it and say's juice. I am really into manners, so I always ask him to say "please". Just imagine the cuteness factor of a handsome little man saying "juice peeze!" In the afternoon and at dinner Joey gets his milk, but he doesn't call it milk. All of a sudden a few weeks ago he started calling it Goke or Gokey. The funny thing is that he knows how to say milk, but we think Gokey works just as well. Last night daddy hid his milk cup behind him and asked Joey who is favorite American Idol contestant is while at the same time showing him his milk. He said Gokey of course, which in our minds means he his a big fan of Danny Gokey. Haha, we aren't biased at all!


My Predictions for Joey

Like I said, Joey is pretty darn funny and he is my proudest achievment! I love him so much and could not imagine my life without him. When I think of Joey and the things he does I can't help but look into the future and what his characteristics now lead me to think what he might be like in the near and not so near future. Here are my predictions....

-He WILL most likely draw on the walls.
-He will probably break a neighbors window while playing with a ball.
-He will somehow use his funny personality to make others laugh.
-He will be able to "harang" his Grandpa.
-He will somehow talk his mom and dad into getting him a cell phone in kindergarten.
-He will talk to strangers (already does this).
-He will and already does possess the true mannerism's of a Callon boy!

Yup, he's got one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cell phone while watching tv in Daddy's chair.



Joey Bears! I love you so much.