Yesterday, Joshua was one year, one month, one week, & one day old!  How cute is that?  I know, only I would find that amusing but that’s OK since I’m his mom.  I marked the occasion by going to work while Erick & Joshua had some fun daddy-son time.  Then we went to our friends’ place in the evening for a potluck.  Joshua got to show off to lots of Daddy’s friends how well he can walk, talk, & do cute tricks now that he’s such a big boy.  He loved being the center of attention, as usual.  Before too long he’ll have to share the spotlight since they’re having a baby in December.  Another first—Joshua tried chocolate for the first time in his life!  He had a small piece of brownie which Daddy baked.  Not sure that he liked it since he made his usual “what are you feeding me?” face when he tries something new, but we didn’t feed him to much to find out.  I’m sure he’ll be a chocoholic like his parents later in life so we don’t need to encourage it now.

We went to the park down the street again today to ride the train & carousel, & then play on the playground.  Erick actually made Joshua smile once while on the carousel which was a first since Josh concentrates so hard while he rides the horse.  Joshua enjoyed waving at people when we were on the train, as if we were on a float in a parade—he’s got that elbow, elbow, wrist-wrist-wrist thing down pat!  Another first today—I had my favorite Starbucks chai tea latte for the first time in about 2 years.  Yummmy!  I know, that’s not really “Joshua news,” but it was very exciting to me & I’m telling this story so I had to share.   Hopefully Joshua won’t bounce off the walls too much after nursing tonight from the sudden jolt of caffeine.

Last week, Auntie Kerrie came for a visit from San Diego.  We went to the National Zoo which was a great time for all of us.  Joshua especially loved the small animal house—we spent quite some time watching the meerkats and shrews because they were his favorites.  Joshua & I became official Friends of the National Zoo which basically lets us have free parking—& animal crackers—whenever we go, plus discounts if we get suckered into buying anything in the gift shops (which we probably will be, knowing me).  We also took a trip to the Mall for some good ol’ tourism.  All in all, it was a fun visit & we look forward to more visits whenever friends can come (hint, hint…).

Erick starts round 3 for his med school rotations tomorrow.  He’s got a week of classes here & then he’s off to Jacksonville, Florida for a month.  Then it’ll just be Joshua & me.  That’s a long time without my co-parent around to help take care of baby (or things I hate doing like taking out the trash, but that’s beside the point).  But Joshua promised not to get into any trouble while Daddy’s gone, so that’s good.  We’ll see how long that lasts…