Early mornings are better. We have a system: Josh still rouses out of bed around 5am everyday, but now we lay in his room on the floor while he goes back to sleep. I'm not sure if it's the company or us monitoring him to stay in bed that works, but when he goes back to sleep he's down for another 2-3 hours. Now we're getting up between 7-8am.

This week Josh turned 21 months old. In the coming few months we'll be exploring how to get him off the 'binky' (he calls it a 'ki-ki'). Ideally I'd like to do it before his second birthday. I need to get ideas on how best to do this. I read somewhere that letting your toddler be involved in the process of getting rid of it helps them understand that it's really gone. Like burying it. Or flushing it. Or throwing it over a canyon edge. Then it will likely take 2-3 days (or more) for him to get the idea that it really is gone and to cope with the change. Meanwhile we're practicing drinking from a cup without a spill-proof lid. So far so good as long as I don't put too much in the cup. Otherwise it becomes too much temptation not to play with it.

Josh has three phrases he can now say:

1. Where is it?
2. There it is.
3. All gone.

And no, he still cannot say 'grandma'.

In other news, I'm tempted to take a road trip with Josh to Corpus Christi to visit grand-folk. I'm still toying with the idea so no firm plans yet. Rusty will be out of town for a few days and I dread being home alone during that time.