Top 10 Josh-isms of 2011: #5: "Happy Birthday!"

On March 21, our playgroup sang an early "Happy Birthday" to Joshua, who turned two later that week.  Joshua couldn't resist joining in, and I love how absolutely crazy excited he got as he sang to himself!

Top 10 Josh-isms of 2011: #8: "Jesus Loves Me"

Ever since he was a baby, part of Joshua's bedtime routine has been his father or I singing "Jesus Loves Me" over him before kissing him goodnight.  He sometimes will fill in a word or two while we sing, but I almost never hear him sing it on his own.

On December 11, I stumbled across Joshua (wearing his sister's hat, mind you) sitting in his room singing "Jesus Loves Me" to himself.  I thought it was adorable.

Top 10 Josh-isms of 2011: #9: "The Hello Song"

Continuing with my countdown of my favorite things that Josh said over the past year is #9 -- "The Hello Song."  He learned this song in preschool and will often sing it over and over again with the hand motions.

"Hello, hello to you and you and you.  A big hello and a small hello, a high hello and a low hello.  Hello, hello to you and you and you."

Katie's Christmas pageant

Katie had her preschool Christmas pageant yesterday. This isn't my favorite set of videos, both because of my own inability to capture the cutest parts and also because of Katie's coughing. However, I know one set of grandparents in particular is looking forward to seeing what I was able to capture. Thanks to the other set of grandparents for being there to cheer Katie on!

FYI: Katie is on the top row wearing black.  If you want to watch a larger version of the videos, click on the "YouTube" logo on the bottom of each screen.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Joshua!

My baby is two!  Happy birthday, Joshua!  You continue to delight me in new ways everyday.  The above video, taken Monday at playgroup, has been delighting me all week long!

Happy birthday to me!

Katie's Christmas Song

Katie performed in her first Christmas sing-along yesterday with the rest of her preschool class.  She's in the plaid skirt and her best friend Daniel is in the green shirt.

I didn't know until the performance that she has now learned how to bow.  And how!  The end of this video reminds me of the woman at the end of "The Sound of Music" -- the woman in the singing competition who wouldn't stop bowing.

Big thanks to her daddy and her Oma for making sure they were in the audience for Katie's Christmas debut!

Katie Learns Her ABCs

Thanks to Sesame Street, her parents, and a few great singing toys, Katie's new obsession these days is learning her ABCs. Here's a video of us singing them together last weekend:

And here's what Katie's version of the ABCs sounds like without any help from me and with a few horse "neighs" thrown in:

Katie Performs for the Camera

These three videos astound me. I can't believe how quickly Katie learns things, especially if they're put to music!

Katie has learned the motions to "If You're Happy and You Know It", demonstrated on the beach on November 9:

From her obsessive watching of "Sesame Street" videos, Katie has learned many of the lyrics to the Madeline Kahn/Grover echo song "Sing After Me" (if you're not familiar with that song, you can watch the original version here).

And this weekend we introduced Katie to "The Muppets Take Manhattan", which was my brother Stephen's favorite movie as a preschooler. One of my favorite scenes in the movie has Miss Piggy fantasizing about what it would have been like to have been babies together with the other muppets (seen in this clip starting at the 2:00 point) (I believe this scene inspired my favorite childhood cartoon, "Muppet Babies"). Katie also loves this scene, and had a dance party on the couch this weekend to express her enjoyment:

Winner of American Idol 2024

Katie and I were watching American Idol clips tonight on YouTube, and Katie decided that it's never too early to start practicing for her turn. (After all, 2007 champ Jordin Sparks has been wanting to audition for AI since she was 12 and had to wait until this year to try out -- and win!)

Katie and I were watching Fantasia Barrino sing "Summertime." Nothing like a little Gershwin to inspire my future Broadway star!

Speaking of American Idol, watching it was my biggest guilty pleasure while I was pregnant with Katie! I was glued to the TV every Tuesday and Wednesday night this spring, sometimes redialing with a cell phone in each hand, voting (and even praying) for Melinda Doolittle to win. I know, I'm a real loser. I even shelled out $60 to go see the Idols on tour in September! (Totally not worth it.) But I'll be one of the first to buy Melinda's first album whenever it comes out.