Week 66 saw Joseph spent several nights (10 in total) sleeping in our bed from about midnight on...who knows what was causing that...teeth, boredom, cold. That habit was broken on Thursday night and he's back to being an angel!

Joseph's speech is coming on well, with quite a few "words" coming out..."all gone" is a favourite, "alright" (more like "alra"), "oh no" and since yesterday "up", "down" and "da da". He also likes to shake his head "no" and roar like a lion!

Another little quirk he's picked up is to walk with his hands behind his back, very amusing.

Joseph had his 15 month injections on Friday morning and now he is fully immunised...no more shots until he's 4 years old. He had the usual thigh jab but also MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) in the arm - that was a bit of a surprise for us but he has been fine.

We went to Piha on Saturday to stay with Jo, Phil and Lizzie (they have a beach house there). It was very stormy and we stayed inside all day with the fire cranking. Joseph and Lizzie got on very well and tore around the house like monkeys possessed! Lizzie is into tidying things away and Joseph is into getting things out so they made a good pair. Here they are after dinner on Saturday night.

Winter has arrived in week 65 of Joseph's life and today (Sun 17th) Joseph officially marks 15 months.

Joseph has not had the best week in terms of night time sleeping and has been awake and screaming (at first) once or (now) twice a night...I took him to the doctor on Friday afternoon to see if his ears were full of fluid...they're clear and we've put things down to teething...one of his incisors has come through - three more to go! As a result of the broken sleep, Dan and I are very tired too!!! And we don't get to have a sleep during the day to recover!

Here's a shot of Joseph and me before we went to work/BP last Wednesday. Joseph is wearing another one of the tops Grandma Milly bought in Bristol.


Today the three of us went for a walk in Cornwall Park...we all had our beanies on to protect us from the southerly.

Finally, Joseph and Dan play a mean game of cushion smothering. Joseph loves it and we think it is good for his scrummaging skills.

Week 64 provided so much great material - it has been hard to choose the content for this week's post!

Joseph is obsessed with cardboard boxes...this one is his current favourite and he spends lots of time carrying it around and just sitting in it chilling out. Another great thing to do is to sit in it on the wooden trolley and get pushed by us for 20 mins or so.

We are trying very hard to encourage Joseph to brush his teeth, I do it in the morning and Dan does it at hard as part of the going to bed routine.

To further mark Joseph's growth, here's the third picture in the series of Joseph and Shelley (Dan's cousin) having a bottle together. He really has got very big!

Finally, Joseph's mate, Lizzie, came for a visit on Sunday...all was going well until Lizzie discovered Joseph's box...we quickly had to find a second box so that each had one to investigate. Here's a shot just before the niggle really started!!!

Special extra post to celebrate Joseph's extraordinary climbing ability...this happened last Saturday...such a clever monkey!

First pic is climbing from the floor through the chair frame onto the chair seat.

Then he has to show (and tell) us how clever he is.

And then the piece de resistance...standing on the table.

nb dressing gown provided by Grandma Milly.

Week 63 was marked with Joseph's 15 month visit to Plunket...Joan (Plunket Nurse) complimented me on what a fine boy I have but also cautioned that I needed to start getting him onto a cup and that I needed to enrol him in the local dental program. She was also concerned that he doesn't say "Mum" or "Dad" but I checked with Bear Park and they don't think there is anything wrong with his communication development. Here is the updated Warren family weight chart...as you can see Joseph has left his parents well and truly behind. We don't go back to Plunket until Joseph is two but I will probably go to the drop in day for an 18 mth weigh in.

Joseph has worked out how to make his truck and his trolley reverse out of corners and he has recently worked out that his turquoise dump truck has a tray that can be moved up and down. Dan is concerned that little fingers might get jammed if it slams down but I think we might just have to allow that to happen! (Please excuse the dirty glass door - I hadn't realised there were so many Joseph finger prints on it!).

Grandma Milly made Joseph a black hat for winter, unfortunately it is quite a snug fit so I'm not sure how much wear he'll get out of it! I think he looks like a burglar!

Joseph has developed a keen interest in tidying up (you might have seen the raking and sweeping photos a few posts back)...he is now fascinated with doing the dishes and here he is on Saturday morning helping me wash up. He has also found an affinity with the squeegee that Dan uses to take the condensation off the windows in the mornings.

Finally, Joseph's fine motor skills are working well (he just needs to develop some more strength) and he has worked out how to turn Dan's headlamp on - using all three settings. Here he is on Friday night showing us how clever he is. If his hair looks like it has lots of "volume" that is because there is quite a big of yoghurt in there!!!