Well, our “baby” is 3.5 years old now. It has been a wonderful ride and I can’t believe Josiah is growing up so quickly. Luckily for us, he says he doesn’t want to be big. Unluckily for him, he can’t help it! This little guy is learning daily, carrying on both fascinating and somewhat obnoxious conversations (think repetitive “why?” conversations), and becoming physically capable of so much. He’s still a total sweetie pie, yet some days the terrible three’s are in full swing!
Josiah has become a total mixture of Jacob and I. He looks just like Jacob, has my personality, and shares all of Jacob’s passions and interests, yet he puts his own unique twist on it all. He’s a pure delight, in our book, and it has been so fun to see him truly love anything with wheels, not in the typical way little boys like these things, but in a very practical, realistic way that he sees Jacob work. He talks all the time about the “work” he needs to do and, while he loves his sitter’s house, he will whine a little when we tell him he is going because he wants to stay home to do “all my work” with his trucks, tractors, and trains. It makes me wonder just what he thinks of our work. It must be play to him! We’ve also worked with him to overcome my influence of timidity. He’s learning to speak up to strangers, first by having to say “thank you” to the bakery lady at Publix in order to get a cookie – hey, you have to start somewhere! He’s also getting better about being willing to play in public places (parks and such) even if people might notice him (he gets that from me, too). He has even misbehaved in public a few times! That’s big. While it is a nuisance, it is also a sign he is developing.
Though he never quite mastered pedaling this thing in the grass or our dirt driveway, he did love climbing on it and trying to “look for deer” in our pasture.
Josiah is learning to pray. For the longest time he would repeat our prayers after us and that was SO cute, but that time has passed. Now, though he’s not always willing, he’s learning to pray his own prayers. Mostly he likes to pray for our animals, generally that Eeyore will not be scared of him anymore so that he can pet him, but he often prays for his toys, too. I encourage him to pray for people, but he seems to think that is our job. I guess God wants us to speak to him about what’s on our minds and hearts, so I guess that’s what he does and I think God is pleased to hear from him! He did melt my heart the other day when he prayed for Elijah’s teeth to hurry up and come in so they would stop hurting him and that he could stop crying.
Speaking of Elijah, Josiah is becoming a great big brother. They are really beginning to enjoy playing together, mostly playing chase, tickles, and riding their new Jeep. Just today they were playing trucks (also common) and Josiah was calling Elijah “Buddy”, probably because Daddy calls him that, but it was cute. Elijah often cracks up at Josiah as they play. I always have to make sure Josiah’s nails are short so that Elijah doesn’t get scratched when he tickles him. Another favorite of theirs is that Josiah hides under the covers when we go to get him out of bed. If we have Elijah with us, he’ll crawl up on the bed and tackle Josiah through the blankets and eventually pull them off. They both giggle endlessly. They are also beginning to cuddle and kiss. I can’t get enough of it! With all this fun, I’ll admit to some fighting, as well, pretty much always over toys.
On the learning front, Josiah is moving right along with his numbers and letters, both verbally and with recognition. He seems to struggle with some colors, however, and we are beginning to think he is color blind since green and red are a challenge. Time will tell.
I guess at this point we can officially call Josiah potty trained, though when his GI troubles flare up (mild and rare) we do struggle again. We are pretty pleased with our drastic decrease in our diaper usage since he turned three.
On that note, he is doing very well as far as his GI tract is concerned, so much so that I think we’ll be weaning off medications soon to see what happens.
It is so delightful to see his personality blossom and, at the risk of sounding like push-over parents which I assure you we are not, trying to figure out how to best serve him and parent in a way that allows him to grow best. It has been a challenge, as I’m sure is true for all kids, but also fun to try to bring out his best. We’ve found that when it comes to obedience, he responds best to choices. There really is no choice because he can either choose to do what is asked of him and all will go well, or he can choose to put himself in time out or not get the proposed reward, for example. The choice is always obvious, but it seems to empower him to be able to choose to do good. Compliance increases. To battle whining, we’ve learned that he responds well to telling him we don’t want to hear it but that he’s welcome to whine alone in his bedroom and he’s free to come out when he’s ready to behave and be quiet/not whine. It’s pretty exciting on days when we get it right, but it sure can be tough!
We love our little man and it is so exciting to think of his future. So much lies ahead for him and I just pray that we can parent him well through it all. He’s full of talent, abounding in imagination, and is lots of fun. He’s changed our life for the better and we are blessed to have him.
1 comment:
So sweet. He does look grown up with his buzzed head. :) Love seeing his little personality develop!
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