These turned into longbits instead of tidbits! My camera is DEAD, so it is also picture-free. This is meant to preserve some of our sweet memories rather than to entertain, but you are welcome to partake if you’d like.
1. Every night when we sit down to eat dinner, Josiah always makes a point to thank me for making it. So sweet! Jacob trained him well on that one. He even thanks Jacob if he knows Jacob grilled our meal.
2. A week or more ago Josiah and I had had a bit of a rough day and he woke up even grumpier from his nap. I decided it was time for us to get out and go on a walk, so I got us all ready with Josiah grumbling and complaining the whole way, and we started walking out our driveway with me pushing the stroller and Josiah walking. (To set the scene, keep in mind we live down a long single lane dirt road.) It was a cool day and a storm was blowing in and I was enjoying the wind. I turned around to Josiah who was ambling along behind me and with as much positive enthusiasm as I could muster from my own sour mood, said something like “Josiah, it is SO windy!” A huge smile spread across his face and he said, “yeah, it makes me want to run fast!” I told him to go do it then. He took off and didn’t stop the whole time we walked. He was so fun! We walked up to the cow pasture and talked about the cows and we made “Siah tracks” in the dirt (Josiah’s footprints). Towards the end of the walk he told me his legs hurt and I told him he could walk with me awhile. He said “no, I’m just going to run fast, K?” A few minutes later he told me his legs hurt from running so fast and that he was going to slow down. He proceeded to run in an exaggerated slow motion. That was funny, I had never seen him do that before. Anyway, by the end we were both feeling much more positive!
3. Elijah has a fake plastic flip phone that makes noise and has generic pictures of a dog, cat, and mouse that rotate through each time you open and close it. In previous days, Bill had been showing Jacob and Josiah pictures of his new tractor on his phone and then apparently checked his email on it. Well, Josiah started checking his email and showing me his pictures on Elijah’s fake phone. He asked me if I wanted to see pictures of his tractor, bobcat, truck, trailer….all kinds of things that were not actually there and he wouldn’t show me, but then he’d sneak “his” cat, dog, and mouse into the conversation and show me those so proudly and with a giggle. It was too cute! Then he proceeded to “call” Grandpa and have full conversations with him.
4. The other day Elijah learned how to push himself on a ride on toy within about 2 minutes of getting on it. What took the most time was learning how to get on by himself. I taught him to pick up one leg and swing it over, but he couldn’t figure out that he needed to get that far leg closer to the toy prior to lifting the near leg. It is so entertaining to me to watch my boys try and try again while learning by trial and error how to do things. He has now mastered it and his back up method is to spread his legs and push the toy underneath him, but that is tricky, too, because he is just a bit too short!
5. Jacob wanted me to note this one so he wouldn’t forget. Josiah often calls Jacob “Mogdy,” a mix between “Mommy” and “Daddy” (not sure where the “g” comes from), when he’s been around me mostly and then Jacob comes home. He gets so excited about things and tries to talk so fast that it comes out that way and he doesn’t bother to fully correct himself.
6. Elijah has great strength and balance, but he either doesn’t yet have the coordination to take more than 2 steps at a time or he just hasn’t figured it out yet, but it is clear he has a dominant leg. He often steps repeatedly with his right leg causing him to pivot around his left leg. It is kind of funny! He has also started crawling on his hands and feet sometimes. It is walking with training wheels, I guess.
7. Josiah is a singing maniac these days. I love hearing him sing along with the Christian radio station I pretty much always have playing in the car and often in the house. I miss some of the good country songs, but they also play so much junk that hearing him sing about Jesus keeps me happy I gave it up.
8. Elijah has THE GREATEST LAUGH!
9. Josiah has become a back seat driver. The other day I was using my GPS to get somewhere. When it said “in ____ feet/miles, turn left,” he’d say “turn left please, Mommy! Mommy, TURN LEFT!”. Every time! Today as I drove straight through an intersection where we usually catch a red light, he anxiously and emphatically said, “Mommy, Mommy, we forgot to stop! We ran that light!” It took awhile for me to convince him that it was ok. At least he pays attention.
10. Josiah and Elijah usually go to bed before dark, but lately I’ve been noticing the lightning bugs outside at night and thinking what fun it would be to show Josiah since I can well remember catching them regularly as a kid. Well, Grandpa got him a butterfly net awhile back and we hadn’t used it much, but Josiah watched Lindsey (his sitter’s daughter) catch love bugs with hers the other day and it got him really wanting to use his. So, being a Friday night, I thought it would be the perfect night to let him stay up and catch some lightning bugs. As it turned out, I had to do the catching, but Josiah carried the jar that we kept them in. We caught a few and brought them inside to inspect and enjoy, then he so graciously allowed us to release them so they could go to bed, too, though I think they may have been brain damaged from all the shaking in the jar :) Such nostalgic fun!
11. This one is about Savannah…we were sitting outside Gram’s house and the kids were playing inside and Savannah came out and told Gram that she had just answered her phone. The conversation went something like this:
Savannah: I answered your phone for you.
Gram: Oh, you did? Who was it?
Savannah: I don't know.
Gram: Well was it a man or a woman?
Savannah: A man. He wanted to know if you had honey.
(Gram and Deda were beekeepers and sold honey from their house for more years than I’ve been alive.)
Gram: Well, what did you tell him? Did you ask him to come by or call back?
Savannah: No, I made him get off the phone. I told him it was time to hang up. I said bye and hung up.
(We all laughed and Jacob chimed in a comment about someone needing to learn phone etiquette.)
Jesse came to her defense: You all leave her alone. She did just what she’s supposed to do. She knows she shouldn’t talk to boys. Good job, Savannah!
The poor girl will never have a date with Jesse as a daddy, which is his plan, I think! He also has Savannah convinced that all boys have the same “tails” as my boys have and that they are poisonous and should never be touched! She truly believes it. She also believes I ate Elijah and that is how I got him in me when I was pregnant! I became a bit scary to her after she learned that.
I sure hope that one day we’ll enjoy reading all these little things we’ll forget! I want to remember at least a portion of these precious times, though I’m sure there will be more to come.
Found one! Now what?
