Taking Time To Appreciate

Today has been a rough day in so many ways, but I wanted to pause here to reflect on a few pricelessly positive things that are also very mundane.  Josiah stayed home from would have been his sixth day of VPK today.  It seems he’s already caught a bug.  Of course having two kids at home is more difficult than one and I lamented not being able to focus on Elijah, yet again, to make progress on the potty training he’d otherwise so willingly do, but Josiah has been a pleasure in his own ways to have around this morning.  Here’s a couple reasons why:

1.  For whatever reason, Elijah decided to say “no” repetitively when I thought he probably should visit the potty this morning.  Usually he’s a willing spirit where the potty is concerned.  Just when I thought we’d either have an argument or an accident to clean up, Josiah pitched in to “show ‘em how it’s done” and Elijah followed suit.  Situation diffused.

2.  Josiah came to me this morning and said “Elijah wants me to be his brother.”  Um, ok.  I explained that he was whether he wants him to be or not.  Josiah replies, “yeah, but I asked him and he wants me to be.”  That’s pretty sweet, actually :)

3.  Sick kid or not, we had to go to the store.  While there, we saw a girl from his preschool.  Each time we passed her, she got excited and pointed, but he was just nonchalant, though obviously knew her, too.  I asked him details about her but he just wasn’t interested.  As we put groceries in the car I asked him if he even realized that he missed school today and he said he did.  I asked if he minded and he said no.  Discouraged, I asked why.  He said, “just because I love being with you.  I love going to school.  But I just love being with you and Elijah at home.  You are pretty and I love when you are pretty.  And I love the baby.”  The smile I gave him must have been big, because he said something to that effect multiple times throughout the rest of the day just for attention.

4.  While dealing with some potty training on Elijah’s part, Josiah was supposed to be getting the table ready for lunch.  I heard a bang and loud crying, a long break (imagine he’s out of breath and hasn’t recharged yet), then another cry.  I finish the essentials with Elijah while wondering if it is another false alarm with over dramatization (the usual) or a real rare pain.  I rush to him and see a toenail starting to turn purple!  Poor guy.  It felt strangely good to be able to truly empathize with him and tell him how bad I knew it hurt while I held him as he cried rather than having to assure him he’d live and to calm down.  Does that make me bad? :) 

5.  Lastly, Josiah has been learning sign language at church on Sunday nights.  He loves it and teaches us what he learns while we eat dinner afterwards, so we got out our sign language book yesterday.  This is after he pulled up a little chair for Elijah to sit next to him on a stool to learn more sign language.

Now that I’ve focused on the good for a bit, maybe I can face the post-nap afternoon and dinner prep!  Oh, and did I mention that there is the slightest hint of fall in the air today?

FYI: Josiah woke with a fever of 102.2 and I had just been thinking that he seemed to be over it.  But this picture above shows what Elijah continued to do despite us trying to wake him up :)