Emergency, Emergency

By Sandy on April 25, 2012

Please hurry home. Josiah is being crazy. That was the text message I received last night, on my way home from Bible Study. It was from Chandler. It was her SOS call.

As soon as I saw her text message, I called Rick. Apparently, Josiah had suddenly, for no known reason, begun screaming. Actually, it was more like shrieking. He was clearly out of control. I could hear it through the phone lines. It was difficult to listen to and I was still a few miles away. I couldn’t imagine how challenging it was for those within ear shot to endure.

Of Course He Did

By Sandy on April 25, 2012

“Of course he did,” is often heard at our house. It’s what we say moments after Josiah hurls something fragile to the ground and it shatters to pieces. One of the kids will announce, “Josiah just threw a plate” or “Josiah just broke a chair” or “Josiah knocked the trash can down”.

“Of course he did,” we say.

Josiah isn’t the only one who commands the ‘of course he did’ response. We use it for other things and we use it for other people too. We’ve used this for many years in our house. I’m not quite sure how it got started. But it works. Instead of reacting to a crisis, we respond with, “of course he did.,” and suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad.

If Only He Would Sleep

By Sandy on April 24, 2012

I’ve been trying to figure out why Josiah is so energetic at night. Why is it even after a full day of activity, he gets a second wind around 8 pm? Just about the time he should be settling down for sleep, Josiah gets wired and hyper and bouncy. Why does it last past 9 pm and 10 pm and 11 pm and often times well past midnight?

Just the amount of energy he expends from 8 pm til he finally conks out would be enough to exhaust most full grown adults. But it doesn’t seem to phase Josiah. I just don’t get it. Josiah’s sleeping habits have always been very different than ours. We’ve always had to make adjustments for his sleep schedule.

Persistence

By Sandy on April 23, 2012

When Josiah wants something, he lets you know. He is insistent and persistent. Lately, he’s been obsessed with Hostess Coffee Cakes. He absolutely adores them. He usually gets one in his lunch box every day. First, he has to eat the healthier options we’ve packed for him and then he is allowed to enjoy the snack cake.

When he gets home from school, he navigates through his Ipad communication app to say, ‘I want to eat a snack cake.’ Sometimes he takes me by the hand and practically drags me through the kitchen to the oven. He knows we keep the box of coffee cakes in the cabinet just above it.

He takes my arm and throws it up, hoping I’ll retrieve one of his delectable treats and serve it to him. I explain he already has had one and is not going to get another. My words fall on deaf ears.

Such a Smart Kid

By Sandy on April 21, 2012

Josiah recently decided he doesn’t need a seat belt anymore. Every time I strap him in, he wiggles his body right out. Yesterday, after I picked up Josiah from school, I needed to run a quick errand. Since he loves riding in the van, I figured it was a good time to go.

We made it to our destination with minimal drama, though I did ‘catch’ Josiah twisting his body around so his back was hanging off the seat and his head tilted up. He was still strapped in, but contorted in such a way he was staring towards the ceiling, dangling a chewy tube from a cord. I snapped a couple of pictures of him, while stopped at a red light.

Shortly after that, Josiah stood up and started jumping.