Ribbon on a Stick

By Sandy on August 29, 2012

A new school year has begun. For Josiah, that means he is now officially a 5th grader. This will be his very last year in Elementary School. For the past few years, he’s had the same teacher, the same aides, the same classroom and even some of the same friends. Familiarity is a good thing.

If you know anything about Josiah, you know transitions are rather difficult for him. Change is not always welcome. Transitioning on and off the bus is no exception. Josiah has had issues with the school bus for a while now. It was such a challenge to get him on and off the bus last year, we simply gave up and resorted to driving him in our van.

Summer Travels

By Sandy on July 31, 2012

It is nearly midnight; 11:32 pm to be precise. We are on our way to the beautiful beaches of sunny Florida. Chandler has spent the majority of this trip sitting with Josiah, helping him, feeding him and letting him snuggle up next to her. She is so sweet with him.

I just took a break from driving and we all swapped seats. Rick took over at the wheel, I crawled in back to sit with Josiah for a bit. It’s only been 8 hours since we left home, but Josiah has done really great so far. He absolutely loves riding in the van. He proved it on our first road trip of the summer. Last month we drove from Texas to Pennsylvania, then to Ohio, then back to Texas.

Adoration

By Sandy on July 16, 2012

Josiah adores his grandma. You can tell the moment you see them together. It had been 3 years since Josiah last saw my mom, but you’d never know it. Recently, Josiah was able to spend a whole week loving on Grand Marlene, while we were in Pennsylvania to celebrate her 80th birthday.

That boy rarely ever left her side. When my mom went to the refrigerator to get something out, Josiah would follow her, plop down on the ground next to her and wait. When she walked to the stove, just a few feet away, Josiah would walk with her and sit down at her feet, content just to be in her presence. Josiah didn’t care where she was going or what she was doing. He just wanted to be with his grandma. He went where she went.

The Fast and The Furious

By Sandy on June 6, 2012

This may be a very long summer. It’s only day 2 and already I feel as if I’ve run out of things to do with Josiah. I sat down Sunday and created a schedule for this first full week of summer break. I picked activities everyone would enjoy.

Actually, I chose activities Jesse and Chandler would enjoy and Josiah would most likely endure. There isn’t much that boy really enjoys doing. Yesterday, we went to an indoor trampoline place. Each of the kids brought a friend. Josiah brought me.

Milk Man

By Sandy on May 16, 2012

Lately, Josiah has been wanting milk. Lots and lots of milk. It seems he can’t get enough of it. He doesn’t use his ipad to request it. He doesn’t drag me to the kitchen and throw my hand at the refrigerator. He doesn’t even sign ‘milk’, like he used to many years ago.

Nope. He’s more direct than that. He opens the refrigerator, yanks the jug from inside the refrigerator door and brings it to me, no matter where I am and no matter how full the gallon container happens to be.

The other day Chandler, Josiah and I were in my room. Josiah walked away and returned with the milk. I smiled, directed him back to the kitchen and gave him a glass of milk. He drank a large amount. I went back to my room, assuming he was following me. He wasn’t.