Josiah....AKA: Number 4

Josiah is 4 and has always been quite quiet and not very demanding. He was so easy going as a baby and toddler. Most of the time he is smiling. He is so pleasant. God knew we needed him this way. He was only 18 months when Micah was diagnosed. If he would have been demanding and clingy, I don't know what we would have done. He spent a lot of time at aunt's houses and with babysitters at home. We could really just drop him off anywhere and he wouldn't even look back.  His temperment was a real blessing.

I have mentioned before that Josiah is so sloooooow and impractical that sometimes I just don't know what to do with him. Usually I laugh, but there are times when I want to say to him, "Serious?" (: I know it will come someday.

He loves to do school. I can never satisfy him with the time I give him. He is a kid who knows how to learn. If he doesn't know the answer, he will find a way to get it. The other day I gave him some flash cards and told him to put them in order on the floor. He wasn't sure of a few, so I saw him think about it and then he ran to the hundreds chart on the wall, to see what the right order was. It made me SQUEAL with delight. That sounds small, but if they can think on their own to figure out how to find an answer, instead of saying, "I can't do it", you are good to go. I am trying to teach a few of my kids to think outside the box and not just look at what is directly in front of them and it is REALLY hard to teach that sometimes. We want to raise thinkers, not kids who can just memorize what you give them.

Here is Josiah standing on the rungs of 2 chairs with his pen in his ear, examining the page he just did. He loves to do it and I can't stop him from doing pages, so I have given him free reign in his workbook. I have had him beg me to let him do more school. Strange boy! That keeps him busy while I work with the other kids. I usually do one on one stuff with him later in the morning after I have the taught the other kids their core lessons. We do a lot of manipulatives and oral stuff. He loves it and its coming quite easy to him now. That is a bonus for me! (:

Here are some examples of how funny our boy is.

• He has started saying the funniest things. The other day I told him to go clean something up. He came back 5 minutes later and said, "Umm Mom, this really isn't working for me." Hehehe. I thought that was funny. He still had to clean up, even though it wasn't working for him! (:

• He was watching a movie one afternoon and I told him to stop picking his nose. He informed, he had a booger in there and didn't want to miss any of the movie to get a kleenex. What a pig! (: 

• Josiah goes to speech therapy once a week. On Tuesday, we were in a  hurry to go. It was a we are going to be late hurry. So I put some clothes on a pile and told him to get dressed. I was getting Gracie and myself ready. He was already wearing a set of play clothes. Keep in mind he really is not being disobedient or silly. This is how our conversation went.

Me: Siah, get dressed, we are in a hurry!

Siah: Muuuuummm, theeeeeeeeeese clooooooths?

Me: Yes, hurry up!

Siah: Put these on?

Me: YEs. ( notice the s isn't a capital.)

Siah: Like put these on?

Me: Put them on, serious.

Siah: Take off these clothes and put these ones on?

Me: YYYEEESSS pleeease.

Siah. OK.

Siah; Do my paaaants go thiiis waay?

Me: No other way, no not that way the Other Way. Siah the OTHER WAY!

After he put on his shirt and his pants. I had to turn his shirt around, put on his socks and his coat. At least he can put on his crocs. We'd be in trouble if he couldn't do that! (:


So there you have a snap shot of number 4. I guess I should qualify that he does lots of normal stuff too. The normal things just aren't as fun to write about though! (: