"Quote of the Week"

Josh came in to my bathroom as I finished straightening my hair. He looked in the mirror and very frankly said, "When I look in the mirror, I am cute."
I agree; don't you?

"Quote Of the Week"

Josh is proud of his baby brother. A lady in line behind us at the store raved over James' curls. Josh proudly proclaimed, "He is my baby brother. He has pretty hair." The next day, he got very upset at Julie. Julie was encouraging James to put on her church shoes. Josh objected tearfully to the dress-up, because "He is my baby brother!" Obviously, brothers are not supposed to wear girl shoes.

"Quote of the Week"

I made pretzels with the kids today. Each of the kids ate one, and Josh came back for a second before the other two did. He had finished his second by the time Julie and David were getting their second pretzels; as they went back to the table I told them they could only have two pretzels, so they were all done. Josh came to me, smiled cutely, and said, "I want two second ones."

"Quote Of the Week"

Josh was walking on the back of the couch. I told him to get down. He looked at me, smiled his best smile with his head slightly tilted to one side, then said, "Mommy, walking on the couch isn't dangerous for me." He posed with his sweet smile, then kept walking to the armrest.

"Quote of the Week"

Josh came downstairs at bedtime to complain, "David hit me, and I hit him, and he hit me again and again and again and again and again. . . . Oh, it's Hop on Pop." (Jesse was using the book to hide his laughter.)

The Two Year-Old That Wasn't

We celebrated Josh's third birthday on the 22nd. Because Easter was the next day, we celebrated his birthday with an Easter egg hunt with cousins. We had eaten a special dinner with his Granny Nona (Deb's mom) the night before and had cake (without candles) when we got home from the egg hunt.

In all honesty, I have thought Josh was three for several months. He has always been "large in stature." He plays right along with Julie and David, never more than a step or two behind them. More often than not, I have had to stop when I am getting frustrated with him, cool down, and remind myself that he is only two.

One day, just after the school year started, the man checking my receipt at Costco asked, "Hasn't school started?" implying that both boys should be in school, not with me. I replied that Dave had missed the birthday deadline and that Josh was only 2 1/2. He looked genuinely shocked! It is so cliche, but I would be rich if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if Josh and Dave are twins. . . . Okay, with inflation, maybe not, but even our friends get the two boys confused at times.

Josh is such a sweetheart! My heart misses a beat when he sweetly comes to me and says, "Me need you," lifting his arms for me to pick him up. I am so glad this sweet New York baby came to our family!

"Quotes of the Week"

Josh has two older siblings; thus, he has learned that the best way to get attention is to make us laugh. He was asked to offer the prayer at dinner this evening. He started saying the prayer in a loud, crazy voice. We stopped him and asked him to say the prayer reverently. He started again, reverently this time, but interrupted himself, "Look at the big bug." Jesse explained that we also need to keep our eyes closed during the prayer and asked Josh to try again. Josh prayed again and said in the middle of his reverent prayer, "This is reverent." We were glad it was:).

Then, after dinner I made lollipops for a treat for the kids. Josh didn't finish his, so I dipped it into powdered sugar so it wouldn't stick to the plastic bag that I put it in. He said, "It's sugar. I need it!" Don't we all, my boy; don't we all!!!

Another "Quote of the Week"

We have a Christmas medley CD that we have been playing in the van. On the way home from picking up Julie from school, the piece with a part of one of the dances from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite came on. Josh said, "Mom, it's the Ritz Cracker song!" I said, "Good job, Josh," so that he wouldn't feel so bad listening to the big kids laughing at him. (Okay, I was laughing too, but I was trying to hide it, unlike Julie and David.)

"Quote of the Week"

Lollipop, Lollipop, OHHH Lolly, Lollipop . . . Lollipop! Josh will amaze you with his ability to count lollipops. (How does he fit them all into his mouth at the same time?!)

The Perfect Big Brother

Joshua loves his baby brother! He was reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear to James until James took the book to eat it.

"Quote of the Week"

Daddy asked, "Josh what is your favorite animal at the zoo?"
Josh answered, "Me."

The Two-Year-Old

Josh is full of energy. He loves to climb and ride and jump and dig -- typical boy stuff. He loves to play with trains and cars and dinosaurs. He loves to play chase with his brother and sister. He is our resident copy cat: he likes to say and do everything he sees Julie or David do, even if they get into trouble because it is the wrong thing to do. He loves to make us laugh: he looks around with a proud look on his face if we laugh at something silly he does or says. He also gets a kick out of telling us the one knock-knock joke he knows over and over again.

My favorite thing about Josh is his cuddliness. He has always been our family teddy bear, loving to give and to receive hugs. He loves having a baby brother and tries to hug and love him like Mommy and Daddy do. Unfortunately for James, he is like the big guy in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men: he loves things to death, so we have to supervise anytime Josh holds or plays with James.