Posted 8:52 AM by Kathy
Last evening, Josh and I went to Braum's to have dinner. Our meal was taking a little while to be made and as we were sitting in the booth waiting, Josh was drumming on everything. I told him that he doesn't need to drum on everything, it's a little annoying to people around us. Josh said, "Yes I do", "Why", "Cause I've got the beat!"

Posted 10:05 PM by Kathy
I found out this morning that Josh was named Student of the Month for his class this month. I found out accidentally when I was taking the present for his teacher up to the school. She told me that he got it at the assembly that morning and we missed it! The school office usually calls the parents and notifies them of something that special, but they didn't call me. I was pretty upset about that, but did not let it get in the way of the celebration! Josh got to choose dinner tonight and chose McDonald's. So we went. We are so proud of our little man!

Posted 2:08 PM by Kathy
It snowed last night and Josh and Jensen played outside a bit today. Jensen had a great time, but he won't leave his mittens on and his hands got really cold. So we had to go in after a few minutes. Josh has been out a couple more times since then. He will leave his gloves on, but eventually, he got cold as well. I hope he'll let everything dry before trying it again.

Posted 3:15 PM by Kathy
Joshua had an extremely great day yesterday. It was very cold and windy and most of the neighborhood trashcans were rolling around in the street after school. I had to dodge one on the way home and Josh wanted me to stop the van so that he could pick it up. So I did. I'll have to say that I really did not want to because I was cold as well. But I (very wisely I think) decided that if he wanted to do a service for our neighbors, I would not stop him. So after that trashcan, Josh wanted to drive the neighborhood in search of trashcans in the road. So we did.

Posted 12:43 PM by Kathy
On Saturday morning, Joshua was very eager to wake up. He also really wanted Jensen to wake up. When his brother finally did, Josh went into his room and got him out of his crib. Then they played for a few minutes before Josh brought him back into our room. He put him on the bed and started unzipping his pajamas. I asked what he was doing and he responded, "I'm going to change his diaper, I need the practice." He had this look of determined resignation about him and I wasn't sure that he was ready for this task. It just felt like he was going to give it a shot no matter what happened. But, before he could really get it going, I noticed a certain odor eminating from Jensen. I gently suggested that maybe I should take care of this one, and with relief, Josh brought me wipeys and helped fasten the tapes on the clean diaper instead. I did let him choose Jensen's clothes for the day and help me dress him and I praised him over and over for his willingness to help. But I have to ask....Why does he feel he needs the practice?

Posted 10:31 PM by Kathy
It has been too long since I've posted about Joshua---so let me explain---no there is too much, let me sum up......

We had a great summer and Josh, Jensen and myself were lazy slugs. Josh and I loved to stay up late and play on the computer, then everyone (but Shawn boo-hoo) slept in. Most mornings until 10. School really cramped our style.

Josh turned 6 this summer and has lost his two lower middle teeth. They are almost already grown in as well. I was looking forward to a toothless picture this fall. Oh well.

Josh is enjoying first grade and is becoming quite a little reader and speller. If he takes his time, he does very well. He made a 100 percent on his second spelling test. Missed 2 on the first one, but since he really didn't understand the semantics of spelling tests (even though I tried to explain them) we are not too overwrought with that.

Josh is still my cuddly little boy and also loves to snuggle with Jensen. I found them watching Spongebob together one night. Josh had Jensen on his lap and was reclining against the arm of the sofa. They were content and very quiet until Josh had to get up to use the restroom. Then Jensen wouldn't settle back down with him.

My favorite funny story of the summer...
I was getting exasperated with the bedtime ritual and when Josh interrupted the diaper change yet again (Jensen won't lie still to get changed when Josh is messing with him.. big surprise) I kind of smacked Josh on the head with a clean diaper. He says, "Mama you are in some kind of nude tonight!" Let me point out that Shawn was in the room as well. I said, "What?" "You know a good nude, a sad nude, a happy nude.. a nude." Well, we could not contain the laughter then. I just love his little mispronunciations, he's growing out of them too quickly.

Posted 10:00 PM by Kathy
Josh has finished Kindergarten and will be moving on to first grade in the fall. Over all, we are pleased with his progress this year, behaviourally (not sure on that word) and especially academically. His school work was exceptional. Some of his cute sayings and mispronunciations from this year are, "Hallabunga" for Cowabunga, he picked this up at school, "Duck-a-lings" and he still insists that when his legs have fallen asleep that "my feet are spicy". He always refers to Jensen as "Buddy" and really enjoys playing with him. One day this year, he came home from school and told me "Mama, I was thinking about Jensen today and I just love him." It was very sweet. He's a great big brother and a wonderful boy.

Posted 7:55 PM by Kathy
We had parent-teacher conferences this past week and Josh is ready for 1st grade. He's doing well with all his sight words and letter sounds. We are still having a few behaviour issues, but those are being ironed out really well. He has a "friend" at school that antagonizes him to the point where he'll flip out. We're working on some things that he can do to diffuse these situations rather than get angry. He is really trying hard and has had some great days at school. We are very proud of his efforts.

Posted 6:32 PM by Kathy
Shawn went to school with Josh on Monday. They had a good time, though Shawn is glad that he doesn't teach kindergarten. Josh sits in the back of the class which Shawn doesn't like. The teacher says it's because he knows the material. Shawn is afraid that he will get bored. Hopefully, we are doing enough at home to help with that. Josh did remark that, "I'm proud of Daddy for coming to school with me."

Josh's G-pa and Nana came and ate lunch with him on Wednesday. Josh was very excited about that as well, especially since he got a new book at the book fair. He's had a busy week.

Posted 2:13 PM by Kathy
This morning Josh wanted to fix his own hair. While I was getting his breakfast, he went into the bathroom. He came out and asked me how it looked. He had big white blotches on either side of his head. I took him into the bathroom to try to wipe some of it off. I looked around for the mousse that I thought he had used. It wasn't on the counter, so I asked him what he had used in his hair. He pointed to Daddy's shave cream! I had to try and rinse out what looked like half a can of shave cream. It was all the way to his scalp. He will have to wash it good tonight.

Posted 7:14 PM by Kathy
Josh and I had a great conversation last night about Jesus. I can't be too specific as it was while we were going to bed, but it was along the lines of why Jesus died for us and how we get new bodies. He also wanted to know if our hearts come out with our spirits. He's obviously referring to our literal heart, it's very interesting to listen to his theories in all of his innocence. I think that he's "getting it" though, he will always state emphatically, "I love Jesus!"

Posted 4:57 PM by Kathy
Christmas break update: Josh has been showing a lot more interest in Jesus and the Christmas Story. He seems to be figuring the whole thing out lately. I'm very happy about that. He has a CD of "Jesus Music" that he enjoys listening to in the car and I love hearing him sing the praise and worship songs. We started out at home on Christmas morning. We woke Josh up first so that he could open his presents. He got the Spider man stunt system and several other toys that he asked for. When Jensen woke up, he seemed pleased with his toy house that Josh wanted Santa to bring him. Josh was also happy that, "Mrs. Bourne remembered to tell Santa that Jensen wanted a toy house!" Josh had forgotten to ask Santa at the mall for it, so he asked his teacher to mention it to Santa. Shawn had put his gifts for everyone in the tree and asked Josh to distribute them. He gave me my "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban" DVD, he gave Jensen the teething toy, and he opened the magnet car. There were also 2 Hot Wheels in the tree, so he brought those to Shawn. Those of you that know us well, know that Shawn buys a lot of Hot Wheels too.

After presents at home, we went to my mom's to eat dinner and do the gift exchange there. My sister and her family came in from Michigan and my brother came in from Texas. It was great to have all 4 of us for Christmas afternoon. We then travelled to Shawn's mom's house and spent the night there. Josh did not break anything and was VERY well behaved.

Sunday, we went to church and visited my grandpa in the nursing home and drove to my dad's for dinner. We had a great time there as well. Then we came home and Stacey came up on Monday and spent the night with us before leaving for MI again. We had a great time with them.

New Year's Eve was spent with Suzanne, Kevin, Aidan and Sara. We played games and ate and all of our family rang in the New Year, even Jensen.

Shawn took Josh shopping today to get a Hot Wheel that he promised Josh for helping with something. Josh picked out his car first then they did the grocery shopping. Josh saw a bouquet of flowers that he wanted to get for me, Shawn told him that they cost money too, so he would have to put up his Hot Wheel.
"OK"
"OK what Josh?"
"I will put up my Hot Wheel."

Big tears from Mama.