The Joy of Josiah

We've had Josiah for 29 glorious months now. I'll save for another post some reflections on the difficulties and lessons he's brought us. For now, I'll try to give you a glimpse of our delightful, energetic, social, intense little guy. As you can see from these pictures, his joie de vivre is heart-uplifting--when I'm weary to the bone of being Mom, his uninhibited laughter and single-minded fervor for fun spark life in me again . . . even if only for another five minutes!

By no means is Josiah advanced in his linguistic abilities, but he's constantly gaining new words and combining more and more phrases into sentences. Just today he used the word "shadow" for the first time. A few months ago he started saying "shump" for jump--usually just before he was about to "shump" on an unsuspecting person! Now he better approximates the "j" sound. For a while he'd add an extra schwa sound to many words ending in "d"--"food-uh," for instance. To me it sounded a bit German--especially his version of "scared," which sounded like "scherd-uh." Sometimes he still adds this syllable, but he's getting better with his accuracy! 

"No way!" and "No, mines!" were favorite phrases for a while. He still trots them out now and then, but he prefers "Stop it!" nowadays. We're working to eliminate that; it's usually paired with a disrespectful, rude tone and directed toward Mom and Dad. On a happier note, he often makes us smile with his verbal excitement. I'll say, "Josiah, would you like to go to the park tonight after dinner?" and he responds, "Hurray!" Or I'll point out some curiosity, and he'll say, "Wowee!" (This, I think, he picked up from the 60s-era Lutheran claymation show Davy and Goliath; we usually let him watch an episode or two after naptime.)  Also from Davy and Goliath: "hot dog!" as an exclamation. Just this last week Josiah started saying "Oh boy!" as another way to express his enthusiasm. He often claps spontaneously when excited, too.

Josiah loves music and song and simple rhymes. He asks for "Hey diddle diddle" or "Humpty Dumpty" over and over, and he giggles every time at the dish running away with the spoon. He can fill in the words to the hymn "May the Mind of Christ My Savior," which I often sing him at bedtime. He requests the Appleseed Song before dinner. He loves to sing Happy Birthday, especially to himself. It's usually fairly tuneless but quite enthusiastic: "Hap bursday ME! Hap bursday 'Siah!" Sometimes he sings "hap bursday" to Mama or Daddy. The other day he had a "bursday PARTY!" and made Duplo ice cream (I always get the smaller stack; he reserves the tall one with "choc-chips" [brown-colored Duplo pieces] for himself.)

Josiah also loves songs with motions and songs about Bible characters. He's really taken with the Patch the Pirate "Jonah" song these days. He knows the chorus pretty well ("Jonah, Jonah, did not obey God immediately / Jonah, Jonah down in the depths of the deep blue sea"). The other day we had tuna for lunch, and he recognized the word's similarity with Jonah--so he sang "tuna, tuna!" He met a boy named Noah and confused him with Jonah, too. I think he's sorting out these words, but it's interesting to see his rudimentary identification of rhymes!

Speaking of Jonah, Josiah likes to read about him, too. We have a couple kids' Bible books, and he likes the picture of Jonah in the big fish from The Jesus Storybook Bible. When we get to this picture, he says, "'Siah do that! 'Siah in fish!" We've tried to tell him that being inside a fish wouldn't be fun. Now he'll add, "Little bit stinky!" to his comments on Jonah in the fish, but he still wants to join him.

I know kids pick up on what their parents say . . . but it's still funny to hear my common phrases coming from Josiah! Last week I climbed on a chair to reach something on a high-up shelf, and Josiah sweetly said, "Be careful, Mama!" When deciding upon a book to read (or which toy to select, etc.), he often peruses the pile and says, "Let's see . . ." (I've since realized how often I use this phrase!) Sometimes when I call out, "Hey, Babe!" to ask Jeremy to do something, Josiah follows suit. He particularly loves to imitate me in saying "no no" to Lydia and Abby!

Lately Josiah has developed new delay tactics. "Can't walk, Mama!" he tells me when I ask him to follow me back to his room for a diaper change. Sometimes this is accompanied by dramatic floor-writhing or a sudden flop to the ground. He tries to evoke sympathy or distract me from some wrongdoing by throwing himself down and saying, "Fall down!" in a whiny voice. Yesterday he pointed to a little scratch on his ankle and complained, "Broke leg!" Typically he's a tough little guy, but he's working these imaginary wounds hard!

Josiah enjoys playing stock games over and over . . . and over and over and over. Every night before bed, he and Daddy play or roughhouse a little bit in his room. He instructs Jeremy to "fall down" (hang his head off the bed) and then throws him a "rope" (usually a blanket). Josiah makes a great show of pulling and grunting as Daddy slowly comes up, but before he's actually upright, Josiah says, "Oh no! Fall down!" and pushes him back down. He plays a version of this in his "hole" between the couches himself, climbing in and calling, "Oh no! Fall down! Help, Mama! Get rope!"   

With ready imagination and ingenuity, Josiah daily completes more than many of us do in months--he goes fishing with random bits of rope; he "fights lions" with sticks; he searches for his hammer (often calling, "Hammer! Hammer!" as he looks for it, as if it ought to respond to him) and wood pegs ("nails") and builds houses with them; he compels his stuffed "Lamby" to help him clean up toys; he puts out fires with anything that could remotely resemble a hose (and which he brings to life with enthusiastic spraying noises); he flies on airplanes to visit Grandma; he treks out to "get ice cream" for Mama and Siah; he cooks up strange combinations of plastic food; he feeds hay to his horses, named Cowboy and Friend . . . and I could go on and on. I love hearing him 'round a corner singing little songs, doing voices for his "guys," putting together a new train, and generally pretending and entertaining himself! Oh, the joy.