There have been so many things lately that I’ve wanted to write down about Josiah.  I just wish all our far off family and friends could enjoy a fun little conversation with my blonde-headed boy.

• “Um, yes.”  If you ask him something, he often answers, thoughtfully, “um, yes”.  So cute
• One of his favorite things to say is “I wuv you, Mama”, “I wuv you, Daddy” (though sometimes he accidentally says “I wuv you, Mama” to Brian, too.  Still very sweet!), and “I wuv you, Sister” (his most common name for Analise).  We hear this so many times during the day, but I promise, it doesn’t get old.  I know that eventually (probably sooner rather than later) we won’t be hearing it as often as we like.  Today at church during the kids program, he turned around to the people behind us and said, “I wuv you”.  They were charmed 🙂
• Both Josiah and Analise had a great phone call with Grandma Sandy the other day.  She was thrilled to be able to have good (ie, not rambling, comprehensive) conversations with both of them.
• “Oh, sank you!”  He’s so polite.  Whether it’s me taking him to the park or giving him a glass of water, he’ll say “Oh sank you!”, full of gratitude.  “Sank you, Mama, sank you.”  I hope he never outgrows the politeness.  And if we say, “You’re welcome”, he’ll say “yo welcome!” right back.
• He can count all the way to 14.
• I’ve caught him several times reading a book, saying “Wapon da time…” (which, I believe, translates to “Once upon a time…”).  I guess all the reading of his sister is soaking in!

This is such a fun, fun age.  I just recently realized that Analise was this age right after Josiah was born, and I feel that I missed alot of her at this stage, because I was so busy with Josiah.  She also started going to preschool at this age, and I really didn’t have a lot of one-on-one time to appreciate all the little developmental things that were happening.  It makes me sad to think I was too sleep-deprived to notice her sweet moments at this age.

But I am LOVING getting to know Josiah as a little person, watching his personality develop, and spending more one-on-one time.  We go out and about a lot more now that Analise is in school, and he’s gotten to be a very easy-going little companion… especially if I finish the running-around with a trip to the playground!

Yesterday was exactly like that.  We’d been to several stops, and he’d been great.  He even indulged me in a long (well, long with a child.  Maybe 30 minutes?) walk around Kohl’s.  He rode in the cart/stroller, munching on cereal bar and raisins.  I’m sure the Kohl’s employees were wondering about the little black “droppings” in the clearance section.  I knew it was time to go when he climbed out of the stroller in the underwear section, and climbed up onto a shelf in the wall, burying himself behind the panties 🙂  He didn’t want to leave, actually, but that’s when I mentioned the playground, and he was all ready to go.

So I swung by Starbucks so I’d have something to enjoy at the playground.  I ordered an iced caramel latte, and as we were driving to the playground, I swirled the icy drink around to cool it off and mix it up.  Josiah heard the ice in the cup and said, “It’s gone, Mama.”

“What’s gone?”

“The coffee is gone.”

I decided to play along.  “Oh no!  What am I going to do?”

“You get some more.”  Haha.  Yes, dear.  In our house, there’s always more coffee to be had 🙂

At the playground, he started running off and stopped to turn back to me.  “Come on, Mama!  Come on!”  Sweet, sweet words.  I love that the playground isn’t enticing enough to pull him away with out me.

Though he’s nearly outgrown it, we still have times where he wants to rest on my chest.  I loved those baby times of him sleeping chest-to-chest to me.  I love that he still finds quiet, comfort and rest snuggled up next to me.  No matter how tired or busy I am, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to hold my big baby boy so close.

I don’t have too long this morning, but I thought I’d share all that’s going on in my kitchen today.

I’m in charge of dinner for a Life Group of 19 people this evening.  It probably won’t be that many people, and we’ve been trying to plan simpler meals to make it easier on everyone.  I’m also sending some food with friends who are visiting a mom who just had a baby.  So, I’m making tortellini soup (um, quadrupling the recipe in 2 big stockpots!), a double batch of homemade breadsticks (I used this recipe to make thick crust pizza last week and it was GREAT!), and a batch of these yummy, Blondies with Chocolate Chips & Walnuts.

Good eatin’!