What I love about Joshua

Been reflecting today - and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. I've gotten to spend quite a bit of unique bonding time with each of my boys lately, aside from regular stay-at-home-mama responsibilities. It's been neat. Today I'll share about Joshua - this might be a long post, which is why I'm only writing about one of my boys at a time. :)

I love Joshua because he's my bestest big buddy (not to be confused with our bestest little buddy, Dustin). He loves to laugh, and he loves to have deep conversations. Lots of "why, Mommy?" questions pop out of his mouth throughout each day. Sometimes it can bet a little annoying, but then I remember that he is a sponge. Every question from a child is a teachable moment. Will I take the time to teach him that his curiosities are valid? Will I take the time to give him the knowledge he craves? Or will I teach him that he is simply an annoyance and a hindrance to my "Mom-duties"? Joshua is a very bright child and keen to know everything about everything!!

I love Joshua because he likes to read. I recently bought him a Little Critter compilation book - a book with 7 Little Critter stories inside. He has the whole thing memorized - all 50-something pages of it - and "read" about half of it to his Auntie Carly the other weekend. His recall is amazing. I sometimes get annoyed that he wants to have me read to him so much, but then I remember that his little brain is wired this way and that I need to nurture him. Yes, there is a time and a place where I simply can't read to him and that he needs to understand that, but my first and foremost "Mom-duty" is to teach and instruct him. Whether this be stories, or taking him outside to chase frogs or grasshoppers, or teach him how to use a hammer and nails - he is my little man and he wants to learn.

I love Joshua because he is so forgiving. We can have a really rotten day together, and at the end of the day he'll still crawl up into our laps and snuggle and together we can wash away the negatives of the day. He teaches me about God our Father in this way - as His children, we mess up, too, but as we crawl into his lap at the end of the day for a snuggle, He washes away all the hurts of the day, too - wipes them clean and still loves us deeply. Unconditionally. No matter how much Joshua upsets me, disobeys me, or frustrates me, I will still love him unconditionally.

I love Joshua because he is funny. I think (as do many other parents) that God made kids cute so that they would survive their toddler years. :) We can be in the middle of trying to reprimand him for something, and out of his mouth comes the funniest reply - and we're melted into a pitiful puddle and our "reprimand" is completely lost, or so it seems. We carry on with our day and we never have another trouble similar to the one we had before "the reprimand".

I love Joshua because of his incredible memory. I mentioned before about reading books - well, he recalls things from months and months and months ago that we'd even forgotten - things from spending time at Gramma & Grampa's house, things from Canada Day, even things from our old house from last summer and things from when Dustin was first born that we haven't talked about in ages. He amazes me. Yesterday I was looking for my brown extension cord so we could make cookies together, and after I'd spent a few minutes looking, Joshua asked me what I was looking for and then promptly told me where I'd put it. Duh! Of course. He truly amazes me.

I love Joshua because he is *usually* so honest. He tells it like it is. He generally isn't afraid to rat himself out on something. Of course, he has learned that if he does something bad, he will get into trouble...but even more recently he has learned that if he does something bad and lies about it, he will get into even more trouble. I love Joshua because he makes funny faces, says "excuse me" when he burps or toots, has good manners, and cleans his plate (except at dinnertime, which is an entirely separate matter). I love Joshua because he is usually a good big brother, except for tonight when he swiped a towel out from under Dustin's feet, causing Dustin to be completely up-ended and get very upset. He likes to take Dustin by the hand and teach him. The very first thing that Joshua tried to teach Dustin, when Dustin was but a day old, was that the round thing ticking on the wall is called a clock. Funny kid. So eager to learn (check out the pictures - he wants to print already, and is doing very well!). So eager to teach. So eager to share with strangers about his love for frog-hunting at our new home in the country.

*sigh*

I love Joshua. God sure gave us a pretty special little boy.