In A Perfect World

By Sandy on February 28, 2012

I’m in the process of creating a new room for Josiah. Right now his room is rather bare. He has a bed, a large bean bag chair and a dresser. The room has one accent wall, painted brown. The other 3 walls are beige. I really want to make Josiah’s room more exciting for him. Actually, I’d like to create more of a sensory room for him. The goal is to create a room that is inviting, yet calming.

Josiah is drawn to lights. He always has been. When he was an infant and needed to see an ophthalmologist on a regular basis, I asked about it. I wanted to know why my baby stared intently at lights. I wanted to know why he appeared to look right through me and not even notice I was there, but studied lights with rapt attention. The Dr. said some of his patients with Down Syndrome did that. He said he didn’t know why but some just spent a lot of time staring at lights.

One Man Demolition Crew

By Sandy on February 22, 2012

Josiah broke another chair the other day. I can’t even begin to count the number of chairs he has destroyed. When we moved into this house almost 7 years ago, we bought a brand new Kitchen table with 8 chairs. For our large family, it was perfect.

The table was taller than typical Kitchen tables. It requires bar stool sized chairs. When we were looking for a house, one of the most important things we were searching for was an eating area large enough to accommodate everyone comfortably. We were thrilled when we found this house and I absolutely loved the table and chairs we had purchased.

The Haircut Didn’t Happen

By Sandy on February 21, 2012

The bedroom haircut didn’t happen last night. Josiah had other plans. Do you think he knew what I was up to? How could he possibly know I had full intentions of finishing his bathtub haircut? The boy had NO desire to sleep last night.

He has a new bedroom. He’s in a different bed. We recently switched some kids around now that the 2 older girls are away at College. We figured it was best to move Josiah back down stairs, closer to the Master bedroom.

He was often waking in the night and wandering down to our room anyway. Figured it was best for him to be off the stairs in the middle of the night. We also figured it would be easier to help him maintain a better bedtime routine if we didn’t have to keep walking him back up to his bedroom at night. It’s much easier to walk him down the hall and around the bend.

Bathtub Barbershop

By Sandy on February 20, 2012

Josiah’s hair is getting long. Quite long actually. I started thinking early this morning how easy it would be if he were a girl. We could let his hair grow and grow and grow. It wouldn’t matter how long it got because long hair on a girl is fine. Not so fine on a little boy.

He’s needed a haircut for a while. He is way overdue. When Josiah gets his hair cut we typically have it done in a buzz cut. We have it cut as short as possible and it looks really cute that way. The real reason we get it cut so short is because the entire experience is horrendous. Josiah detests getting his hair cut. No one wants to put the boy through such an ordeal. So getting it cut super short means we have to do it less frequently.

Daddy Knows Best

By Sandy on February 17, 2012

Rick and I rarely get out together anymore. We used to ‘date’ quite frequently. Those days are long gone. One of us always needs to be with Josiah. Recently though we have found some amazing, caring babysitters who are wonderful with Josiah. It has enabled us to spend a night here and there out together, reconnecting.

Last night we were able to steal away for a couple of hours to catch a movie. It was a thrill for me. Since Christmas break, Josiah has spent more time out of school, home sick, than he has in school. That means, I’ve been here with him. It means long days and often, even longer nights. Chandler has been sick also. She has Strep and has been home quite a few days as well.I was glad to be getting a break.