Josiah was invited to a birthday party yesterday. I nearly cried when I saw the invitation in his backpack a couple of weeks ago. Josiah doesn’t get invited to birthday parties. This was such a thrill for me. It was an invitation from a little boy in Josiah’s class. It was held at a local bouncy house place.

You know Josiah. He’s a jumper. This kid bounces with the best of them. He bounces on the chair. He bounces on the bed. He bounces in the car. He even bounces on his knees across the floor. So, this was the perfect event for him. I just knew Josiah would be in his element at this party, once he got used to the environment.

As usual, I was wrong.

Josiah held Rick’s hand and mine as we walked in the place. He seemed a little apprehensive when we walked down the long hallway to his friend’s party room. He nearly bolted out the door when we encouraged him to climb into one of the inflatables.

But, Rick and I are seasoned parents. We look out for the best interest of each of our children. So what did we do? We shoved that boy inside the house. I climbed in first. I reached back through the narrow opening, grabbed Josiah’s arms and pulled. Rick got behind Josiah, held onto his legs and pushed.

Josiah resisted. He tried to wiggle free. He made some vocalizations which clearly declared his distress and disinterest in participating. We ignored him. After all, as his parents, who know him best and have witnessed first hand his adoration of bouncing, we just knew he would LOVE it, once inside. We were wrong. Josiah clung to me for dear life.

Rick, Josiah and I were the only ones inside our inflatable. All 3 of us sat in that thing for the longest time, while Josiah held on to me with a death grip. I figured it might take a few minutes to adjust to the new environment. There was quite a bit of activity with children running and bouncing and sliding in inflatables all around us.

Josiah was taking it all in and not really enjoying any of it. The only thing that seemed to calm him some was the bright lights just outside the inflatable. He looked up at them and relaxed a bit. Some little guys joined us and began jumping. Josiah eased his grip a bit and settled in Rick’s lap. I jumped near by and tried to encourage Josiah to jump.

I positioned Josiah on his knees which is one of his favorite bouncing positions and applied light pressure to his shoulders. I bounced him for a few minutes. When I stopped, Josiah crawled right back into Rick’s lap and just stared up at the lights outside the netted walls.

We played with a ball inside the inflatable. We threw it at a hoop mounted inside. Rick and I tossed it back and forth to Josiah helping him to catch and throw it. Let me just put it this way, the ONLY ones getting any exercise or bouncing activity in that inflatable yesterday were Rick and me and those 2 little guys who joined us.

The ENTIRE time we were inside, which was probably a little over an hour, Josiah simply sat. Eventually, we were summoned to the party room for pizza, cake and presents. Josiah fought going into that room and literally tried to push past me to bolt out the door. We got him settled and enjoyed the last part of the birthday fun. And then, it was time to leave.

Rick and I thanked the parents for inviting Josiah, wished the birthday boy well and held Josiah’s hands as we walked down the hallway to go. And do you know what that boy did? I kid you not. As soon as we rounded the bend and headed down the hallway, Josiah began to bounce.

He held onto Rick and I and bounced all the way out the door.