September 19, 2007 by Joe.

until it is Josh’s 5th birthday. I’ll tell you, this last month has been really exciting in Josh’s growth as an individual. Josh is becoming quite a conversationalist. He loves talking on the phone and telling stories. Kind of sounds like his mother! He is also being very proactive with helping out with chores. I don’t think there has been a day in the last two weeks where we have cleared our plates from the table. Josh has been doing it without us even asking! Yesterday, Sami got into the dog food and filled their bowls past the full point. She also tried covering the laundry room floor with dog fold. Tara was a little upset and told Sami she made a mess and Josh said he would clean it up. Tara was like, ok, go ahead and went and sat down. She thought she would have to go in and finish the job after Josh was done. When Josh said he was done she checked on his work and he did awesome!! He didn’t miss a spot. We are thinking of what other chores we can have him start. Hmmm, he started dusting tonight!! He is such a good kid!!!!!! Did I mention he is almost five!!

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September 5, 2007 by Joe.

I never thought Josh would be this tall at four years old. Ok, so he is almost five. Yes, 19 days away. He is still our little boy. Ok, so yes he can now stand next to the kitchen island and rest his arms and head on it like the rest of us “tall” people do. That was a shock the first time we saw him do that. It’s one of those things you bring him back and have him do it again just to make sure that you saw it right the first time. I just love all of the “firsts” he has. Not only is he growing physically, he is also growing mentally. He is such a smart and polite kid. You can tell that he is trying to learn and wants to learn. He asks lots of questions and out of nowhere he surprises us. Tonight, Tara asked me what day is tomorrow. Josh answered that tomorrow is Thursday. Now, don’t get ahead of me. He understands days of the week but he still has a difficult time following which day we are in and what day follows. However, he was able to piece together from earlier conversations that tomorrow is Thursday and then relay that information later to his Mom. Gotta love him! He is also a very good kid. He cleans up the table without being asked. We had a neighborhood poker game at our house a few weeks ago and he asked one of our neighbors if she was done and it totally surprised her.

I have taken Josh bowling with me a couple times in the last month. He really enjoys this and wants to go with me all the time. My league started yesterday though so we probably won’t be going as often. He wants to go to league with me but he doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t be able to bowl. Plus, I don’t get home until 9:30 - 10 so it is way past his bedtime. I am sure I’ll sneak him down someday, but maybe not for awhile.

I’ll post a couple pictures on his pictures page.

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July 20, 2007 by Joe.

Wow, a lot has happened since June 18th (my last post).  Where should we begin.

On June 30th, we went on a road trip to Northern California.  That night, we stayed at a campsite just north of LA.  It was a great campsite but we really had to be careful about the poison oak.  It was everywhere.  We then continued our drive north.  We made a stop at a fountain called Old Faithful.  This isn’t the one in Yosemite or Yellowstone (wherever?), it is in Napa valley.  It was cool to watch the geyser go off and we got to see it spray twice.  We then left and many hours later found our campsite in Richardson Grove state park.  This is just south of the Redwood National Forest.  This campsite was great as well.  Lots of trees and pretty level.  We walked on quite a few trails and also along the river a ways.  We did quite a few things on this trip including driving along avenue of the giants.  We stopped at many of the small towns and thought about attempting to drive the truck through one of the trees.  We didn’t.  Throughout the week, Josh was our mesquito repellent.  Sami got bit zero times, I got bit three times, Tara got bit seven times and Josh got bit 28 times.  I swear we were soaking in him repellant but they kept going after him - everywhere!  We also went on a really steep trail the day before we left.  It was about a mile and a half long and it dropped 800 feet in that distance.  Josh was a real trooper most of the way and then he started to not enjoy it at all.  If you ask him what he enjoyed about that trail, his reply will be “nothing - I liked nothing about it”.  I ended up carrying Sami both down and up on my shoulders cause it was easier to do that then try to hold her hand and have her walk.  It was too steep for her.  We only made it about a mile down and decided to go back up.  I can’t wait to go back when they are older and I don’t have to carry them.  It is suppose to have some of the largest Redwoods at the bottom. 

After we got back we had the dreadful news about our niece passing away.  She was a tough six year old who had many challenges in her life.  Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and help them keep the strength and courage they taught Izabelle to continue on with their lives. 

Josh had a doctors appointment today.  He is int he 95 percentile in height but only 50 percentile in wieght.  We also had his ears checked and they were full of wax.  They weren’t able to get it all out so we will be working on that in the next week or so.  Our doctor is working on scheduling him to meet with a specialist regarding his hearing.  Let’s hope everything is ok.

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