Josiah is 4!

On Saturday, Josiah turned 4!!  

Really, it's hard to believe it's been 4 years since he was born, the time as passed quicker than I imagined it would.  He is such a fun, kind, loving, rambunctious, spirited boy!  

I just wanted to write down some fun tidbits about him from this past year:

1. This summer (at 3 1/2) he finally starting using the potty for it's intended function and our diaper bill went down dramatically!  
2. His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds, and inserting funny words like "probably" and "because" in sentences.  
3. His curious mind is always thinking; therefore his mouth is always asking questions - Why, What, When, Where, and How are common sentence starters.  
4. Along with his expanded vocabulary has come back-talking and sassy-ness.  He frequently gets in trouble for saying "No" when he's asked to do something; or for saying "I told you ....  "  {insert attitude fluctuation in voice when he says 'told'}; Refusing to apologize or say 'Yes Ma'am'; and many other things.  He is majorly testing boundaries as we try to teach him right from wrong.  
5. He loves Paul so much, they are always playing together - play wrestling, making messes, running around, yelling, and doing silly boy things - and they fight a lot too, but that's normal.  
6. He loves people, loves when people come over to our house and loves to go anywhere.  Mr. Social is his nickname. 
7. He is intrigued by this new baby sister that is taking FOR.E.VER to grow big enough to get out of mom's belly.  He does not understand why he just can't see her right now.  
8. This year he learned to dress himself fully and take his clothes off and put them in the dirty clothes hamper.  
9. He still wakes up at night, sometimes with night terrors and other times he just wakes up for whatever reason.  
10. He can brush his teeth on his own. 
11. He takes his plate to the sink after dinner, and sometimes, we don't even have to ask him anymore! 
12. He runs from the camera now.  
13. Cutting his toenails is like fighting a wild bear.  Justin has to pin his body down while I sit on his leg and grab his foot.  Even still, he's as strong as an ox and we both struggle to keep him still.  
14. He's a back seat driver.  
15. He no longer cries and screams when it's time for a haircut.  
16. He's not well-behaved at BSF (bible study fellowship), he has to sit by the teacher most of the time.  The sweet teachers he has are praying for him.  Every Wednesday when we get in the car I ask him what he learned/did and he says, "Nothing, we didn't do anything. We just ate goldfish."  His teachers tell me he has a lot of energy, has a hard time sitting still during the story, but he's very helpful and follows instructions.  I fear what kindergarten will be like, thankfully we have 2 more years.  
17. He still wants to be held and rocked when he wakes up from a nap.  Saying, "Mommy, pwease rock me and sqwatch my back."  
18. He still takes an afternoon nap, Thank You Lord!! 
19. His craft time attention span is 10 minutes.  
20. He laughs a lot, finds himself hysterical, and has this new woody woodpecker laugh that is just crazy sounding! 

On his birthday we had a family party with a cookie cake and opening presents and cards.  He got a nice set of building blocks and a new bike with training wheels!  He was so excited!  I think the training wheels will be off in 1-2 weeks, he's determined to get faster and better.  We also had a shrimp boil and he probably ate a half pound of shrimp.  Then we watched a movie that evening.

On Sunday evening we had 2 of his boy friends over for pizza and cake and then took them to an indoor waterpark.  They had the BEST time.  Josiah has a lot of girl friends, but he just wanted to hang out with his guy buddies.  He was so excited.  It was a fun, low-key birthday, and I think it was just the perfect way to celebrate turning 4.

Waiting for Daddy and Devin to come down the big water slide.  He wasn't so sure at first, but after Devin went several times, he decided to try it!

 Owen's Mom catching the boys as they jumped in over and over and over again.

 It took Paul about an hour to decide the water was fun and ok to be in.

The boys! {1 second before Josiah splashed water at the camera!}

Blurry picture, but still cute!
What a great time he had with his buddies Owen and Devin!

Happy Birthday Josiah!