AllisonYokeley.com

You will not believe what happened in my playroom this morning!!! This is what happened:

Mommy:  Somebody has pooped.  Who pooped?  Jonah did you poop?

Jonah:  No.  Josiah did.

Mommy: Josiah did you poop?

Josiah: (shakes his head yes)

At first I thought, oh look he has finally learned to shake his head up and down not just left and right.  So about 20 minutes later he came crawling into the office.  I picked him up and asked him again if he pooped and again he shook his head yes.  About 20 minutes after that I asked him again and this time Josiah said “yes”.  I was in utter disbelief.  I hugged and praise him and clapped for him.  So then I thought lets try some other things.  Jonah comes in the office and I ask him to sign ”please” to Josiah.  I then ask Josiah to sign “please” and he does!  I praised him again.  Next I ask Jonah to sign “more” to him.  When I ask Josiah to sign it back he does.  Again I am hugging and praising him.

I am still trying to figure out what happened.  It feels like a dream to me.  Yesterday while his OT was working with him I was having Josiah show her how he waves hello, pretends to wash his hands, points and raises his arms in the air to say “ta da”.  She said if he can do all that then he can sign more, please and drink.  So for some reason today he decided to show me. 

I think he might be taking advantage of me treating him like a baby.  Obviously I have learned that he is smarter than I think he is.  So needless to say that I am a proud mommy today!

I wordled my blog today for fun. Obviously I need to write more about Jonah. Get yours

The main reason we were late was due to Joshua being in timeout twice between 7:50 and 8:40 am. Also his brother took advantage of mommy being distracted and I took a picture of his mischievousness.

The title came from a friend of mine who made the comment to me a few weeks ago and it has just stuck with me. It is taking all of me - emotionally ,spiritually, physically - to be on this journey with Christ right now. The last four day have been extremely hard. I am not sure what is causing the stress. Joshua has been extremely hard to handle the past few days. It literally starts st 8 am and last until 7:30 pm when he goes to bed. I think this is why I have been falling asleep like a pregnant woman at 9pm. ( no, there is no chance this month!) Joey and I are running on short from the kids so therefore we are short with each other. Joey hit the nail on the head tonight. He said something big must be going on or about to happen because our life feels like it is being attacked right now. Why can’t living for Jesus be like a ride in a Cadillac with leather seats that heat and cool?

Joey had elders tonight so I had to put the three boys to bed on my own. Joshua again could not control himself. I could feel the frustration starting to grow to the top of my head. After I got them in bed I found the Casting Crowns Lifesong concert on the Gospel Channel. Immediately I felt the Holy Spirit in my destroyed by 3 boys playroom. I found myself singing and praising Jesus. Then I realized I was completely calm and at peace like nothing ever happened the past four days.

Tonight in the kitchen I said to Joey who can we go to for help in learning how to shepherd, discipline, and teach Joshua then while singing one of the Casting Crown songs it hit me . The following lyrics are from the song What If His People Prayed:

What if the life that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus
Stopped asking Oprah what to do

Chorus I:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face yeah
And turn from their own way
Chorus II:
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He’ll answer loud and clear, yeah
If only we would pray

I realized that I had not turned to Jesus for help the past few days regarding the situation. Jesus is the one who gave Joshua to us to raise. Jesus is the only one who knows what he needs. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can change him. Instead of spending my time trying to create the appropriate punishment I should be on my knees talking to Jesus.

Josiah saw the eye doctor last week for the first time.  He did extremely well until we had to hold him still for the eye drops to dilate his eyes.  He has a small astigmatism but the Doctor said it is nothing to worry with.  We don’t go back until he is three.   The Doctor was really interested in the fact the Josiah has Mosaic Down syndrome.  I am not sure that I have talked about this before - that Josiah only has 60% of his cells with the extra chromosome and 40% of his cells are typical.  I love going to WFU Baptist Medical Center because they use your kids medical conditions for teaching other medical students.  You really learn a lot from listening.  Every time Jonah goes to the Dermatologists over there the Doctor almost always shows the students Jonah’s birthmark.

Josiah also had his 15 month check up this week.  Dr. Bill said Josiah got an A yet he did get his first dose of antibiotics for a sinus infection.  He and Jonah have had a runny nose and cough for several weeks.  I didn’t think anything of it because they have had no fever and have been sleeping fine.  He was pleased that Josiah is combat crawling and that he is trying to pull up.  Josiah has been pulling up to one knee very regularly.  So we go back to see Dr. Bill at 18 months.  His appointment happens to be on my birthday.  Mark you calendars now for March 3!

At our former church Joey and I were apart of a small group of young couples. As the couples started having kids we needed childcare for our meetings. So the men would meet for breakfast before work and the women would meet on night a week. It was a lot of fun to meet as women only. Well one of the ladies in the group invited all of us to a Festival of Tables event/fundraiser at our former church. When I first read the invite I immediately was excited to get together with everyone again so I sent my RSVP. Then the more I thought about it I got a little nervous.

You see I am with males only everyday all day except for 1 1/2 hours on Tuesday mornings (Betsy thank you for this time it means a lot to me!) and 2 hours on Wednesday (I can’t even begin to thank the women and my bible study leader Charlotte for how they inspire/encourage me each week). I also don’t really put much effort into fixing myself except for on Sunday mornings - interestingly enough it is the only time each week that I have the time to iron my hair if I want to wear it straight. Let me also mention that I am suppose to wear pink to help decorate our table. I don’t own anything pink so today I am using a gift card that we have had for awhile.

Hopefully the boys have not worn off on me too much and that I won’t be burping or passing gas (farting in the 5 year old language) or even using my straw for spit balls ( I think I might need to go back to Meredith College for a refresher course). On the other hand I am extremely excited to have a meal tonight where there aren’t people fighting over who has the most food on their plate, where there won’t be people stealing my food off my plate, where everyone at the table sits on their bottoms in their chairs on their own and where everyone chews with their mouths closed. Oh the little things we take for granted!

Lastly let me say that I LOVE my boys and that I would could NEVER ask or imagine for my life to be any different - stinky, farting, burping, spitballs and all!! Who could ask for a more blessed life

Yesterday I was feeling kind of down about Josiah. I have noticed lately that he has no awareness of his body. We have been working with him for two weeks trying to get him to stand and play at the ottoman. He has no awareness of balance. He will just lunge forward to grab a toy and fall. He also has no awareness of food in his hand. He doesn’t bring it to his mouth. I have been trying to teach him to sign please and drink yet when I try to show him with his hands he gets frustrated.

Then today he surprises me. His Occupational Therapist was here today working with him. We gave him a Baby Mum Mum (these are my new favorite snack) all of a sudden he puts it in his mouth and bites a piece off. The OT and I started clapping and cheering for him. After she left I gave the other one in the package to him and he did it again. I wish I could have taken a picture of Joey’s face when he saw Josiah feed himself. He fed the other one entirely to himself! He amazes me when all of a sudden he does something we have been working months to do!

Also, as of last week, Josiah is no longer drinking from a baby bottle. I have packed up the bottles, bottle drying rack and bottle brush. He now is drinking all his milk from a straw cup at his three meals. Dr. Bill told us in August he wanted Josiah drinking from a straw cup and now we are. I am especially glad because we go back to see Dr. Bill next week and I can tell him no more bottles.

We took the boys to Lake Tom-A-Lex yesterday and saw an adult man with Down syndrome. When he saw the boys he waved to them from across the parking lot. When I saw him it reminded me that Josiah will walk, use the potty, feed himself, dress himself and hopefully be independent someday. He will accomplish these milestones in his timing with our help. I just need to stay focused on the small things one at a time and not the overall picture. I am so thankful for God putting Ms. Becky, Ms. Lisa and Ms. Beth in his life. They are not only really good at what they do but they are all Christian women as well. They really help to keep me focused on what is important right now. Take it one day and one milestone at a time!

Lastly you can pray for Josiah’s opthamology appointment on Friday. This is his first visit with the eye doctor. We don’t have any vision concerns yet I always have that scared feeling lurking. I am always afraid of surprises when we go to the doctor. I hope someday I won’t feel this way about a his doctor appointments.

Jonah did not wake my up today until 8:40!!! It must be my lucky day! I don’t think I have slept past 8 o’clock since last December when Joey and I got away for a weekend. We even had to wake Joshua up at 9 o’clock. I guess this would be a perk to Fall break. Yesterday afternoon I struggling to find a perk when the boys were bouncing off the walls and it was just day one to Fall break.

I was thinking this morning how my parents used to get irritated when I would sleep to 11 or even 12 o’clock on a Saturday morning or while out on Summer vacation. I remember waking up and my parents telling all they had already accomplished in the day all awhile I was still sleeping. Isn’t it funny that when kids are little you live for them to sleep past 8 o’clock and when they are teenagers you get irritated because they sleep too late. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

Today was Joshua’s favorite day in the school year. He loves pajama day. I must say that I enjoy it as well because it cuts down on the getting ready time in the morning. Today was also the coldest morning that we have had since last Winter. I saw on the news last night that the temperatures we have had this week are those of December’s normal daily temperatures. Below are pictures of our car ride this morning. My car said it was 30 degrees this morning.

The drive to preschool this morning was so beautiful. The clouds are moving in from the cold front and the leaves are now falling on Jonestown Road. With the leaves falling and the cool fall air I quickly realized that this is the last week in October which means that next week is the first week in November which means . . . it is Cornhuskin time!! All my fellow Angels will know what I am talking about. Cornhuskin is an annual competition among the classes at Meredith College. (Please correct if I am wrong but it seems to me that no matter how good the Sophomore score is the Senior class always wins!) I can’t tell you anymore than that because the motto is “You just have to experience it.” Interestingly enough I was wearing my senior class Cornhuskin sweatshirt last week and Joshua was asking me all about it. Hopefully he will marry an angel. I did recall a funny memory this morning. I remember holding the stop watch and timing Kim Parker while she practiced apple bobbing in the bathtub. Fun memories!! Let me give a shout out to ‘97-’99-’01!