Rolling Forward

This week definitely was Josiah's week. Everything we did this week  revolved around our newly toddlerized son.

Josiah and mommy took many trips around the block in baby's new wagon he got for his birthday. He loves the wagon treks so much that he's been going out with mommy twice a day.  The wagon has a dumping feature which is cute for transporting toys and books from one house to the other, but a feature that we need to be cautious of if Josiah decides to lean back really fast while riding in it. We saw the potential dangers of this at his birthday party when one 9yo child was pulling Josiah around the hall, then suddenly decided to speed up and pull the handle higher, and tilting Josiah's wagon back. He fell. Luckily on carpet. From then on we decided to get him a helmet and protective gear and to watch our speed and the angle of the wagon.

Josiah has always been an adventurer and loves to discover new places and meet new people and animals. He enjoys looking around at new sights, and if he can reach a flower or leaf from his wagon he likes feeling new textures. The beauty of it is he's really discovering his senses for the first time. And it's wonderful to watch.

Josiah had his one year pediatrician appointment with Dr. Downey. Mommy and Sonny waited in a long line to be seen because the child before his appointment was having difficulties which pushed back our time. Josiah got two shots that were a combination of three vaccines.

We're happy to take advantage of our family health insurance and make sure Josiah is healthy. One of our questions was that Josiah is not yet walking. Dr explained that each baby has it's own progression and since Josiah is a heavy baby, it will take him longer to learn how to first get his balance. But he's perfectly healthy and we have nothing to worry about.

Last week was my last week with my trainee and my last week on the night shift. Having been on that shift for so long, it was a bittersweet feeling. But definitely more sweet than bitter. I think I've been in a weird funk since my buddy Calvin Johnson was fired a few month back, I still miss the guy everyday.

What I'm looking forward the most to is sleeping together with and spending more daytime off with my family.

On Saturday Rhea had scheduled a field trip to bring all the children of our church group to tour the gardens and grounds of the temple in Orlando. Josiah would babysit him while I napped after my 12 hour shift, so I had to drop off Josiah's car seat on my lunch break at 0515 hrs. After I had already dropped off the car seat and Josiah was already with his grandma and mommy was already at the pick up location for their field trip, I got a message of a few items Rhea in her rush to prepare for the Orlando trip forgot to send with Josiah. I was originally going to nap at my house then meet Josiah at mom's house when I woke up, but this gave me an excuse to see my son sooner.

My last night shift ever was on Friday. When I got off Saturday morning, I brought sleeping supplies and Josiah’s food to my mom’s house and slept there. I was missing our son anyway, so it was a no brainer to visit him and sleep there so when he woke up I could be there for him. I brought extra books and his ball to play with.

Rhea's group arrived in Orlando at 0930 took their tour and ate lunch and began their return at 1250 hrs.

By the time I got to my mom's house Josiah was already sleeping, so I put his food and snacks in the fridge and left his toys and books by his other toys. He's had a hard time sleeping with anyone else if his mommy wasn't there, so this was a big milestone for him. By the time I woke from my four hour nap, he had woken up, played and was napping again.

Josiah’s old enough and starting to mature enough now that it seems he’s ok to sleep and live a long time without either of his parents. I was thinking if anything should happen to either of us or both of us, he will be ok. He’s a toddler now and he’ll be ok. Rhea asked me about my confidence in someone else's chauffeuring skills, I answered that I believe in the plan of salvation, haha. Growing up, starting a family and having to mandatory enrollment into health and life insurance, it's opened the doors where we've had to talk about this seriously numerous times. What would happen should we be required to cash in that life insurance for one of us? Where would it go? What would be the most practical way to spend it? If one of us were lost, how would the other take care of Josiah? If something were to happen to both of us, how can we insure Josiah would be ok? As my trainee put it, we meed to talk about these things because preparation is key.

I thought that in life, one great way to prepare for the worst is to always be building memories of each other, and by putting our family first. We can write and journal each other's stories. Keep records in any way we're most comfortable so we will always have a memory we can share at a future date.

Everytime Josiah got fussy or hysterically crying, realizing his mommy was nowhere to be found, I took him out around the lake on the wagon. After every ride he’d return happy. He fell the second time around when he suddenly arched back off the wagon. He only cried for a few seconds until I picked him up and started pulling him again. I'm so grateful for the helmet. We tried to pick flowers for mommy. He ate half of them and threw the other half out of the wagon. Mommy was more unhappy that I let him eat the flowers than the fact that we didn't have any by the time she got home. It made him happy and according to my books, they're edible.