Joshua 8 years old

I am so glad the Joshua is my first born.  He is so responsible, reliable and can be so helpful.  He is so sweet, loving and nurturing to Caroline and Hunter.  I think my life would be so much harder without this kid!

Joshua has a really good heart.  Out of all my kids, he most sincerely wants to do what is right.  If he makes a bad choice, I can talk to him and he easily sees what was wrong and is honestly sorry.  I would be shocked if Joshua ever became rebellious.  I'm not saying he is an angel.  He can definitely be mean and loose his temper - especially with Luke - he can really beat up on that kid!  But Joshua just is and wants to be a rule follower.  He loves making rules, and is always suggesting new rules to me.  He also loves routine.  He looks forward to all tradition and routine things that happen on a predictable schedule.

Joshua is still a non stop talker.  He just is full of stories, questions, and negotiations.  He is also very nosey and observant.  He pays attention to everybody's conversations and inserts his two cents.  And if one of his siblings isn't following rules, he's the first to let John and I know.  He'll make a great babysitter one day, but for now should probably learn to just worry about himself!

Joshua is a smart kid and really loves to learn - but he is incredibly slow (moving).   He is slow with everything.  I can ask him to take off his pj's and get dressed.  Twenty minutes later he will be sitting in his room in his underwear slowly putting on one sock.  He just moves so slowly and it can be like pulling teeth to finish a task.  He has been lucky so far with his school teachers.  They have quickly realized that his slowness is not in relation to his comprehension and they have let him do things at his own pace, or not finish everything at times.  I hear stories from the Davis family that John was the same way - at least at home, I'm not sure about school.

Joshua likes playing with friends, but is not super social.  He would never pass up a play date, but doesn't have a bunch of friends he's always asking to play with.   He'd be content playing with his friend Jacob everyday.

Joshua is a good reader and loves reading non-fiction books about anything interesting.  He easily looses interest in fiction.  He's just not an imaginative person, he loves reality and facts so much more.  And he loves to tell us about everything.

He's a sweet boy.  Definitely not a little kid.  Sometimes I pull him onto my lap and I feel like I'm pulling a teenager - he just doesn't fit at all.  I'm sad he's lost his little kid cuddliness.  I don't know that I'm ready for my kids to be getting as old as they are.  This time is going by too quickly.  In another 8 years Joshua will be driving and in another 10 he'll be leaving the house.  So I hope these years go by slowly, because I'm going to miss them so much when they are gone.