Pats / I will do it myself

In order to save big slideshow, i feel like writing some entry, so that side bar could be seen.
So.
Pats (LV) - this is Josh's most used word lately. In English it would be "I'll do it myself" or just 'myself'.
This word he uses: putting butter on a bread; putting trousers, boots on; putting in and taking out DVDs and VHS tapes, opening and closing outside doors (with the key), flushing toilet, switching lights, pouring juice or milk in a cup or bowl...
There is probably more.

Josh's Kindergarten Christmas party

I will soon be going to my first parent's meeting at the kindergarten! How weird is that?! I wonder what will happen there and what they will say. Aivis is thinking that they will ask for some extra money for something. We just have to pay for food for Josh, which is a small amount a month. The government pays for the rest... although I have a feeling they only really cover salaries for the people working at the kindergarten as the facilities look quite sparse... so we will be happy to help. Aivis has told me the piano is out of tune - not that i have heard it myself, but I would be willing to pay for it to be tuned...
Josh is so happy now at kindergarten. He wants to go there everyday and there are now no tears... He even wanted to go this Saturday... we had to say that he had a day off!
He is speaking more and more - not that we can always understand what exactly he is trying to tell us! Whenever he comes home from kindergarten he tried so hard to give us a full description of the day. He seems to be getting on with the other kids quite well. One morning when I took him (when he was still crying each day when we left) one of the older boys emplored him, "Josh - please don't cry!". It seemed to work - not long after that comment, he stopped crying altogether when leaving us in the morning. Some of the girls are always friendly when they see him in the morning - giving him a cheery 'hello Josh!'. So... Josh's world is going well.

Stepping...

This picture is taken on his last day of 'freedom' stepping in Araishi windmill while being out of Riga for a day with Ian from UK.
So Josh has taken a Big step moving from his house to kindergarten. First week he stayed till 1.00 pm coming home just before everybody went to sleep, but this week (Today) he did also his first nap there. Witnesses say that he cried after the sleep but not for long, so seems like 'he is IN'.

Well, we have some very exciting news. They phoned from the Russian kindergarten to say that they have a place for Josh!! He will of course join the Latvian speaking group... Aivis felt that the people working in that kindergarten were very friendly when he signed up on the waiting list a year and a half ago! Everything has come just at the right time, because Josh has not been ready to go to kindergarten until now (maybe he is not even totally ready yet - but don't all kids have to go through that yelling phase when their parents leave them alone? I know I did - for the first day!)
They are doing some repairs to the building at the moment, but from around the 20th of this month he will start to go. We will probably start gradually and see how he takes to it.
This will be a real step to independence...

Other things to note, he has suddenly got into drawing - holding the pens quite well and doing quite detailed scribbles. Until now he didnt want to have anything to do with drawing... He loves glue sticks and wants to glue everything... and he is a jumping addict - I remember a time when I looked at Sian who was always jumping and thought that Josh would never be able to do it - now he is happiest when jumping - or playing his guitar.

The other day I thought about how speeds change. The speed at which Josh can do things. I remember calculating that to get from the bottom of our stairs to our flat (4 storeys) took Josh at least 7 minutes when he started to walk. Now he can nearly do it faster than me, striding one step per leg up the stairs. I was reflecting that when his legs will get longer he will really be able to do those stairs faster than me!

The last thing is keys! Josh is very proficient at opening our front door. He is always asking for the keys when we come in the building. He gets the big key the right way up and can also turn it. He always has to ring the doorbell first! (Aivis created this tradition!). Then when he gets in, he has to put the light on and then lock the door again! He already understands the power of a key!

Bossy Joshy

Josh often asks for music to be put on, but his taste is becoming more defined, and along with that comes bossiness! So, if we are listening to one track which he doesnt like we need to go to - citi (another!) or if he likes it and needs it again, the instruction is - more!
He is saying more and more words - seems to me that most of them are English, although I always speak to him in English... so maybe that is why! He still hasnt really got the idea of stringing a few words together to make a sentence! But anyway...
Ok, we just have to have a potty update.. we are nearly there - well, when he is up he doesnt have a nappy on and he is sorting himself out - even getting toilet paper and washing hands! (well, not always washing hands, but this morning he did and then he decided he needed to do mute (Mouth) as well! Yes, he is getting the hang of many things.
There were some more things I wanted to post.. but if you dont write them down when you think of them, you forget... So will try and be back soon. There are a few clips to download too - so I will try and get them up on dropshots....

Josh the evangelist - starting early!
Josh and Aivis were in the countryside this week visiting Aivis' mum. Beta also went with them.
Aivis noticed an interesting evangelistic technique that Josh has got into. As I mentioned on the last entry, Josh is into grace before meals... So, while he was in the countryside, he was also insistant that grace should be said. Aivis' mum and Beta are not accustomed to this tradition, but they were nicely pressurised to conform! Beta tried to avoid it, but Josh would stop the prayer - seeing that Beta was not joining in, say Beta, Beta and show his praying hands and then when she was ready the prayer could continue! Not sure what Mudite and Beta made of it - but God was invading their space in the form of Josh!

Puzzling, very puzzling

Today Josh has been into puzzles - we have a number of these wooden puzzles that you have to put the pieces back in the right places. He has never really been into them - not really figured out what you have to do. Aivis said that yesterday he suddenly got into doing the farmyard animals one - and today it was the food one. He had to pretend he was eating each piece before putting it in the right place. He was better with the ones that had distinct shapes, as opposed to the ones that were nearly round with a few bits sticking out - making them harder to place.

He is really into a book about a shepherd too. We have to have it every evening when I put him to bed. The boy in the book looks a bit like him... We have to go through where the crook is, the cap, the whistle and the boots every night.

He helped me with some cleaning today - a bit of hoovering. He is also very good at pushing the button to make the wire go back into the hoover.

Tonight we were coming home together on the tram and when we got off, he insisted on walking through the grassy area by the school - the back way to our flat (even though I had said no!). He likes the quieter route, just like his dad!

Josh is also quite into praying! He sometimes reminds us when we are eating that we havent said grace - or maybe he just missed it! He suddenly stops eating, put his hands together and closes his eyes. I have started praying with him before he goes to sleep at night, and he always wants to do it - in fact he has never said no to prayer! He is becoming good at saying Amen at the end. In fact, at the wedding on Sunday in the Lutheran church, the pastor said Amen in one of his prayers and suddenly there was a big resounding Amen coming out of Josh's mouth! Another pastor in the making?

Now and Then or Some sort of Beginning

When I grew up, my mum was writing diary about some of my achievements or first time doings. This age is different - we are Blogging on the World Wide Web - no paper or ink needed anymore and anyone in the World can read it when stumbling on pages like this.
In 'my times' if you put film in a camera, it could be couple weeks or even more till you finished film to bring it to develop and make pictures and it would be another week or two till your film and pictures would be made. I remember that anxiety and impatience while waiting to know what turned out from your film. Very often I even forgot what pictures I've taken in the beginning of film roll...
Yeah. These were just some thoughts in the light of sorting Josh's pictures to begin this Blog with. Because as we were not very good with documenting (in writing form) every step of progress Josh has made, there still is some pictures which tells it all.
I just had a thought that to show Josh's First Steps of progress towards his Independence in Pictures, is good way to catch up where he is in in his life right now.