September 17,1987.
That was the day, we
were having our baby boy. Dennis had always wanted a son named Joshua. From the
time we were dating that was the one and only name his son was going to
have. On that day he got his wish and Joshua Dwayne (Dennis's middle name)
made his appearance at 9:07am.
Mollie laid her claim to him before he was
even born! Still in my belly she told the Aunts that he was her baby,
her Joshie. We all spoiled him and he was such a mama's boy.
He wouldn't even let the Aunts hold him for long. Josh was one of those babies
that you couldn't quite figure out. He loved to sit in his baby
swing...but that's it, just sit there. The moment you tried to wind him up he
screamed and cried. He hated any swinging motion.
Mollie here. When he was little I was determined to teach him to pump his legs on the swingset. This was a very hard task when that person was deathly afraid to move on those swings. I remember telling him I wouldn't push him fast or high. It always took persuading but I got him to agree. Of course, I pushed him fast and high, though, and he screamed and cried like a little baby and then always tattled to Mom. Thing is, though, I talked him into it multiple times. Victory was mine in the end cuz I taught that scared little boy to pump his legs on the swingset!
Poor Josh, Mollie tortured the poor kid. If she wasn't trying to push him on the swings, she was dressing him up in her clothes. Everyday Dennis and I dressed him in his boy clothes just to have Mollie take them right off and put girl clothes on him!
Josh started
sleeping all night at a week and a half...yep girls, I got lucky
with this one. The problem was, though, he slept so late in the morning, I
was afraid that he wouldn't wake up at all!
Mollie here. When he was little I was determined to teach him to pump his legs on the swingset. This was a very hard task when that person was deathly afraid to move on those swings. I remember telling him I wouldn't push him fast or high. It always took persuading but I got him to agree. Of course, I pushed him fast and high, though, and he screamed and cried like a little baby and then always tattled to Mom. Thing is, though, I talked him into it multiple times. Victory was mine in the end cuz I taught that scared little boy to pump his legs on the swingset!
Poor Josh, Mollie tortured the poor kid. If she wasn't trying to push him on the swings, she was dressing him up in her clothes. Everyday Dennis and I dressed him in his boy clothes just to have Mollie take them right off and put girl clothes on him!
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| Josh with our cousin, Linsdey. (And that's Grandpa Lyon in the background.) |
As many of you know,
Josh has always been accident prone...self destructive...and a klutz. Well
this started very early. He always had bumps, bruises and
scrapes. I was worried that people thought we beat the poor kid (some
days I wonder how he has survived this long). We still lived in Palmer when
Josh was about 14 months old and decided to take a trip down to the
basement...thru the furnace! One day I
decided to clean the cold air duct. We lived in an older house that had one in
the worst place, right in the middle of the living room floor. I removed
the grate while the kids were playing in the other room-or so I thought.
Mollie called my name and when I turned to answer her, Josh came running
across the floor. The next thing I heard was bang, bang, bang!
The little shit fell feet first right down the cold air duct. Of
course I screamed, Mollie was crying and yelling, "my brother, my
brother." She was three at the time. It was an old house, remember, so I
had to go outside to the cellar door to get down there! What the hell! All I
could think of was that I had probably just killed my baby! But low and
behold, there he was just sitting there waiting. His feet had kicked the
access door causing it to open. He had his usual bumps, bruises and scrapes,
but otherwise, he was fine.
