Joshua and Behavior and Differences In Life

 Dear Kids, 

I want to tell you about Joshua in this entry. He's been going through a lot of changes right now. While we've been in Mexico, he's DEFINITELY found his will of spirit. 

He has a very different five year old childhood than you had. When Gabe was five years old, he had two younger siblings. We were going to the park everyday, we had a VERY specific schedule and way of doing things. When Talia was five years old, she had an older brother and a younger brother. She was discovering her ability to do so many of her talents. We were still going to the park everyday. We were involved more in the homeschooling world at that point and had more on our schedule. We didn't have iPads in our lives when Talia was five. When Elijah was five years old, he had two older siblings who were always telling him what to do and he had a little brother who wanted to be around him all the time. As the middle child, Elijah had his own set of interesting things to figure out. 

Now with Joshua being the youngest, at five years old, he has hardly gone to parks, he's been traveling around the world with his family, he has had to be around a different language, he's already quite ahead in math and reading... but he doesn't have the simplicity that you guys had. I realize the other day that he had never listened to Scripture Scouts! We had to fix that, we got them downloaded on my phone and now he's listening at night. He doesn't have an early bedtime like all of you had, he goes to get when you guys go to bed. He doesn't have the same kind of consistency as all of you had. 

I think because of that he has been having an emotionally hard time. He's figuring out his independence and where he fits in the world. Elijah, you have been antagonizing him LIKE CRAZY, which hasn't been fun for anyone. 

But, I wanted to just point out how different everyone's lives are and HOW MUCH you have all experienced in your lives. You have had SUCH A GOOD CHILDHOOD. 

We love you guys, your dad and I love you so much, 

I love you, 

Your Mom