Josiah's Journey

This may be a very long summer.

It's only day 2 and already I feel as if I've run out of things to do with Josiah.

I sat down Sunday and created a schedule for this first full week of summer break.  I picked activities that everyone would enjoy.

Actually, I chose activities Jesse and Chandler would enjoy and Josiah would most likely endure.  There isn't much that boy really enjoys doing.

Yesterday, we went to an indoor trampoline place.  Each of the kids brought a friend.  Josiah brought me.

While everyone had a blast jumping and flipping and flying into a foam pit, Josiah 'discovered' an arcade game called The Fast and The Furious.

It happened like this:

Josiah noticed a rather large thing sitting off by itself.  He walked toward it, got close enough to get a quick look and quickly walked away.

He was curious but also very cautious.  He really had no idea what it was.  He wasn't sure he wanted to get much closer.

It was fascinating to watch.

Josiah came and grabbed my hand.  He pulled me over to it, then pulled away again.  

For about 10 minutes or so, I watched as Josiah summoned the courage to explore the big machine with car chases flashing on the screen.

First he stood by it.  Then he touched the back of the chair.  He pushed it a bit, probably to see if he could knock it over.

He worked his way around the side to touch the seat.  He stood for a bit then ever so slowly sat down just a little. 

Eventually, he sat on it all the way but then quickly stood right back up and walked away.

At one point he turned the steering wheel and stared at the car chase on the screen.

Just when it seemed he was getting comfortable, he abruptly stood up, grabbed my hand and pulled me to the exit.

I guess he didn't really like it.  No surprise there.  Josiah isn't interested in very many things.

Interacting with the arcade game kept his attention for longer than most anything has in his entire 10 years of life. 

Today, I wasn't really surprised when nothing I had planned kept Josiah's attention for longer than 30 seconds.

He ran through the house looking for things to knock over.   

But I am on to him now.

My guess is we may be visiting quite a few arcade rooms this summer.