Josiah's Journey

Of course he did, is often heard at our house.

It's what we say moments after Josiah hurls something fragile to the ground and it shatters to pieces.

One of the kids will announce, Josiah just threw a plate or Josiah just broke a chair or Josiah knocked the trash can down.

Of course he did, we say.

Josiah isn't the only one who commands the 'of course he did' response.

We use it for other things and we use it for other people too.

We've used this for many years in our house.

I'm not quite sure how it got started. But it works.

Instead of reacting to a crisis, we respond with, of course he did, and suddenly it doesn't seem so bad.

It works for just about any situation that could potentially be upsetting or frustrating.

Of course he did, softens the blow.

It's as if whatever happened was expected anyway, so it's really not a big deal.

We move past it and onto the next step, which is usually a clean up of some sort.

For the past coupe of days Josiah has been rather destructive.  We haven't seen these behaviors from him for a while, so it's kind of taken me off guard.

After school yesterday and today, he's been on a tear.  He races through the house looking for something to throw.

Distracting him doesn't always do the trick.  It may work for a short while, but when Josiah is in one of these 'moods' the behaviors seems to continue once the distraction is no longer distracting him.

Its very important to keep him out of the kitchen.  Lots of things in the kitchen make loud crashing sounds that seem to entice him, when they hit the ground.

Josiah gravitates to those things.

First, it's usually the large metal trash can.  Then he looks for dishes left out on the counter.

Today it was the dog leash, a small plastic shoe box container, some dishes, silverware and his Ipad.

And, of course, the trash can.

Those were the things he was able to get to before I could intervene.  There would have been more, had I not grabbed them either in mid-air or just before they were tossed.

Chandler came into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher this afternoon.   I was in the other room.  As I rounded the bend I heard another loud crash.

Chandler said, Josiah just knocked some dishes on the floor.

Fortunately, none had broken. 

Smiling, I looked at Chandler.  She smiled back and we said it together, OF COURSE he did.