Johnathan Van

 

Johnathan Van is such a special miracle boy. (Van is his middle name.) He has been through a lot in his young life. He is two years old and full of life and joy. He has been an absolute blessing in my life, and I am so grateful that he was a happy little accident. *Happy little miracle!*

Johnathan is having some delays in his speech and other developmental issues. He is very quiet at this point in his life. He has very few words, and he only really says them if I say, "Johnathan can you say... Mama?" And then he will respond, sometimes, and answer with "Mama." But it is only when he wants to, or when he is interested in talking. 

He is super cute about praying though. He almost always says "amen" at the end of a prayer. That just warms my heart, it is so sweet. We pray a lot around here. 

He will be starting his speech and occupational therapy soon. I am very excited to get him going in these programs, and see how he does. For now, I just keep trying to get him talking as much as I can. He is making SO many more sounds than he used to. And that is very promising. 

One thing that is interesting... he will only watch a very limited amount of movies. He is very particular about what he watches. He will watch, Frozen I and II, Moana, Tangled, and Encanto. If you take a look at these movies, they all have a few things in common. They are REALLY GOOD. They are BEAUTIFUL. And they have FANTASTIC MUSIC! When I try something else, like Mickey Mouse, or Little Einsteins, or really anything at all... he is not interested. He is, however, interested in watching Olaf over and over and over again. 

Here are just a few things that Johnathan does at this point:  

He loves bubbles, a lot. 

He loves to run outside. 

He enjoys going for car rides. 

He can eat all by himself, and he is no longer in a highchair. 

Johnathan is in a big boy bed. 

He likes to run in circles at night when he is tired. 

He likes to put letters in the right place. 

He likes to play with blocks. 

He likes to wear his special boots. 

He likes to snuggle in bed with me for a nap. 

He likes me to sing for him. 

He thinks it is funny when I try to sing high (I am an alto).

He loves ice cream. 

He likes watching the end credits on movies. 

He loves itsy-bitsy spider, paddy cake, and the Popcorn song. 

He is very helpful about putting his clothes on. 

He loves looking at the world from upside-down. 

He is happy to ride in the stroller. 

He loves nursery at Church. 

His words are: Mama, Dada, Poopy Diaper, Amen, Jesus, Elsa, William, Henry, Rapunzel, and No-no. ;) 

He is such a cute, and good little boy. 

It is interesting because Johnathan is about the same age now that Henry was when Charles died. I know, I think of time and events in weird ways, but that is just how it is when life is weird.

I will be raising Johnathan as a single mother, and so it is round two of raising a very young one alone. 

I am not sure why God wants me to do this motherhood thing alone. It was never my plan, that is for sure. But since I am a single mother, I rely heavily on help from my Savior to make it through, and I mostly just pray my guts out and hope I will be enough for my kiddos. 

I just want my children to know they are loved, no matter what. 

In the end, my children do not belong to me, but to their Father in Heaven. 

I am just trying to do my best to bring them back to Him. 

We got this Johnathan Van, right? 

Right. 

Amen! ;)