Rain drops and mud puddles

Today was the beginning of a 3 day journey with just my boys and me.
I have been looking forward to having this time alone with Josiah in particular since he is the second child so being alone with him rarely happens.
He is creative, quirky, bright and overly sensitive.
He has been putting difficult puzzles together since the age of 2 3/4.
He has taught himself his letter sounds, how to write the letters and how to sound out words with the help of leapster. He understands addition and subtraction and cares about the precision of his car line up.

When he gets dressed in the morning, he makes sure his shirt has some kind of blue in it and he prefers shorts over pants (which must be blue as well). He will not allow his hair to be touched and hates to have wet clothes on unless its a bathing suit.

He enjoys staying home, which I do as well.
His favorite hobbies are train track building and trains. Specifically Thomas the Tank Engine.
He walks around humming the tune or making up words to the tune of Thomas and Friends.
He loves to sing worship music and dances when there is some cool beat on.
He is joyful, funny, bouncy and he loves food!
He is a Tigger for sure.
This is my Josiah.

I fell in love with him the minute he came out. The bond between a mother and a son is indescribable. He was a typical gassy baby which extended well into his first year of life and left me sleep deprived most of the time, but he stole my heart. He was so joyful and made me feel like I was the most important person in the world when he would look at me.
I remember the day he started playing with my hair. He never pulled it he would just run his fingers through it. Oh my heart would melt.

Don't get me wrong, I love my girl. But I suppose what Joey experienced with Maddie is what I experienced with Jo Jo. I had a mom say to me once that she could see the love streaming through my eyes as I looked upon Josiah. It sounds a bit cheesy, but that's how I felt when I would look at him.
My little man.
Well he is on the brink of turning 4 and he no longer holds still long enough for me to look into his eyes or play with my hair. I usually chase him and ask for a hug or a kiss.
He is a typical boy full of energy and curiosity. I love it. He is predictable and crazy. Total boy.

Which brings me to today...
My friend rang me up and asked me if I wanted to go to the local park today. Well, on any other day I wouldn't of hesitated, but today was a rainy, wet, soggy day. I like to hibernate on days like this. But wanting to be adventureous, I packed up and prepared for the soggy adventure.

She has two kids of her own so as we got out, they all made a mad dash for the first huge puddle.
Josiah was a bit more hesitant, but finally caught on. He thought it was great to break free and splash. Its a bit like being allowed to jump on the bed for the first time. You're told no for so long that when you finally get the chance you can't let go and just do it.
It was great to watch.
I enjoyed watching him play and interact without his sister dictating how he was gonna be.
Kids are so different when they are away from their sibling. They compete for eachother's attention and for their friend's as well.
We played hide and go seek in the woods and fed the swans for a bit. They climbed muddy hills and pretended to be king of the mountain.

After a while the kids were soaked and muddy, but happy.
We left feeling like we'd accomplished something. There was nothing to hold us back
from getting messy and from just being free. It is a memory I will forever cherish.

We went home and we had a cuddle on the couch just him and me, and you know what? He played with my hair. (Sigh)

Thank you God for little boys.