Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Joshua's Journeys #7- The Popeye Face!

A lot of you may have heard about, or even seen for yourself Joshua's "popeye face." Josh rarely if ever complained. He was so tough it truly was amazing. I was reminded of a perfect example yesterday when I took Joey for his 1 year appointment. When I would take both boys to the doctor for their shots Josh was always the tough guy. Since Josh and Joey were preemies they got an extra shot every month from October through March (also April for Joey) in addition to the other shots that they still had to get. Joey would scream sometimes as soon as the nurse would walk in... I think he knows what someone in scrubs means to him. Josh would be the big brother and not even flinch. Once he got his shots he would make his Popeye face for a brief moment, sometimes not always cry for less than 2 seconds, and then return to his normal demeanor. He was amazing. Phil and I would call him a manimal. He could take anything! He definitely proved to be tougher than his younger brother.
Even at home, if he'd get frustrated with a toy he would make a Popeye face (sometimes for a bit longer than he did when he got his shots) but he was always quick to calm.
His Popeye face started in the NICU with all of his heel sticks, not to mention vein pokes. Josh did not have the most cooperative veins, but boy was he patient. Bethany was the first one to coin the Popeye face phrase, and boy was she right on with it! We felt bad for the poor guy, but we couldn't help but laugh during some of his frustration. He was so patient, brave, and always making us smile.

Here is a quick picture of Josh's Popeye face. I think some of the videos we have are much better at portraying the look, so once Phil is back from his trip I will see if I can get him to try and upload a short clip.

1 comment:

Crystal M. said...

Yup we know the popeye face very well, the very 1st pic we have after Eva was born was the popeye face. I LOVE IT!!