In this 9‑minute family vlog, Justin celebrates his son Josiah’s 9th birthday on their farm. The video opens with a playful birthday greeting and a quick interview about Josiah’s morning chores, revealing his routine with chickens, cows, and other animals. Justin asks Josiah about his favorite animal and future aspirations, leading to a heartfelt “teddy‑bear” story where Justin recounts his childhood wish for a talking teddy bear and connects it to the moment Josiah first said “I love you” to him. The family then moves to gift‑opening: siblings Gideon, Lily, and Johnny each give a blessing, and Josiah receives a Nerf gun and other toys. Becca, who is feeling under the weather, bakes a grain‑free, gluten‑free birthday cake using a recipe from Danielle Walker’s Celebrations, describing her ingredient swaps and the cake’s success. Throughout, the vlog mixes light‑hearted banter, farm chores, and emotional reflections, aiming to inspire other parents to cherish their children’s simple, sincere expressions and to view them as the “talking teddy bears” of their own childhood dreams.
Chapters
Happy birthday, boy! Happy birthday! How you doing?
Good.
How old are you today?
9.
Yeah, you're 9. Special vlog today. It's all about this boy. Our goal is to celebrate you. Is that okay with you? All right, you got to be sure to watch this entire vlog. I got a special story for all you parents out there that is gonna absolutely change the way you look at these little guys. Okay? All right, first up, your chores. What are your morning chores?
The chickens, cats— wait, no, the dog, and I guess the cats, but he's really stopped doing the cats.
What do you do first, Josiah?
The chickens.
Okay. Do you like doing the morning chores?
Yeah.
Do you always like doing the morning chores?
No.
I cannot break this. Oh.
What gets you up to do the morning chores the days you don't want to do it?
Just thinking the chickens are alive and they don't want to be shut up, and I don't want to be shut up. Wait, no, the sick chicken.
Let's give them our— yeah, the sick chicken is going to come back. Okay, so we don't need this fermented feed anymore. You want to pour it to them?
Sure.
What's your favorite animal?
Hmm, probably cows.
Where are we going now?
Let's get this chicken.
She's all puffed up, isn't she? She's not alarmed a bit about that dog. Why are cows your favorite?
Because they give you milk and you can ride them and you can get meat out of them.
What?
Oh, dog food. Let's go.
Frozen.
I meant to put warm water on top of it, so—
ow.
Time to give her more because she's getting bigger and she eats more.
Here, you want to stir it? What is that in there, Josiah?
An egg.
Why do you feed her an egg?
It's good for her and she likes them.
Where do you want me to put this?
Just put it over there. Or over there. Just put it over there.
What do you think you're gonna be when you grow up?
Farmer. I'm gonna feed the cats too.
What do you like so much about being a farmer?
Uh, because you— just because you're not shut up and I am. In an office.
So you want me to tell you the teddy bear story?
Mm-hmm.
How many times have I told you that teddy bear story?
A lot.
Well, here goes one more. When I was a boy about your age, I had a teddy bear much like this. I mean, it was a little shorter, a little pudgier. And every kid has a teddy bear, but there was something special about this one teddy bear. I wanted this one so bad to talk. So what do you do when you want something so bad when you're a child? Well, you hope, you pray, you do everything in your power to make this thing come alive and talk. So I would pray and I would hope, "Oh, please, please come alive. Please talk to me." And I would I just know it's gonna happen. And I would look and I would expect him to just start talking. Ah. But he never did. I didn't give up though. I kept doing it and doing it and doing it. He never started talking no matter how much I wanted it. Well then I said, oh, here's an idea. Maybe I'm not supposed to be there when it happens. I'm gonna put him in another room. I'm gonna go back to my room and I'm gonna hope and pray that that bear comes alive and starts talking. Please talk. Talk. And I was so sure it was gonna happen this time. I know it's gonna work. I ran, picked him up, and was just ready for a conversation. Nothing. So eventually though, I began to grow up and I sort of forgot about the teddy bear. I met your mother.
Hey!
We had your brother and then we had you. This is where it happened, right there, buddy. Right there. Or was it right there? Somewhere in here. You were born. Midwives were here. I remember I was supposed to catch you. You were taking forever to come out. And then finally, I shot out like a torpedo. Torpedo. The midwife caught you, and I'll never forget the very first word you said. Do you remember the first word you said?
Mama.
Mama. What was the second word you ever said?
Papa.
Yeah, and you got to be 2, 3 years old, and you started to talk more and more. And then one day we were holding hands, and you looked up at me and you said— you remember what you said?
Papa, I love you.
Papa. My love you. And it was at that moment I realized I had gotten my talking teddy bear. Finally, finally my wish had come true.
Okay, since I haven't been feeling well this week, I dropped the ball and I didn't get Josiah a balloon. It's number 9 balloon. And I'm just making the cake right now, and it is 11:40 on his birthday. I usually roll that way anyways, making cake on the day of, just because it's— when they're grain-free, gluten-free, fresh is way better. When I made flour, um, flour cakes, you could get away with making it the day before and it would still taste just as good. Or even 2 days before. So Josiah's gonna stay with me and we're gonna bake a cake together, and Justin's gonna take the other kids to Target to get what I forgot to pick up already. I had an idea that I have this book, Celebrations by Danielle Walker. The cake that Josiah's requested comes from this cookbook, which obviously uses traditional ingredients that I try to stay away from. I like to, you know, to use maple syrup instead of sugar. Obviously can't use flour. I wonder if I take the yellow cake from Celebrations and then I just tweak it a little bit to make it like the spice nut cake out of this. So we're gonna do some— we're gonna try that and see what happens, and hopefully it will turn out. Here, I'll show you. Let's do it together.
Gonna do presents already? Now you're gonna wait on Mom, right? Yes.
Oh, okay. The big ones are going on this side and the big ones on this side.
Remember Jack's book? Yeah, of every living thing identified.
There's even wolves in North America.
There's a new edition. Mom, who's this from?
Me and Daddy and Tricia. Oh, the wolf. Oh yeah, I gave you this. I gave you this, right, Lily? Yeah, a hippo. Hippo. You can buy a pig. Uh, I bought you a pig and 2 baby pigs. Yeah, you bought another horse. Oh yeah, but did you know about that? No, he thought they were headphones when he opened up the box. Get in, you can help me.
Come here.
He said you can help me. Get in, you pull on it. Okay. Open it. Pull on the other side.
On the other side.
Cool. Yeah. I wanna open it.
That's a gigantic gun.
It's a Nerf gun for Nerf wars.
Everybody watch out, we got a new boss in the house.
Pizza.
Josiah, you're a man after my own heart, buddy. You got it loaded?
Yeah. No, we gotta get it loaded.
Okay. Wait, you got that big old gun and you're gonna shoot the little one?
Let's try it out.
Nice. Is it like a machine gun?
You hold it through here, Josiah. You hold it like right here. Oh. Somewhere else. No, you put this on your— Like that? Yeah, yeah. Ow, that's why.
Nice. Gideon, you want to bless the birthday boy? You want to be the first to bless the birthday? Okay, go for it.
He's fun to play with and he's fun to open presents and he's fun to eat dinner.
Lily, you're next, honey. Can you bless the birthday boy?
Mm-hmm. He's a good brother and he's fun to play with. Thank you.
Johnny, you want to bless the birthday boy?
Mm-hmm. He's a fun brother. He's fun to be around. He's fun to play with. And he's a good little brother.
Josiah, you are very sensitive and you're very loving and caring. And I think that every sibling has a very special relationship with you. And I appreciate that about you, that you You have good relationships with your siblings, and you're very sweet too. Like, I gave you your food tonight and you gave me a big old hug, and that meant the world to me that all that work in the kitchen was worth it. I love you.
I love you.
My talking teddy bear. I couldn't ask for a better talking teddy bear, that's for sure. Someone who's sweet and kind and considerate and creative. You're more than just a talking teddy bear. You're a friend, you're a great son, you're a partner. So appreciate you for that, buddy. Beautiful cake, Mom, as always.
Thank you. All right, you got to get over there.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, sweet Josiah. Happy birthday to you.
Smile. You're looking like a maniac.
Okay. Oh, I did it.
That means you get a wish. What is it?
Did you have a good birthday?
Aww, did you have a good birthday?
A winch!
So as I was saying earlier that I had done an experiment, y'all, this cake is like the best cake I've ever had.
So good, Becca.
It's like so good. I can't, I can't even believe that it's this good.
It's moist, it's rich, it's amazing.
It's not dry.
It's got texture and it like, it just has really good flavor.
Like somebody who eats gluten would love this cake.
I'm just shocked. I'm— because I was really nervous doing this on a birthday and not knowing what the outcome is, but I'm very pleased. So get the book Celebrations and then just use those cakes as a base to whatever you want.
So all you parents out there, I hope that this has been an encouragement to you. I hope it's changed the way you look at your child, looking at your child from a no expectation Just a beautiful talking teddy bear. Something so cute and adorable. Your wildest childhood dream. Your most favorite doll or bear when you were in childhood coming to life. That's what's happened. That is your child. Hopefully you can take a moment and cherish that when you hear them talk tonight. When you give them a hug and you tuck them in this evening.
