Sponge

Lately, Joseph has been soaking in every bit of knowledge that he can. Every day Kevin and I are overwhelmed with questions, observations, and cute quotes.

-"Does U make a "wuh" sound like W?" (if double-u does, single-u should too, right?)
-"Why don't we see Jesus on Easter?"
-When Kevin said he was doing math, Joseph looked at it and asked, "Where are all the numbers?"
-I told him he needed to change out of his Superman shirt that he'd worn the day before, and he countered, "But 'conference' has an 'S' in it!"
-"These are Captain America pants, but when I put my Superman shirt on they turn into Superman pants because of magic!"
-I ask, "Who's someone you know that's cool?" He says, "You." (I was not expecting that.) "What do I do that's cool?" He spins around to demonstrate that that's something cool I do. I'll take it.
-"Matthew sure likes me."

It takes a lot longer to read books to him now because of all the questions. "What does 'polish' mean?" "What's a 'silly tail-of-a-thing?'" "Why did the animals climb on Snow White's coffin?" "Why can't the bears have all the candy they want at the store?" We've had AlphaOops and AlphaOops Halloween checked out for more than 5 months now, and he still has questions about why letters other than 'A' get to go first. Every plot point and unknown word is important right now.

I didn't realize it until now, but this is what I live for. I found I only moderately enjoyed building towers or couch cushion forts with him, and I don't really get the point of toy cars driving around or crashing into each other.

But getting to teach him . . . it's really exciting! Yesterday he told me he wanted to read our book about classical music with its accompanying CD, and even though it took up all of Matthew's nap it was still worth it. I love that he wants to sit down at the piano to go through a piano book. I love that he was excited to learn how to clean a bathroom today (we'll see how long that lasts). I love that he is willing to put up with a little bit of "reading time" most every day. I feel like I can really talk to him about most anything, and he soaks it all in like a sponge.

His Conference setup. He did pretty well!

And speaking of sponges . . . He has suddenly gotten way into crafts lately. I am not the most crafty person out there, but somehow we've managed to make them work. I wanted to celebrate 4/4/16 yesterday since it was a very square day, so I roped Joseph into the holiday with me. He was happy to do a square craft and other small things to celebrate. (Especially the square pan of rice krispie treats. Of course. Even though they turned into rocks almost immediately because the marshmallows were too old.)

Because of this craft, we now have a sponge that's shaped like Utah. 

But the crafts haven't stopped there. He's discovered the joy of scissors

Adios, Conference Bingo

and wanted to use them as much as possible for the craft we opted for today.

(we used them maybe once.)

With Matthew crawling around trying to put everything in his mouth and Joseph following me around trying to put everything in his brain, we rarely have a dull moment.

But it sure is fun!