Monday, June 15, 2009

Unabashed Bragging

Warning: this post does not contain pictures. I do not have time. To those (three of you) upset with our lack of blogging, I say: blogging falls by the wayside when one (i.e. me) is working 10-14 hour days every day. Blech. Anyway, ten tidbits about some awesome tricks Joseph has.

(1) When asked who the President is, Joseph usually responds "Barack Obama." Occasionally he responds "Gramma White," for reasons that remain to be determined.

(2) Joseph is into planets and the solar system lately. This trick is hit-and-miss, but frequently he will identify "the tiniest planet" as "Mercury," the next planet as "Venus" (his favorite), the "planet we live on" as "Earth" (or sometimes, "San Diego"), the red planet as "Mars," and the "big planet" as "Jupiter." We're working on the last couple. He really likes looking at pictures and videos about planets lately, though.

(3) Joseph can now identify a few letters, especially "W", and likes to say, "One, Two, Three" for no particular reason.

(4) Joseph is a great singer. We listen to kid's songs in the car and he will sing the main phrases that repeat a lot. He also gets very demanding about which songs he wants to listen to, so we have to skip around a lot. He can sing most of Old McDonald with a little prompting.

(5) Joseph has started to pretend to make things out of play-dough. The other day, he pounded it for a while and then announced that he had made "Tiger Woods." He likes to make "robots" and "tunnels" to put trains through, and pretend food (like french fries and pizza, two favorites) and pretend to eat them.

(6) Speaking of Tiger Woods, the other day he was practicing his swing outside with his dad, and, upon making a good shot, exclaimed, "Tiger Woods!"

(7) He also attempted to hit the moon during said-golf outing. He'd hit the ball as far as he could, look at the moon, and say, "Almost."

(8) Joseph loves hummus. So whatever they say about nature v. nurture: this kid is with his dad an awful lot but sides with mom on the hummus debate.

(9) Joseph has discovered that saying, "Daddy snuggle!" is a great way to get what he wants. "Daddy snuggle! Cupcake! Daddy snuggle! Paci!"

(10) Joseph is still not into giving kisses (but gives great hugs). I circumvent this by tricking him into pretending to "eat" my cheeks.

He is really a joy.

6 comments:

Lindsey Bench said...

My favorite is him "almost" hitting the moon. Asher isn't very tricky. In fact, in comparison to Joseph, he is pretty boring!

Nancy said...

I love this, even with no pictures! Thanks for posting! It's so fun to get the update on Mr. J. Atticus Goodsell. We miss you guys!

Mama White said...

It's about time we had an update. This one was worth the wait--what an adorable, bright, amazing little boy. Can't wait for August!

Kiersten White said...

Oh, he is SO cute. The moon story kills me. Tiger Woods indeed!

Andrew Hyer said...

That is really cute and Joseph is very smart. I am quite disturbed, however, at how you two are perpetuating ill-founded general perceptions of these things we have been told to call "space," the "moon," and the "solar system." Before you continue to distort the young Joseph's impressionable mind (and at such a young and tender age), please look at this website: http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm.

Along those same lines, if Joseph ever starts saying things like "fire makes hot," "burning makes hot," etc.--please make sure that he is referring to only the direct effect of combustion, and not these purported indirect phenomena of "global warming" or so-called "climate change." THEY say these things are caused by "carbon" emitted from burning.

Based on the fact that you have allowed Joseph to already be exposed to so many scientifically unverified and unverifiable notions, I'm concerned that you may not be as careful as you should be in selecting what materials Joseph obtains from GOVERNMENT run libraries. THEY will do whatever it takes to capture the minds of the younger generation....

patdwhite said...

lets see, we all say "one, tow, three" right before we do something he will think is fun....
Tiget woods, German Opera, hummis..... not your average 2 year old for sure!