House of Slytherin

For the last little while, we've been listening to Harry Potter books on CD in the car. Joseph usually looks out the window or plays with books and toys while we drive, but recently we learned that he was also listening along when he requested to listen to the "talking" while we were out and about. We asked him what the "talking" was talking about, and he told us some of the things that had been mentioned on the CD the last time we were in the car: "dragons," "scorpions" etc...

Since that day, every time we get in the car he asks to listen to the talking. We also learned that not all talking is created equal because turning on NPR doesn't fool him. He even tries to get us to sit in the garage for a while and listen to it when we're not driving. We enjoy asking him about what he remembers from it and thinking about what he imagines when he listens to it. (I'm often surprised to see how differently I now perceive books/movies/tv shows that I hadn't seen since I was a child.)

We realize now, that he absorbs even more than we had previously thought. This morning while we were making breakfast, Joseph entertained Audrey on the couch by bringing her his giant rubber snake, which brought a big smile to his sister's face. As Audrey sat there cooing, Joseph announced happily, "She's speaking parseltongue!"



Those of you who know Erin's love of Harry Potter can only imagine the joy this brought to her heart. Not only is Joseph conversant in Harry Potter, but--more importantly--muggles don't speak parseltongue, which can only mean one thing: we've got ourselves a little mudblood.



You see, Erin has long dreamed of her children growing up, receiving owls announcing their acceptance at Hogwarts, shopping for books in Diagon Alley before eventually being sorted into Ravenclaw, acing--as prefects, naturally--both their Ordinary Wizarding Levels and their N.E.W.T.'s with straight O's, and ultimately settling into their positions as Heads of House and Headmasters--with perhaps a brief stint as Aurors before leaving the Ministry for the private sector or academia.

(Suddenly dreams of Joseph making it on the PGA Tour don't sound so far-fetched, do they?)


Although I'm convinced that Audrey's ability to speak to snakes strongly suggests our baby is headed for Slytherin, Erin is very quick to point out that Audrey hardly has the pedigree and that at this point we're just as well assuming that all her smiles indicate Hufflepuff or that she's suited for Gryffindor what with all the bravery required to handle Joseph's attention.


Regardless of what house she's placed in at Hogwarts, one thing is certain: whatever color robes she ends up wearing, she's already prepared with a coordinating bow.

Astronomical Ambitions

I love this boy. The other day he told us he wanted to be an astronaut when he grows up. I got teary-eyed thinking about how he was growing up and what kind of dreams and ambitions he would have.

Of course, then today he told us that when Audrey gets bigger, he's going to be a baby again so that he can swing in her swing. (It causes him much consternation that we won't let him in it because he's too big.) Two steps forward ... three steps back.

In any case, I guess these space monkey jammies are fitting. He is also really, really into Buzz Lightyear right now and likes to "play Buzz Lightyear," which involves climbing onto furniture and then jumping off, yelling "To Infinity and Beyond!" or "Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!".

Strawberry Fields (Forever)

A few weeks ago we went strawberry picking. Once we convinced Joseph that the yellow strawberries were not in fact desirable, things went well. He had a great time with his cousins, and enjoyed running as far down the rows and away from us as possible (luckily Uncle Matt was there to jump over the rows and apprehend him).

Easter

The Easter Bunny visited a couple of weeks ago. I'm not real clear on Easter Bunny lore, so he just left a few things and hid some eggs while Joseph and Todd were at the park. Joseph enjoyed the egg hunt around the house.





Easter festivities also included dying eggs. This, I decided, is not an age-appropriate activity for a toddler/pre-schooler. Way too messy. Notice how Joseph's shirt was eventually removed. Audrey just laid around during the whole thing; she thought it was boring.







I figure that I don't have many years left where I can match my son & daughter, and Todd is never thrilled when I make him match us (in fact, if he ever notices that he and Joseph or he and I are wearing the same color shirt, he'll go change), but he obliged for some quick family pictures taken before church last week.

Many (Many!) Visitors

We've had a lot of visitors the last few weeks. It has been great to let people meet Audrey, and because Joseph is so taken with all of the visitors and wants to play with them, Todd gets some welcome relief from "talk like Ernie" duty. (Joseph's new game is to require Todd to talk like Ernie from Sesame Street pretty much 24/7, with occasional breaks where Todd is permitted to talk like Bert instead. I am only allowed to talk like Elmo. Sometimes we ask Joseph if I can talk like Ernie instead of Dad to give Todd a break, but Joseph insists that I "don't understand" and that talking like Ernie is "too hard" for me.) (Also, most of Todd's talking like Ernie must take place in a dark closet or bathroom -- Joseph's two favorite play spots.)

So, the purpose of this post is to put up some pictures memorializing those visits. Todd would suggest this post is too long, but I guess we have had too many visitors. Besides, it's mostly pictures, little text, so there shouldn't be too many complaints.

Anyway, first, Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Brent came.





Then Lindsey, Lauren, and Asher came. We went to the Wild Animal Park and explored Coronado. And Joseph had a grand time entertaining Asher and sharing with him (especially since he could just take the toys right back away from Asher when he felt less generous).






Then, Uncle Matt came. We went to the Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs and went strawberry picking with Elena and Jonah.

Joseph thinks Matt is the coolest thing ever. Perhaps this is because Matt looks like he walked straight out of the 70's. Not really in a vintage way. In a, "really did this guy travel time from the 70's?" kind of way. But we love Matt and his unique style and his nieces and nephews certainly love him too!



Next, a repeat visit from Nana, Grandpa and Uncle Brent so that they could check out a special butterfly exhibit at the Wild Animal Park. Audrey was a bit under the weather, and given that she had pooped all over me the first time we took her to the Park, I decided we'd sit that visit out.





Finally, Grandpa White came into town to meet Audrey and she's now met all of her grandparents!





Most of my family and a bunch of Todd's will be down again next week for Audrey's blessing at church ... but that can be another post, hopefully.

Buddies

Joseph loves, loves, loves his sister Audrey. One of the best parts of our day is when Joseph goes to see Audrey in the morning -- he is always so excited to see her when he wakes up. We recently documented one of these encounters.



As you can see below, Audrey loves Joseph (and apparently all of the toys he brings her) just as much as he loves her.



She decided to return the favor the other day, waking him up from his nap.



They are good buddies.