Joshua Bean...the Cutest Kid You've Ever Seen

Joshua does something daily now that makes us smile... I should say that he does something different each day that cracks us up. He is ALL personality! I LOVE it! I so rarely get time to blog these days that I miss telling even half the stories. But, I want to keep it fairly up-to-date because I write this for my kids in hopes that one day they will know how much I've treasured seeing them grow. Here are a few cute stories from this week alone:

Counting
Joshua is now counting up to 14. BUT, he always skips the number three. Why? I have NO idea! He says "one, two, four, five, six, seven..." and shocked us when he got up to 14 (we've only really practiced to ten!). But, each time we say "three" he just looks at us and starts over, determined that three not be part of his number chain. Does that mean he doesn't want any more children? Haaa!!! Singing
Joshua LOVES when we sing to him. He has always appreciated music, but songs are a passion for him lately. The other day he sang me the Little Ducky Duttle (sp?) song and knew most of the words in order. Usually, as we sing a song, he'll chime in with a few words here and there (How much is that... DOGGIE!...in the...WINDOW! ..and so on). Now he's beginning to put the whole thing together. It's precious and makes me smile with each time. There's also a song called "God of This City" by Christ Tomlin and Joshua will throw his head back and sing "Greater things have yet to come...CIIII-TTTTYYYY" and croon away. Shawn turns on the song often for a nice chuckle. It's just so adorable, you almost have to see it yourself!

Brotherly Love
Joshua loves Caleb and tries to make him happy. Today, I kid you not, he said, "Caleb is a good boy" because he's used to me calling each one of them "good boys." I cracked up. Caleb is a good boy! And so is Joshua! Today I rocked both of them together and Joshua reached over and held Caleb's hand as they were on my lap. He is so sweet! Sesame Street
The only TV I will let the Bean watch is Sesame Street. He LOVES Elmo, and now he likes to say "Cookie Mon-nonster." He laughs and laughs and even knows Big Bird now. Normally I wouldn't like too much TV, but it's nice occasionally when I need a shower or am feeding Caleb and need a quick distraction. I think it's great that it's educational, too. We saw one the other day, though, that made Mommy cry. Literally. It was on Elmo being jealous of baby Marco because his mommy no longer had as much time for Elmo. And, they sang a song about the Mommy loving both of them and how she would find special time for just him and one day Elmo would love baby Marco because he'd be able to play, too. I was so sad and I asked Bean if he'd like to sit with me while I fed Caleb. He said, "no-no!" and got his bumbo instead. Haaa!!! He obviously was not feeling that way that day. (Sigh!)

More Potty Mania
Joshua has decided that he doesn't like the little potty as much any more (although he did bring it into our master bathroom to sit on while I was getting ready one day). He would rather sit on the big potty with his little potty seat on top. He hasn't actually gone there yet, but he doesn't mind sitting there naked and smiles each time we praise him. Now he's asking to sit on there a lot. However, this morning when I saw that he was starting to 'grunt' I asked him if he'd like to try going on the potty and he said "no" and then once he was finished asked to be sat up there. Um...we still have some work to do! But, just not being scared is a huge accomplishment!Colors, Shapes and More!
Joshua loves to color. He loves his coloring book and requests often for his "colors." The other night Shawn and I were in the office. Shawn was at the desk and I was on the floor while the Bean was coloring away. We got to chatting and all the sudden I realized that Joshua had left the coloring book and was starting on our filing cabinet. It dawned on me that we had never told him not to color anywhere else because this was the first time it had come up. Thankfully the crayons were washable and we took the time to explain to him that coloring is just for papers and books, not items in the room. He seemed okay with that.

The Bean seems to know his shapes pretty well. He points to them in books and calls them by name for his shapes sorter (well, most of them. He doesn't really say "hexagon or pentagon" but the major ones he knows.)

He seems to know most of the alphabet song already, too, which would seem weird to me other than the fact that he loves music. The fridge magnets are also starting to help him recognize some of the sounds that go with the letters. The other day he was singing to me that the letter 'P' says "pah" and I grinned from ear to ear.

How to Behave...We'll Get There Some Day (After all, this is one I'm still learning!!!) Nine out of ten days, Joshua tries my patience. But, ten out of ten days, I love him with all my heart. He's almost too smart for his own good, and self-control is not part of his vocabulary yet. I think my expectations are way too high for him, but I pray that I can be a good teacher not just of the 'educational' stuff but also manners (he's starting to get the hang of 'please' and 'thank you'). More than manners, though, that's not really what I'm looking for. Maybe the word is obedience? Hmmm...truly my heart is that he loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and loves his neighbor as himself. After all, there are no greater commandments than these. Please pray that he grows up to be like his heavenly father, our one true perfect example!