Happy 83-month birthday, Joshua!

Joshua turned 83-months old on Sunday, August 18, while we were at the beach. I can't believe this is the last month he'll be six years old!

Joshua loves the beach and being outside in general. He loves to run and to play. He asks me to go on runs with me sometimes. I took him once and he did a GREAT job! He asked to stop for a breath only a few times, and we enjoyed chatting. I don't take him every time since his pace is slower than mine but I enjoyed the bonding time. I realize that eventually he'll be leaving me in his dust!

 Joshua is still a "collector." He treasures stuff, and he has bags of collections. He keeps things that are precious to him in his bag in his room. Then he has another bag that he'll put smaller things that he doesn't want Ryan to get. Then when he gets something else he loves, he put them in a little backpack. I make him clean them out every once in awhile to see if they are still beloved treasures. He'll rearrange some. He often will get everything out of his big bag and play with them, and then he'll put them all back in. He kept his bag of seashells (even the broken, ugly ones) from the beach. I can't get rid of them yet because he still goes on the back porch to check them all out and then puts them away. I guess it's not hurting anything for now.

Joshua enjoys legos and is starting to understand the actual concept of following directions and building things on his own. I told Shawn that we're either going to need a bigger house or possibly to part with the train table for a lego table. Right now we make the boys clean up all the legos and separate them by color when they're done playing with them. But that's a LONG process, and the boys sometimes want to keep looking at their creations rather than wrecking them right away.

Joshua is intensely competitive. He HAS to win! It drives him crazy if Caleb beats him. But even Daddy will let Joshua win when they pretend to wrestle at night.

 As you can tell, Joshua's front teeth are all in. My little man will definitely need braces. Pray for those teeth! May God strengthen them and give Joshua a beautiful smile! He has such a great personality that when he's happy and smiling, there is no better sunshine! I love when he laughs at his brothers' silliness or at his own jokes. He has such a sense of humor! And a creative imagination!

Joshua loves to play Mario, whether on the Wii or DSi or just using his imagination with his stuffed characters. He likes to be the one that dictates how the story goes. 

Speaking of stories, he also reads very fluently. I love to hear him reading to Ryan at times. Ryan will give him a book and plop onto his lap and I'll snap a picture here or there. Of course there are times that they ask that I just read to them instead. And that's fun, too!

Joshua wears a size 8 shirt, and a size 7 slim pants. His feet are between a 1.5 and 2, depending on the style of shoe or brand. His soccer cleats are a youth 3.  And Daddy finally cut the Bean's hair before we went to the beach so that he's ready for school to start.

There's more I could write, but that's a good snapshot for now. Happy 83-month birthday, Joshua!