Joshua Plays with Cars
Joshua is a big fan of his toy cars so Mommy captured some nice shots
of Joshua hard at play when we were away on a trip recently.
The Little Prince
When we were up in Chiang Mai recently we took some family photos at a
shop that dresses you up in traditional Thai clothes with all the
fixings. Joshua was quite a character and the photographer got some
real nice shots.
I think the dragon was just for studio decoration and not really intended to be ridden like a rocking horse
Confusing the Biblical Narrative
We're doing the best that we can to teach Joshua about God and what God
tell us in the Bible but Joshua sometimes gets the details a bit turned
around. He is only two and a half so we don't expect him to get it all
right but sometimes his understanding of things are a bit comical. Last
year we were given a Christmas tree ornament of Noah's Ark (Thank you Lord's Grace Christian Church!).
It is a really fun ornament, three-dimensional with animals and Noah
and company sticking out of it. We've read the story of Noah to Joshua
from some children's story books and talked about it with him verbally.
Unlike many kids books, we try to be faithful to the Biblical narrative
and tell Joshua that God flooded the world in order to kill all the bad
people who hated God and didn't want God's forgiveness. One morning
recently, I came into the living room and saw Joshua playing with the
Noah's Ark ornament on the tree, making it bob up and down and back and
forth as if it is sailing in the ocean. I wanted to know what was going
on that little head of his, so I ask him, "Joshua, where is Noah's ark
going?" Without missing a beat or turning around to look at me, Joshua
replies confidently, "kill the bad people." Oh really? Noah and the
animals are on a mission to kill the bad people, are they? A bit of
confusion about who is doing what and why in the story of Noah but
we'll keep
Interview with Joshua
This past month I was testing out a voice recorder program on the
computer to use for Thai language study when Joshua came running into
the office. Seeing the computer open, he immediately demanded to see
pictures. Previously, I had gathered pictures of cars, dogs, airplanes
and other fun things off of the Internet for Joshua to look at on the
computer so that is the only reference point that Joshua has for what a
computer is used for. Seeing an opportunity, I picked him up, put him
on my lap, and put the newly downloaded voice recorder program to the
test. Here is an MP3 of the results: Joshua requests pictures
Joshua had so much fun listening to his own voice, that he keeps requesting to listen to himself on the computer. He especially gets a kick out of the "poo-poo pictures" question. He has requested to hear himself so much, that I decided to make another recording of his voice with some more formal interview questions, including his name, his parents' names, and the first two questions from the Catechism for Young Children (a simplified version of the the Westminister Shorter Catechism). Joshua beat me to the punch on the second question, though and answer before I asked. You can listen to it for yourself though: Joshua interviewed about his name, parents' names, and life & the world
Joshua had so much fun listening to his own voice, that he keeps requesting to listen to himself on the computer. He especially gets a kick out of the "poo-poo pictures" question. He has requested to hear himself so much, that I decided to make another recording of his voice with some more formal interview questions, including his name, his parents' names, and the first two questions from the Catechism for Young Children (a simplified version of the the Westminister Shorter Catechism). Joshua beat me to the punch on the second question, though and answer before I asked. You can listen to it for yourself though: Joshua interviewed about his name, parents' names, and life & the world
Joshua En Route
Flying with Joshua is always an interesting experience. Sometimes
challenging. Sometimes frustrating. Sometimes fun. Always tiring. By
the time we got to our second layover in Tokyo, we were feeling pretty
drained as we waited for our flight to Bangkok. Joshua was still a
bundle of energy however, seeing as he had gotten more sleep on the
plane than either Mom or Dad.
Joshua Loves Trains
Joshua loves trains. In early September, we took a drive with Karl's Dad to Conway, NH for a ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad.
Joshua thought that the big trains were great and before the end of the
ride we had him pulling his hand down pretending to blow the train horn
and saying "Choo-Choo". In the weeks following our train ride, Karl
ordered a bunch of wooden trains for Joshua to play with. They are
rather difficult to find in Thailand, so we made sure we stocked up
before flying out. Pictures of Joshua playing with the wooden Thomas trains are down below, after the Conway Scenic Railway pictures.