Beautiful

Joel's Sunday School teacher, Bonnie, smiled as she pulled me aside after church today.

"I just have to tell you what Joel said in class."

(My curiosity was piqued.)

"He was sitting next to a little boy, coloring. Then he just said to him, 'My mom is beautiful and she likes flowers.'"

Best Mom

This evening Joel climbed into my lap, wrapped me in a tight hug, and planted a sweet kiss on my cheek. He looked lovingly into my eyes for a few tender seconds.

Then he said, "You're the best mom in the whole family!"

Hangman, Joel's Way

A couple weeks ago I was playing Hangman with Joel. His version of this familiar game is so much fun to play. (In the picture you can see the preprinted Hangman Pad my mom gave him for a road trip.)

Here's how it goes:

He draws several blank lines on the page. Then he says, "Guess a letter."

I say, "P." He stops to think, and then says, "no P." Then he draws a head on the hanging rope.

"Guess anuzzer letter," he says.

"Um....A," I say.

"You're RIGHT!" He exclaims, and writes an "A" in the first blank.

"Guess again."

"How about an R?" I ask.

"You're right AGAIN!" He writes an R in the second blank. The next letter I get right goes into the third blank, but occasionally I guess wrong.

Did I mention that Joel doesn't read? Yeh, that's the funny part. He doesn't know what he's spelling, but he is amused by trying.

So the word I guessed all the letters for ends up spelling ARQOTYUL. The hangman has multiple appendages in Joel's version. If need be, he puts eyebrows and toenails on the man to keep me from losing.

What Police Do

We have one of those tactile puzzles that consists of two horseshoes connected by heavy chain about a foot long. The idea is to separate the horseshoes without tangling the chain. You've probably seen this mind-teasing toy.

Yesterday Joel saw a cop car while we were driving. He said, "Mommy, I know what pweeces do."

"You know what police do?" I asked.

"Yeh," he informed me. "They make people put their hands behind their back and then they put horseshoes on them."