My Own Personal Bob and Larry

Apparently I no longer have boys...I have a tomato and a cucumber. Frequently throughout the day (especially after pajama time), Joshua will come charging into the family room and announce, "Bob came back!" Not to outdone, Caleb will echo, "Larry came back!" Now this is interesting on several counts. For one, they have completely reversed their assumed personalities. In "real life", there is a clear resemblance between Joshua and Larry the Cucumber, but not so much with Bob. And vice versa with Caleb. Secondly, it appears Bob and Larry never "leave", they just "come back". Not sure how that works. It's also interesting because Joshua daily makes it very clear he does NOT have an identity crisis of any kind. If we refer to him as anything other than Joshua (or one of his "approved" nicknames, such as "Rooski"), he will let us know we've erred. For example, I periodically slip up and say something like, "alright Buster, let's go". "My not Buster, my Joshua!" And so on. But Bob, apparently Bob he likes. Tonight, I was even privileged to carry Bob up to bed, as Joshua was not to be found at bedtime. :)

As you may have noticed, Joshua is a big fan of anything VeggieTales. He particularly loves the music. We have a CD with songs from several of the videos on it and he practically has it memorized. We usually play it in the kitchen, so when it's on, generally this is the picture: Joshua standing in front of the desk (where the radio is mounted), staring at the radio, singing along to all the songs...and not to be distracted. Lunch? Who needs that? And then he will tell us as each song starts which video it's from. We've discovered we can't play it during a time we want him to get anything done...because it just won't happen. Some of the songs he has less memorized than others, like the theme song. Whenever he wants to sing that one, he'll start singing "broccoli, celery, produce aisle....sing to me mommy!" Apparently, I know more of the song than he does, so I am often required to "remind" him of the words. Sometimes I try to pass this duty off to Caleb, who knows most of the words, but I guess he's not a good substitute because this is usually met with a protest by Joshua.

Caleb likes to sing too...he just doesn't worry quite so much about the details...like being in tune or volume comtrol. Tonight he was serenading us with quite a dramatic version of "Away in a manger"...although, I believe he titled it "Away From the Manger". Details... The other night after he had gone to bed, I thought I heard someone crying and went to listen. I discovered it was actually Caleb singing at the top of his lungs. He was singing the memory verse they are working on at CBS (Community Bible Study) right now. "I trust in Your Word" Psalm 119:42. He was singing it, "address" and all. He has actually responded quite well to memorizing verses by music, thanks to a great CD we have which features Skittles the bunny and Boo Bear. He will sing the Fruits of the Spirit and other verses over and over and over. I think it's great though. I know from experience that a verse that goes in with a song is never forgotten!