An interview with Joseph

First question’s pretty basic…what’s your name and age?  “My age is 7 and my name is Joseph.”

What’s your favorite color?  “That’s easy.  Red.”

What’s your favorite book?  “Definitely Beast Quest.”  Any particular Beast Quest?  “Trema, the Earth Lord, Book 29.”  Wow, that’s impressive that you even knew the book number.  “Well I memorize Beast Quests.”  All of them?  “Uhh, most of them.”  What’s so exciting about Beast Quest?  “Well, I like how Tom is fighting all the beasts.”  Do you ever pretend you’re Tom?  “Ohhh, yea, lots of times.”  Tell me about it.  “About what?”  Pretending to be Tom.  “Well, I got this cool sword and shield for Christmas.  I use it to pretend I’m Tom.  Then I make one of my brothers pretend to be the beast and I fight them.”  Do you always win?  “Uh, yes, because I tell the brothers kind of what happens in the book and then we act it out and then of course I win.  I don’t tell them that Tom wins in the end, but I tell them how to prepare to battle me.  Tom always wins.”

Do you have a favorite sport?  “Yes, I love baseball.  One time I played it with Daddy and he made a big baseball board on the driveway and we had to run on it.  It had first base, second base, third base and home.  I call home fourth base, though.  When it was my turn to be the batter, I hit the ball and then I ran.”  (he acts out the entire thing) “If I got to a base, Daddy couldn’t touch me.  If he caught me before the base, though, well then I was supposed to lose something, but I forgot what that was.  It was a lot of fun.  It’s my new favorite sport.  At first tennis was, but then I had never played baseball, but now that I’ve played baseball, my favorite is definitely baseball.”

What’s your favorite fruit?  “Blueberries.”

What’s your favorite vegetable?  “My favorite vegetable…well, that’s a little bit hard for me because I’ve got a lot of favorites.  I guess I’d say red pepper.  It’s so good.  Yep, that’s one of my favorites.”

What’s your favorite thing to do?  “Um, I like to play or sit on the couch and read a good book.  Like Beast Quest.”  When you play, what do you like to play?  “I like to play with my brothers.  I like to play on the tire swing with Roo and act out Mario Bros with William.  I like to bounce on the slackers.  I actually like to do a lot of things.”  (this whole interview is being done while he’s walking around the room in circles)

Do you like having a little sister?  “Oh yes, it’s fun, really.  We like to do a lot of things together like play with her babies.  I pretend I’m the daddy and she pretends she’s the mommy.”

What kind of things do you pray for?  “I pray for Mommy to not lose her temper when she’s on the Whole30, you know, stuff like that.”  Have you ever had a prayer answered?  “Yea, one time I asked for a baby sister…I just kept praying…and then Katie came!”

What’s your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  “Well, I love snuggling and I like doing Grammar with you.”

What’s your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  “Um, I like to…”  (thinking, with his thumbnail in his mouth) “there are so many things!  Oh, I got it…I like to do Little Bear but not when he bends down or gallops.”  (Little Bear is a game they play right before bed, based on Richard Scarry’s story about Little Bear…Daxson takes each of the kids, “little bear,” on a piggyback ride and pretends he doesn’t know where they are and they go searching around the house…Dax is known for bending down with a “little bear” on his back to search under beds and beneath furniture.)

How do you know we love you?  “Because you do so many nice things for me!”  Aww, you noticed!  “And because you’re always snuggling at night…you don’t just put the babies down for bed and then go to sleep yourself.  You actually take time out of your bed time to come and snuggle us.  That’s love.”  Yes, my darling, it is!