June-isms... a note from Dad

Being home everyday since Josh was born (almost two full weeks), I've spent a lot of time with June and have picked up on some of his development and things that he does that are really cool to watch and see. I thought I'd list some of them here to tell everybody about some awesome stuff he does that you wouldn't necessarily know without hanging out with him:

-He folds his hands and prays with us, and is working on the full Sign of the Cross, which he did in its entirety for the first time yesterday.
-When he's outside, he will hear and point out an airplane (says "plane" and points up) before you notice it. He sees them in the sky and understands that they make the noise he's hearing... when the plane is behind a cloud he will keep looking up and saying "plane" very confused. He also tends to see dogs ("woof") and cars/trucks ("vroom") before I do all the time.
-He loves to be outside and never comes in when you ask him to. He especially likes leaves and is fascinated that they're all off the trees now.
-He is ridiculously skilled with eating utensils, getting cleaner with them each day. Earlier today he forked a pierogie, dipped it in ketchup (he LOVES ketchup, and pretty much every sauce he encounters), and ate it. He also at his roll with his fork at dinner.
-He now makes ringing noises when he wants to play with his "toy" cellphones, and continues making them ring until he finds them and answers them with "Hello?" He also knows that when I'm on my phone and I say "bye," he can take it and close it.
-When he throws me a football, he aims for my hands (tested this today). He's pretty good at throwing and has no interest in catching.
-He is a good big brother, he shows genuine concern (to the point of crying) whenever Josh cries or squirms around.
-He constantly tries to share his snacks with us... like we really want a bite of the pretzel rod he's gnawing on.
-He likes to say "Hi, Boobah" at random times. His mom's been waking him up with that phrase in the mornings for a while now and he uses her same inflection.
-He can pick out a lot of the animals in his books - if you hand him one and say "where's the cow?" he will flip through the pages until he finds it.
-He claps and cheers whenever a crowd claps or cheers on TV or in live music. He also loves to dance.
-He bounces around constantly.
-He loves to watch his mom cook, and insists on being held so he can see what's going on at the stove. Also, when you open the oven, he says "hot."
-He will help out counting. When you count to ten outloud, he will put in the three, five, six, and say "YAY" after ten.
-He genuflects in Church now and will go up to Communion with us and (if necessary) take out his binker and open his mouth wide. He must just be thinking, "one of these times..."
-He's not afraid of the dark. He likes to close the door (which he can't open) on himself when he's alone in the pantry, closet, or bathroom. Then when you call for him, he answers, "YEAHHH?" If you don't call for him, he'll eventually knock on the door to let you know he's in there, but he never gets scared and cries.
-Overall he's just a good kid, and if we laugh or respond well to something he does, he'll do it over and over again tirelessly just for the expressions on our faces. We love our little guys.