Presidential Flashcards

Ellis is branching out. It turns out that he's not partial to old men who happen to be prophets and apostles. He'll take an interest in pretty much any old men! I'm not sure what it is, but there is something he really likes about memorizing the names of old guys. The most recent obsession: U.S. Presidents! Henry gave Ellis this pack of U.S. President flashcards for Christmas (from the Target $1 section - what a steal!), and they are by far his favorite toy at the moment. He will play with them for at least an hour every day -- setting them out, lining them up, identifying and comparing. For the past several weeks, he will mention his "Presents Cards" the moment he gets out of bed in the morning, and he'll rush down the stairs to play with them.

Here he is, first thing in the morning, lining up the presidents ("presents") on the kitchen floor.

And here's a fun game he came up with - creating the ultimate Mount Rushmore on the stairs -- can you imagine a mountain with ALL of the presidents' faces carved into it? It would be Ellis' dream!

If you are worried that he no longer loves the prophets and apostles, don't fret. He still talks about them plenty, and perhaps the U.S. Presidents just add a healthy addition to his mix. He'll often say, "This is Woodrow Wilson; he's kind of Wilford Woodruff" (meaning "kind of like Wilford Woodruff). Or, "This is John Tyler; he's kind of John Taylor." He makes a lot of comparisons between the presidents and the prophets (although I try to set him straight that the presidents are NOT prophets). I caught him today making up his own version of a song called "Latter-day Presidents," in which he tried to incorporate all of the Presidents.

Now, you must watch at least part of this clip in which Ellis identifies many of the presidents. He doesn't know every single one of them, but he's getting pretty darn close.

And, as a bonus, you can watch this clip of Ellis identifying most of the famous economists from Ben's geeky calendar. Ellis was thrilled when Ben returned from his "Conference!" in January with this book of "funny guys" for Ellis to learn about. We had to really assure him that these guys are NOT prophets, even though they came from Conference. Very confusing for a 2-year-old . . . but what 2-year-old on the planet gets giddy about Karl Marx?

And the final bonus: a taste of what it sounds like around our house most of the time. It's a fine mix of Ellis' prophets obsession and Henry's funny mixed-up letters obsession (going on for 2 1/2 years and counting). Just try to tell me that you know of anything -- ANYTHING that is funnier than "Hatter-Hay Hophets!" Okay, maybe "Batter-Bay Bophets" is funnier -- that's my personal favorite :)