A-ja-liath the Giiiaaannt and other Bible stories

I don't know if I'll ever forget this, but I want to write it down just in case. Joel has been obsessed (I mean OBSESSED!) with the David and Goliath story for about two months now. We've been trying to get him interested in other stories, and our plots have worked for a couple of hours at a time, but he always comes back to David and Goliath. When I say obsessed, I mean he wants to read it, listen to it, watch it, act it out, sing about it, color pictures about it, spell it, and use stickers dealing with it. He asks his family members, friends, nursery workers, and random people we meet at stores and restaurants about it.

The conversations go something like this ...

Joel: Okay mommy, you be David the shepherd boy, and I'll be A-ja-liath the Giaaaant. [Cue man voice] My name is Ja-liath the Giant, and I am niiiine feeeet talllll.

Me: My name is David, and I'll fight you.

Joel: No, no, mommy. You have to say, "I will fight you in the name of the God of Ish-ray-ul!"

Me: Okay. My name is David, and I'll fight you with help from the God of Israel.

Joel: Huh, huh, huh ... no one can defeat me!

Me: I'll grab five stones and my sling. [Pretend to sling something at him]

Joel: Keeeeer-plunk! [falls down slowly] The Israelites won the battle!

Moments later ...

Joel: Okay mommy, YOU be Ja-liath, and I'LL be the shepherd. [We play.] Okay mommy, you be King Saul, and I'll be David. [We play.] Okay mommy, you be Jesse. I'll be David, and Judah can be the brothers. [We play.] Okay mommy, Judah can be the Philistine soldiers ... 

Me: Joel, can we play something else. Please!

Ridiculous, I know! But it doesn't stop there. I find slings with rocks (socks with random toys shoved in them) lying around the house at least twice a day. [Sidenote: I'd like to give a shout out to Uncle Butch for making him his first sling shot. The checker tied on a shoe lace has been used many times as a weapon.]

On the occasions we've been able to distract Joel from Goliath a little, he's told some really good stories. For example, he added the plague of the hippos to the ten plagues in Egypt. I also overheard him telling random children in the play place at Chick fil A, "You be Moses. You be Aaron. I'll be Pharaoh." How do you tell your child that's not normal?!  When pretending to be an Israelite in the bathtub, he sang, "I've been working on the bathtub, all the livelong day." I can't make this stuff up!

I also walked into the house one day to Joel telling his daddy, "I'll be Samson. You be dat durl! What's her name? Deliliah? Yea ... you be her." How promiscuous (you might be thinking), but when it came time for "Delilah" to trick "Samson" into going to sleep, Joel said, "Okay, let me read you a bedtime story so you can fall asleep and I can cut your hair off." What a funny kid!

Samson holding up the walls

The really funny/frustrating part is that is these stories always come back around to David and Goliath. I am honestly so tired of that story right now! I am very appreciative that Joel loves Bible stories. It's always worth the tenth time telling the story when he opens the door for an elderly lady at Belk and says, "I can do big things with God's help, just like David!"