I've always loved 18-month-olds and of course I love Benny most of all! A million times a day I say "You are so sweet!" "You are so smart!"
On Sunday I was doing something in the kitchen and he opened the dishwasher and unloaded every piece of silverware and put it in the silverware drawer! I guess he has seen us do that, but I didn't ask him to do it or instruct him. He also picks up any piece of clothing, etc. he sees around the house and takes it to the dirty laundry basket.
This morning Tim said he was going to go to the model train store to get something to make his childhood train set work. I said something like "Oh boy!" and Ben looked back and forth between us with such a delighted, excited expression on his face. It seemed like he understood what we were saying and was super excited about building a train set.
This weekend Ben looked out the living room window and saw that Flynn was on top of the fence, ready to jump. Ben yelled to him "Woo dah bah bwah na!" or something similar and he meant "Flynn! No jumping! Get back in the yard!"
Benny is still waking up one or two times a night most nights. He usually wakes up at 5:00 or 6:00 am and stays awake for an hour but but lounges in bed with me while I doze. If he goes back to sleep after that hour, he has actually started to sleep late. On Tuesday morning, we slept until 9:45!! Unfortunately, when I got home from work at 9:45 pm, he was still up.
He's learning other ways to tell us he wants us to play with him, read to him, and come with him. Besides patting the surface next to him, he pulls and pushes at us and moves his hand to say "come this way."
I almost wish he would stay at this age. He's soooooooooooooooooo sweet!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
More catching up
I'm so sorry to be neglecting Ben's blog! More little things to report:
- Ben wouldn't really let the audiologist finish her tests because he didn't want things stuck in his ears. But she said he seemed fine from what she did accomplish.
- If I ask Ben if he can say Mommy, he says Mum, and if I ask him if he can say Daddy he says Da. Of course he'll also say Ba and Ga (ball and car), and I asked him to say A and B and he did pretty well. He won't say C yet. I think if I spent more time with him and if we worked more with him, he'd know more words. He has to be in the right mood, of course.
- I taught him to nod to say yes one night and the next morning I asked him if he wanted cereal for breakfast and he nodded!
- He can pick up and carry two small balls in one hand. That seems like a difficult task to me.
- Ben was very excited to see a fruit bouquet in Kansas City. Joyce and Marybelle brought it and it was yummy. The bouquet stayed upstairs on a low table where Ben could almost reach, and he must have made 12 trips from the kitchen with a piece of fruit, down the stairs and into the living room to enjoy the fruit with the people sitting down there, and then back up to get another piece. It's so cute the way he turns around to go down the stairs several feet before the start of the stairs.
- When he saw Grammy Pat in Kansas City, he acted a little shy and then started showing off for her, walking funny and looking at her through his legs.
- I take Ben out of the car in the mornings at Rebecca's house and we walk hand-in-hand up the driveway while he carries his lunchbox. When I go pick him up, he carries his lunchbox to the car. Such a sweet, big boy sight!
- If I ask him to turn, he turns around, and if I ask him to squat, he squats and if I ask him if he can jump, he squats again (the first part of jumping). If he's in the mood and I ask for a hug or a kiss, he'll come over and give me some. If we ask him to go water the garden, he goes outside and picks up the hose. Unfortunately, he's come to enjoy watering the concrete much more than the plants.
- He learned to pat the chair or floor next to him to mean "come sit here next to me." He sits down with a book and pats the floor to indicate he wants me to sit and read it to him. I'm delighted to see him ask to be read to. We went to visit my coworker's new baby and Ben "said" he wanted the baby to come sit next to him. How sweet!
- His favorite thing at the playground is letting his cars drive down the slides. I think it is pretty fun too. This weekend at the playground we met a 2-yr-old boy named Karsten (a name I really considered for Ben), and tonight we met a 2-yr-old boy named Soren. A Scandinavian theme this week!
- Since Flynn can't get any attention from us, he's settled for attention from Ben. Every morning when Flynn is extra desperate, he and Ben have a wrestling match on the bed, Ben trying to give him full-body hugs and Flynn simultaneously enjoying it and trying to get away from him.
- We went to a BBQ with some moms from one of my old moms groups, and there were about 7 kids Benny's age. They don't necessarily play together, but they do seem to enjoy each other's company and it is so neat to see them all together.
I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it now and need to head to bed. I can't wait to see sweet, sweet Benny in the morning!
- Ben wouldn't really let the audiologist finish her tests because he didn't want things stuck in his ears. But she said he seemed fine from what she did accomplish.
- If I ask Ben if he can say Mommy, he says Mum, and if I ask him if he can say Daddy he says Da. Of course he'll also say Ba and Ga (ball and car), and I asked him to say A and B and he did pretty well. He won't say C yet. I think if I spent more time with him and if we worked more with him, he'd know more words. He has to be in the right mood, of course.
- I taught him to nod to say yes one night and the next morning I asked him if he wanted cereal for breakfast and he nodded!
- He can pick up and carry two small balls in one hand. That seems like a difficult task to me.
- Ben was very excited to see a fruit bouquet in Kansas City. Joyce and Marybelle brought it and it was yummy. The bouquet stayed upstairs on a low table where Ben could almost reach, and he must have made 12 trips from the kitchen with a piece of fruit, down the stairs and into the living room to enjoy the fruit with the people sitting down there, and then back up to get another piece. It's so cute the way he turns around to go down the stairs several feet before the start of the stairs.
- When he saw Grammy Pat in Kansas City, he acted a little shy and then started showing off for her, walking funny and looking at her through his legs.
- I take Ben out of the car in the mornings at Rebecca's house and we walk hand-in-hand up the driveway while he carries his lunchbox. When I go pick him up, he carries his lunchbox to the car. Such a sweet, big boy sight!
- If I ask him to turn, he turns around, and if I ask him to squat, he squats and if I ask him if he can jump, he squats again (the first part of jumping). If he's in the mood and I ask for a hug or a kiss, he'll come over and give me some. If we ask him to go water the garden, he goes outside and picks up the hose. Unfortunately, he's come to enjoy watering the concrete much more than the plants.
- He learned to pat the chair or floor next to him to mean "come sit here next to me." He sits down with a book and pats the floor to indicate he wants me to sit and read it to him. I'm delighted to see him ask to be read to. We went to visit my coworker's new baby and Ben "said" he wanted the baby to come sit next to him. How sweet!
- His favorite thing at the playground is letting his cars drive down the slides. I think it is pretty fun too. This weekend at the playground we met a 2-yr-old boy named Karsten (a name I really considered for Ben), and tonight we met a 2-yr-old boy named Soren. A Scandinavian theme this week!
- Since Flynn can't get any attention from us, he's settled for attention from Ben. Every morning when Flynn is extra desperate, he and Ben have a wrestling match on the bed, Ben trying to give him full-body hugs and Flynn simultaneously enjoying it and trying to get away from him.
- We went to a BBQ with some moms from one of my old moms groups, and there were about 7 kids Benny's age. They don't necessarily play together, but they do seem to enjoy each other's company and it is so neat to see them all together.
I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it now and need to head to bed. I can't wait to see sweet, sweet Benny in the morning!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)