Funny Benny

Although Ben can say many consonants, I think he gives up when there are two consonants together and just substitutes a Y or W. For example, he can say "Pippi" just fine, but the "pl" in Play-doh seems to intimidate him, so he calls it "Way-doh." Same with "please" - it is "wease." I was trying to encourage him to at least use the P and say "Pay-doh," and he was hilarious in giving me explicit instructions in return, complete with teacher-like hand motions: "No, Pay-Way-doh." I would say "No, try just Pay-doh," and he would again say, "No, Pay-WAY-doh!" Not sure how he got that, but creative, huh? It made me laugh.

Ben still thinks it is hilarious to torment the cats, just like when he loved trying to run them over with his walker when he was learning to walk. The other day he got the idea of throwing pine cones (still "co-cones") at Pippi, and we had a blast chasing her around the yard with pine cones. Daddy has much better aim than Mommy and a bit longer range than Benny, and he landed one right behind her when she wasn't paying attention. She jumped 4 feet straight up in the air and Ben and I collapsed into hysterical laughing.

A while back Ben started to love the I Spy-type of books where he looks at a picture of an object on one page and then finds the object among other things on the next page. At first he always had to put his finger on each picture, which was cute. One time I couldn't find the picture and I said "Butterfly, where are you?" and since then Ben often says, "Mom, are you?" or "Thomas, are you?" with a sing-song lilt. The "where" isn't really there.

When Tim tries to teach Ben about being careful, such as at the edge of a cliff, or on a ladder, Ben always turns it around and tells Tim to be careful. "Daddy, carepull! Carepull!"

Ben has learned his colors since starting at Wee Creekers, and he usually has a tantrum when it is time to go home. One day he said "No home!" in a matter of fact way. He's learned a couple of new mannerisms, including a really cute facial expression we'll try to capture on camera.

Since his bedroom flooded twice now and we're worried about mold, we moved him into the guest room and he has slept two nights on the double bed. We thought he'd want to sleep in his crib forever, but he seems to have adjusted just fine. We've been having lots of trouble with diapers overflowing overnight and have been trying to limit his drinks in the late evenings. If he asks for juice between dinner and bedtime, Tim tells him he can only have a little at bedtime. One night Ben then said, "Bed!" and headed towards the bedroom. He was willing to go to bed a half hour early to get juice! (and yes, we've discussed a middle-of-the-night diaper change, and concern over his seemingly-excessive thirst.)

Tim puts Ben to bed while I put Oliver to bed, and I love listening to their voices during storytime. Often I hear Ben's voice more than Daddy's, as if Ben is reading books to Tim instead of vice versa.

Ben has already reached the stage where everything is much more fun if Mom or Dad are watching, and apparently we watch much better if he asks multiple times. Last night, for example, I was trying to make dinner in the kitchen and Ben had a piece of rope and thought he had learned to jump rope (well, he was jumping and moving the rope around...). Even though I was already watching him, he had to say "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Watch!" each time he tried his jump. How endearing.