Green and white party and library

We went to Kansas this weekend for Tim's 20 -year high school reunion and Ben LOVED seeing Grammy and Wende and Darrell and Ron. He couldn't wait to get to Grammy's house and constantly wanted to go back to Grammy's house. Tim's high school colors were green and white and later Ben wanted to go to another "green and white party."

Wende's friend John found a fuzzy caterpillar for Ben to look at, but soon he wanted to put it back outside. He said it needed to go home because it missed its mommy.

At breakfast in the motel, Ben said "This is SO fun!" and he said he wanted to go shopping before going to Grammy's house, so we went to Pamida. He looked at a recliner there and rubbed his hands over it and said "This is SO nice!" I don't know where he got that phrase, but it's cute.

When we got home from Kansas Ben was very sad because he did NOT want to go to our "old house."

All this week Ben has been begging nonstop to go to the library ("yibary" or "yawbary"). He loves the library.

More later!

Tim! Miss you.

As I've said, Ben loves to turn to us and say "Miss you Mommy," "Miss you, Daddy." Once or twice Tim hasn't heard him, so I said "Tim!" to get his attention. Now when Tim doesn't hear him, Ben himself says, "Tim! Miss you, Daddy."

Hey hey hey!

Tim says he accidentally skipped a page in a book during bedtime book reading and Ben said, "Hey hey hey!" and turned back the page. He seems to memorize a book in one reading. Can I say how wonderful public libraries are now that I'm not the only patron in the house? Ben is so excited to get a pile of new books each week, and would you believe they make DVDs of nothing but trucks, nothing but bulldozers, nothing but bugs, nothing but dinosaurs, and almost anything else he is obsessed with at any certain time? In my library system, there are 126 kids' books about trucks. How wonderful for Benny!

Ben's moods are confounding. One morning sunscreen application causes a major meltdown and the next morning it's easy as pie.

Oliver must have grown a few inches taller this week. He's lost his extra chins and looks very different. He is SOOOOO ready to play with Ben - he looks like he'll stand up and walk at any moment. And you can tell he already worships him. If all three of us smile at Oliver, he is most likely to smile back at Ben. Ben loves to make him laugh.

Oliver news

Oliver's favorite activity this week is grabbing and holding onto his toes. He is very proud of his new skill.

Ben made Oliver chuckle last week. Did I already say that Opa Al was the first to make Oliver chuckle at the reunion?

Nice weekend

This weekend we went to Winter Park and stayed in someone's lovely condo. We planned on camping, but it ended up being too cold and threatening rain. Ben called the condo our "new house" and got mad when we had to go home to our "old house." We spent a lot of time on the playgrounds and we're really impressed with how well Ben takes turns and shares with other kids. He even shares his most precious toys with Oliver.

Periodically throughout a day at home, Ben announces loudly, "Tummy Time!" and insists that Oliver come lie down on the floor with him on his blanket so they can do tummy time together.

Last night we were driving to the grocery store and it started to rain. Ben said "Raining though." That's an example of his random use of "though."

"Benny" has been shortened to "B," so instead of "Benny's ball is?" (which means "where is Benny's ball?") he has been saying "B's ball is?" So I thought he was saying "baseball." "B's milk," "B's turn," etc.

Ben says "Miss you" (love you?) all the time now. He'll be sitting somewhere and say "Miss you Mommy. Miss you Daddy. Miss you Yivvy."

Language coming and going and Uh Oh Peanut Butter!

It's weird how Ben seems to learn how to say something and then forgets. He used to say "br" just fine, but now he can only say "bl." So broken is "bloken." He is "glowing big" instead of growing big. I actually can't remember how he used to say trucks, but unfortunately his "tr" is presently pronounced "f." We wince often since he talks about trucks all day long these days.

He learned the word "though" at Wee Creekers, I guess and has been using it often, but he uses it kind of randomly. Almost every day he uses a new word and amazes us. Yesterday he said "Almost." He learned "oh" on the same day he learned "um." He says "Oh!" whenever we explain something to him.

We've been wondering why he hasn't started saying "I love you" since he hears it from us so often. He might have finally started, but he says "miss you" instead of love you. The way he says it makes us think he means love instead of miss. He'll come over to give one of us a hug and says "Miss you Mommy/Daddy." I know I come home from work and tell him I missed him and love him, so maybe they are interchangeable to him. It's awfully sweet in any case.

We have not done any music in Ben's life and I am glad he is getting some exposure to music at Wee Creekers. We finally asked what "Uh oh peanut butter" meant and Miss Susan sang the song for us:
"A peanut sat on the railroad track, his heart was all a-flutter. The 5:15 came roaring by … Uh Oh! Peanut butter.”
They must have been singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious too because Ben tries to sing it. Understandably, he doesn't quite get all of it. His version is closer to "Supercalidocious!" He also sings "Baa Baa Black Sheep Hammywool!" at the top of his lungs.

Maybe someday Oliver won't be a footnote. He's learning to use his hands - it's so neat to watch. And he can roll over both ways. His rashes are much better and he smiles a lot.

One little update

Ben came home from Wee Creekers one day with a new word: in response to almost every question you ask him, he says "um."

Second child syndrome

They say the first child has a perfect baby book and beautiful scrapbooks and so many photographs and the second child gets neglected in that area. Poor Oliver - I forgot to take his 3 month picture, so I'm already falling into the stereotype. I'll use one that was taken near the 3-month date. I did remember his 4 month. So here are his 3 and 4 month photos.

Telephone - More sweetness

Benny, Livvy and I were out and about and Tim called the cell phone to give us a message. After I was finished talking to Tim, I gave the phone to Ben to chat and I heard him say a few things and in a few minutes he started bawling. I thought something hurt him and got all worried and I should have stopped the car. I asked him what was wrong and he was crying so hard he couldn't talk. I called Tim back to ask him what happened and he said he told Ben he had to hang up and said good-bye. After Ben calmed down a little bit and could talk, he said "miss Daddy!" over and over and cried for a long time. Isn't that the sweetest, and saddest?

Soon after the reunion, Tim and I said something about calling someone and Ben heard "call" and he ran to the phone and said "Call Aunt Winnie." Of course we couldn't say no to that, so Ben called Aunt Wende to say good night to her.

Other tidbits:

Ben calls Oliver "Yivvy" (Livvy) and "Ovvy."

Oliver weighed 17 lbs, 6 oz at his 4-month check up. His weight is in the 90th percentile and his height is in the 84th percentile.