March 2011

Random updates:
 - Ben refuses to write or read anymore.  Hopefully his desire will come back naturally, but lately he sure gets mad when I ask him to tell me what letters he sees or try to write them.

- But ... Tim says Ben tried to teach Oliver the alphabet one night in the bath.  Ben patiently went through the alphabet saying, "Liv, can you say A?" etc.  Tim said Oliver went along with A and B and then yelled O several times and didn't pay any more attention.  Ben continued patiently even though Oliver wasn't listening.

- I've heard Oliver say weird things and after a while I figured out they were songs he learns at Wee Creekers.  One day at the store he was saying, "Rinkle sta, how are you," or something like that.  I finally realized he was singing Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.  He also says, "Rocket baby," which is Rock a bye baby, and he kind of sings the alphabet song.  I think there was one more song, but I can't remember it right now.

- I call Ben "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" these days.  Half the time he is as sweet and rational as he can be, helping Oliver, helping us, teaching Oliver things, etc. and the other half he is having the biggest tantrums, saying he doesn't like us, we aren't his friends, he doesn't like Oliver, he doesn't want a baby in the house, hitting Oliver, hitting Wally, screeching at the top of his lungs.  We give him strict time outs when he hits, but otherwise I have no idea how to handle him, except try not to feed into it.  Sometimes if you can leave him alone, he'll finish the tantrum on his own and come back as the opposite Ben.

- Oliver still loves to copy Ben, and is learning all the karate moves and boy noises from Ben already.  Which means he is more of a "little boy" than Ben was at his age.

- One of our New Year's resolutions for 2011 is to eat at the dinner table at least twice a week (we've been horrible about that!)  We have taught Ben how to clean and set the table, and he loves to eat by candlelight.  Now, I just need more "dinnermaker activities," which is what I call activities that the boys can do in the kitchen while I make dinner to avoid blood-sugar-low/mom's-not-paying-attention meltdowns.  They really love "doing dishes" but that wastes water and floods the floor usually.  One night Ben had an idea, and I wonder where in the world he got it.  He asked me to get the coat rack and some rope, and somehow explained that he wanted a pulley system.  I tied a teddy bear on one end of a rope, looped in over one hook, and gave Oliver the other end and he spent a good 20 minutes hauling the teddy bear up and down, completely fascinated.  Ben tried tying different things to his rope, heavy things and light things.  What a neat activity!

- One night I finished reading to Ben and said Good night, I love you.  He said, "I love you too, Mom.  You wish you were home with me?"  Perceptive and out of the blue!

- Ben says that certain things are his "best," and means his favorite.  When he is in a bad mood, he'll scream that something "IS NOT MY BEST."

- Ben has been wearing underwear during the day for a few weeks now, thank goodness.  He has been good about using public bathrooms and doesn't seem to have any hang-ups.  Finally!