Compliments for Ben

Ben also got several compliments recently:

-  One dad friend told Tim he was really impressed with the way Ben shared.

-  One of Ben's friends told her parents she loved Ben and wanted to have lots of playdates with him.

-  Another of Ben's friends told her mom she wanted a playdate with Ben and Oliver, "not with those other boys!"

-  Several parents have been amazed that both Ben and Oliver will eat salad.

OK, enough bragging, huh?

Thoughtful Ben

Some thoughtful things Ben has done lately:

- Oliver fell asleep on the way home from shopping, and Ben volunteered to go outside and keep an eye on him in the car.  He woke up and Ben got in the car with him to keep him company. Then Ben found a juice pack and instead of drinking it himself, he opened it and gave it to Oliver so he would wake up nice from his nap.

- Oliver hates it when my hair is in my eyes, for some reason.  He gets kind of upset and does his best to push the hair out of my face.  The three of us were upstairs doing something, and I put my hair in my eyes and asked Oliver to brush it out of my face (my ploy to get some hair brushing).  He brushed a tiny bit and then got distracted.  Meanwhile, Ben went and got another brush and came back to brush my hair!

-  After reading to Ben at bedtime, I stole Joseph from him and pretended to go to sleep.  Ben grabbed Joseph back, but then stood up and got another teddy bear from the shelf to give to me. 

-  We had some friends over for dinner and Ben handed out pieces of "Oma's gum" to all his friends.  Not sure if the parents were too happy about that, but his friends were excited.

Please excuse typos in these posts - I have to do them really quickly at work.

Heart-warming

I thought Ben would have trouble adjusting to eating at the table twice a week, but it's Oliver who hasn't done well.  Twice he has cried and screamed the whole time about something, making it a very unpleasant dinner time.
Last night, when I told Oliver it was time for dinner at the table, he started a tantrum, so I put his dinner in the living room, giving up.  :-)  I brought Ben his dinner in the living room and he looked at me questioningly.  I went back in the kitchen for my dinner, and turned around:  Ben had brought his dinner from the living room and sat down at the kitchen table!  Then Tim joined us, and then Oliver brought his dinner from the living room.  Sometimes Ben amazes me with his generosity and understanding.

Oliver is almost two and acting it.  He's so sweet most of the time, but he has started some epic tantrums.  Two or more tantrums recently have been over what he wants to drink:
"I want juice."
"Here's juice."
"No, I want milk!" Shriek!!!!!!!!!
"OK. Here's milk."
"No, I want JUIIIIIIIIICE!"  SHRIEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Here is your juice."
"NO, JUICE IN ANOTHER CUP!!!!" SHRIEKKKKKKKK!  (I don't really understand him saying that, it's just what I assume he is saying.)
"I will not put your juice in another cup.  You have a choice of juice or milk in these cups.  Which do you want?"
"NOOOO MOMMY!"  SHRIEK!  [Falls to the floor dramatically, head in his hands, screaming, screaming, screaming.  Continues screaming for a good 15 minutes.]
Ben, Tim, and I just look at each other and shake our heads.
:-)

Oliver's songs

I remember the song Oliver has been singing:  Wheels on the bus.  One time Ben and I were singing it, and Oliver did hand motions for "round and round" and then he did eye-rubbing for "babies go waa waa waa" and shushing motion for "mommies go sh sh sh."  Amazing what he learns in two days at Wee Creekers.  Nowadays, he'll just say "round round bus."  He also said, "Boom boom choo" and patted his legs and clapped his hands, which I took to mean "Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem chu!" from They swam and they swam all over the dam.

So I guess he has short-hand for all his songs:
Rinkle star, how-a-u
Round round bus
Rocket baby
Boom boom choo