Ben's favorites this week:
- tomato juice!
- anything Grammy Pat cooks!
- blankets, blankets, blankets
- the huge Tonka truck Grammy brought him
- sleeping with the huge Tonka truck
- putting lotion on himself and everyone else
Ben's pet peeves this week:
- taking baths (uh oh!), but more specifically, not being allowed to take the down throw into the bath with him (TANTRUM!)
- having to take off his favorite shoes
New words this week:
- Dad-deee! (finally!)
- Uh oh
- Knee (he was accidentally saying knee and I told him what it meant, so now he knows a random word. It is a helpful word when he is distributing lotion, though!)
New talents this week:
- he can pick out a B from the alphabet or a page of letters
Sweet, sweet little boy!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Who is Amy?
One of Ben's favorite words seems to be Amy. I don't think he knows anyone named Amy and I don't think he really intends to say Amy, but it seems to be his distress call. When he is a little upset, he says "Aymay, aymay, aymay!" over and over.
Here is the transcript of a typical conversation between Ben and me each day:
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes, Dear?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Ben?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes?
Ben: Mama?
Jo: Benny?
Ben: Mama?
Jo: Hmmm?
Ben: MAMAAA!
Jo: Ben, Dear, I'm right here. What do you need?
I guess you can't really call it a conversation. It's more that he just likes repeating the word that he knows gets my attention. It's funny, though. And he likes calling Tim "Mom" too, though we know he knows he is Daddy.
He still isn't quite running, but he really enjoys his fast walking. Last night he "ran" up and down the hall at least 20 times, each time looking very proud of himself.
It's very odd that he suddenly loves blankets. After living his whole life hating to be covered up in bed, he suddenly demands to be covered up. Well, he doesn't really care if his legs are covered, but he likes the blanket to be near his face, I guess so he feels tucked in. We can lie down in his reading nest and read a book until he is properly covered by a blanket. Also, he often carries a blanket through the house with him, like Linus(?).
Sweet, sweet Benny!
Here is the transcript of a typical conversation between Ben and me each day:
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes, Dear?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Ben?
Ben: Mom?
Jo: Yes?
Ben: Mama?
Jo: Benny?
Ben: Mama?
Jo: Hmmm?
Ben: MAMAAA!
Jo: Ben, Dear, I'm right here. What do you need?
I guess you can't really call it a conversation. It's more that he just likes repeating the word that he knows gets my attention. It's funny, though. And he likes calling Tim "Mom" too, though we know he knows he is Daddy.
He still isn't quite running, but he really enjoys his fast walking. Last night he "ran" up and down the hall at least 20 times, each time looking very proud of himself.
It's very odd that he suddenly loves blankets. After living his whole life hating to be covered up in bed, he suddenly demands to be covered up. Well, he doesn't really care if his legs are covered, but he likes the blanket to be near his face, I guess so he feels tucked in. We can lie down in his reading nest and read a book until he is properly covered by a blanket. Also, he often carries a blanket through the house with him, like Linus(?).
Sweet, sweet Benny!
Friday, September 19, 2008
This week's updates
I apologize if I repeat myself!
Did I already say that Ben learned to plug his ears with his fingers to make noises sound different?
This morning he also learned to stick his finger in his nostril. Lovely. His mother is extra proud of this accomplishment.
He has learned more animal sounds. In addition to monkey and cow, he also says "on on" for pig, "roar" for tigers and lions (and almost anything else). I think he knows another one, but I can't remember.
He learned to "break dance" - basically roll around on the floor a little.
He still LOVES taking walks and he likes to walk really fast. He is almost running but not quite. His left arm pumps along with him while his right arm stays pretty still.
Tim said he could pick out the letter A from the fridge magnets, and twice when I was playing with him with a certain toy that had numbers on it, he pointed to the 8 and said "B!"
We've finally incorporated reading into his bedtime routine and I'm so happy about that. He often points to his reading nest during the day and asks to be read to. I hope we teach him to be a reader.
Last night he was lounging on the couch with me and he asked to nurse (by pulling at my shirt). I explained to him that we could only nurse at bedtime and he would have to go get ready for bed before he could nurse. He got up off the couch, took my hand, led me into OUR bedroom, asked to get up on our bed, and "told" me to get up there too and then reached for my shirt again. He heard the word "bed" and went to the bed! His crib isn't called a bed, and I guess we say "go to sleep" more than "go to bed" usually.
Sweet, sweet smart Benny!
Did I already say that Ben learned to plug his ears with his fingers to make noises sound different?
This morning he also learned to stick his finger in his nostril. Lovely. His mother is extra proud of this accomplishment.
He has learned more animal sounds. In addition to monkey and cow, he also says "on on" for pig, "roar" for tigers and lions (and almost anything else). I think he knows another one, but I can't remember.
He learned to "break dance" - basically roll around on the floor a little.
He still LOVES taking walks and he likes to walk really fast. He is almost running but not quite. His left arm pumps along with him while his right arm stays pretty still.
Tim said he could pick out the letter A from the fridge magnets, and twice when I was playing with him with a certain toy that had numbers on it, he pointed to the 8 and said "B!"
We've finally incorporated reading into his bedtime routine and I'm so happy about that. He often points to his reading nest during the day and asks to be read to. I hope we teach him to be a reader.
Last night he was lounging on the couch with me and he asked to nurse (by pulling at my shirt). I explained to him that we could only nurse at bedtime and he would have to go get ready for bed before he could nurse. He got up off the couch, took my hand, led me into OUR bedroom, asked to get up on our bed, and "told" me to get up there too and then reached for my shirt again. He heard the word "bed" and went to the bed! His crib isn't called a bed, and I guess we say "go to sleep" more than "go to bed" usually.
Sweet, sweet smart Benny!
Friday, September 12, 2008
News this week
Benny's favorites this week:
- Grammy Pat's meatloaf
- Easter egg hunts (Tim took him to a driving range and let him pick up golf balls for an hour. He had a blast!)
- Sitting and eating a whole apple (well, I take the core out since he would eat it too)
Benny's least favorite things this week:
- The street sweeper we saw on Wednesday
Ben grew an inch over the last month (if our measuring attempts are correct). We put all his shoes in the giveaway bag because they were all suddenly too small. Since it has gotten a little colder, we've gotten out his long pants and they are looser around the waist than in the spring. He's in a tall and lean phase.
Grammy Pat came to stay for several days and Ben was so happy to see her. Every morning he would show off for her and laugh with her.
More later about sweet, sweet Benny!
- Grammy Pat's meatloaf
- Easter egg hunts (Tim took him to a driving range and let him pick up golf balls for an hour. He had a blast!)
- Sitting and eating a whole apple (well, I take the core out since he would eat it too)
Benny's least favorite things this week:
- The street sweeper we saw on Wednesday
Ben grew an inch over the last month (if our measuring attempts are correct). We put all his shoes in the giveaway bag because they were all suddenly too small. Since it has gotten a little colder, we've gotten out his long pants and they are looser around the waist than in the spring. He's in a tall and lean phase.
Grammy Pat came to stay for several days and Ben was so happy to see her. Every morning he would show off for her and laugh with her.
More later about sweet, sweet Benny!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Growing and growing!
I have so much trouble finding time to blog. Very sorry!
Benny is growing and growing. We put four pairs of shoes in the giveaway bag this week and we need to go buy some more. He is definitely a little boy now and no longer a baby. I almost don't want him to grow up.
His favorite things this week are
- milk, milk, milk (he asks for "more milk" all day and we try to trick him into drinking water, but he sometimes won't have it)
- lemon-lime Gatorade (my least favorite flavor). He can spot the neon yellow concoction in a glass or water bottle from a distance (in the kitchen or on my bike) and begs for it.
- taking long, meandering walks in the open space behind our condo. On one walk, he tried to push me into the ditch several times, kept pointing to it and saying Ba. I finally realized that Tim must have found some golf balls in the ditch on one of their walks and Ben wanted me to find some more. His memory is amazing.
His least favorite things this week are loudly flushing toilets in public restrooms, and lawn mowers.
He has joined the American consumer culture: He has fallen in love with Thomas the Tank Engine and holds onto his little Thomas 24 hours a day (yes, he sleeps with a little hard, plastic toy), and begs to be read his three Thomas books over and over.
He is already watching too much TV and we need to work harder at limiting him. He begs for it, though, and will bring the remote to us in the kitchen or bathroom to indicate he wants it turned on. He will also ask us to change the channel if it isn't on a cartoon channel. The show Wipe Out has huge balls that people try to jump across and of course Benny likes to watch that.
He jabbers nonstop, and quite loudly sometimes. When he sees the alphabet or numbers on a page of a book, he imitates my reciting of the alphabet by pointing to them and saying "E, E, E, E, E..." He can now say Go, but I'm not sure he knows what it means, he can almost say Cat, and he has full use of the words Mom and Mama now, and definitely knows what it means. He can still say Da for daddy when I ask him, but doesn't call out to Tim like he does to me.
He uses his special hand signal for "I love you" (fingers crossed) and will now do it spontaneously without our doing it first, which is just so sweet. He did it to Rebecca yesterday! He has personalized the All Done sign into the cutest funky chicken movement - we'll have to get video of it.
When he sees a monkey of any kind (photograph or cartoonish), he says "ooh ooh ooh" and he will sometimes say "moo" when he sees a cow.
He loves to push his stroller and grocery carts and gets so furious if we try to help (steer). He screams "No!" at us and waves us away.
I never imagined a little boy could be so sweet and entertaining and fun!!
Benny is growing and growing. We put four pairs of shoes in the giveaway bag this week and we need to go buy some more. He is definitely a little boy now and no longer a baby. I almost don't want him to grow up.
His favorite things this week are
- milk, milk, milk (he asks for "more milk" all day and we try to trick him into drinking water, but he sometimes won't have it)
- lemon-lime Gatorade (my least favorite flavor). He can spot the neon yellow concoction in a glass or water bottle from a distance (in the kitchen or on my bike) and begs for it.
- taking long, meandering walks in the open space behind our condo. On one walk, he tried to push me into the ditch several times, kept pointing to it and saying Ba. I finally realized that Tim must have found some golf balls in the ditch on one of their walks and Ben wanted me to find some more. His memory is amazing.
His least favorite things this week are loudly flushing toilets in public restrooms, and lawn mowers.
He has joined the American consumer culture: He has fallen in love with Thomas the Tank Engine and holds onto his little Thomas 24 hours a day (yes, he sleeps with a little hard, plastic toy), and begs to be read his three Thomas books over and over.
He is already watching too much TV and we need to work harder at limiting him. He begs for it, though, and will bring the remote to us in the kitchen or bathroom to indicate he wants it turned on. He will also ask us to change the channel if it isn't on a cartoon channel. The show Wipe Out has huge balls that people try to jump across and of course Benny likes to watch that.
He jabbers nonstop, and quite loudly sometimes. When he sees the alphabet or numbers on a page of a book, he imitates my reciting of the alphabet by pointing to them and saying "E, E, E, E, E..." He can now say Go, but I'm not sure he knows what it means, he can almost say Cat, and he has full use of the words Mom and Mama now, and definitely knows what it means. He can still say Da for daddy when I ask him, but doesn't call out to Tim like he does to me.
He uses his special hand signal for "I love you" (fingers crossed) and will now do it spontaneously without our doing it first, which is just so sweet. He did it to Rebecca yesterday! He has personalized the All Done sign into the cutest funky chicken movement - we'll have to get video of it.
When he sees a monkey of any kind (photograph or cartoonish), he says "ooh ooh ooh" and he will sometimes say "moo" when he sees a cow.
He loves to push his stroller and grocery carts and gets so furious if we try to help (steer). He screams "No!" at us and waves us away.
I never imagined a little boy could be so sweet and entertaining and fun!!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I love this age!
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!
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 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!
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