MJ Wannabe

Benny loves our new Michael Jackson dance game. His favorite -- "Beat Up" -- which is actually Beat it. He's not bad.

o

Sakes alive, he's a boy!

Benny in his birthday suit before the trim.

The new do.

Only a few people ever called him a girl. And although I'm a little sad that the curls are gone, it had to happen. I mean, I'm not even really good at doing my little girl's hair, so after bath when it was time to brush out Ben's tangly knotted curly fro and he was having fits about it, I realized I didn't even have to be fighting that battle! "Chop off the locks!" I thought. So that's what I did. I put a show on, filled up my spray bottle, and went for it! Don't look too closely. Curls are forgiving, though. I had fun pretending like I knew what I was doing. I kept the scissors out all day and kept fixing pieces that were too long. I imagine I'll be finding pieces of Lucy's hair on the floor now since she watched me cut Ben's hair. That's kind of her thing.

Ben Learned a new trick

We spent a lot of time this summer at our adopted Grandma Nellie's pool. For all his short little life, Ben has tried to keep up with his sibs and actually done pretty darn good at it. I still can't believe what he's willing to try and how he's not really afraid of anything! I wish he had a little fear of drowning or the deep end (I always thought Jaws lived in the deep end of my Grandma's pool) or something, anything. He was afraid of the pool sweep for awhile, but not anymore. So yeah, he's swimming and he's 2 1/2. Swimming is a strong word. He's wriggling around and strategically grabbing edges of the pool. But he can get somewhere. Lucy's learning to swim, but since her bro is 2 years younger, he's stealing the lime light. But when I'm not watching him like a hawk, we get girl practice time too.

Thumbs up!

Ben has hit a peak of cuteness lately. He's awesome. And he likes to say awesome, too. And gives thumbs up. Watch and see.

This is what sign Benny gives you when you give him a thumbs up. He hasn't figured out where his thumb is yet. He doesn't just raise up his index finger, either. He lifts it fast and with a purpose, just like when someone gives you a thumbs up. It's darn adorable.

Here's Benny getting to be the center of attention, something he's very good at.

Here's what Benny does when he's being quiet. At least it was lotion and not, oh, I don't know, petroleum jelly. I didn't take pictures of that mess. It wasn't nearly as cute.

I love my Benny Boy.

Wild Child

I always wonder what it would be like if you could somehow capture a moment in a jar--the feelings you had, the exact sounds, smells, sights you are seeing right in a single moment. I wish I could capture my children's childhood (parts of it--the good parts). I know when Sam was small, my heart would ache thinking that he would grow up and be different than what he was right then. It's almost like anticipating homesickness. But Sam has grown and I have loved him along the way as he has seamlessly become a grown-up boy. I ache a little today for Ben because I he's at a stage where he's bursting with personality, curiosity, and life. He plays with everyone or by himself. He's not at an easy stage, but it's the most fun he's been yet. And the way his brain absorbs everything around him amazes me! We've gone swimming often and when he runs full speed towards the edge I raise my hand and say "Stop!" He almost always does, so I guess he understood it. But yesterday he really showed me a window into his mind. I get nervous when Ben approaches the monkey bars because they are 6 feet off the ground. I know he can hold on to that first bar he can reach, but he just dangles once he's there (and he can dangle for awhile, but still--there's nowhere to go but down from there). He stood on the edge and I stood below him, knowing he would reach and swing. I held his waist to spot him. He stopped and fidgeted and kind of whined, but I didn't know what he wanted. He tried a few more times but didn't ever grab and hang. Finally he looked at me, raised his hand, and said "Ah!" (for those who don't speak Ben, that meant 'stop'). Who knows where's he "supposed" to be developmentally, but I know it's the first time he pulled a word out of a different context and used it to communicate. The brain sure works in wonderful ways.

Ben has this new gait when he feels rambunctious (most of the time). He starts by squating down and swaying back and forth with his arms extended to the sides and then he runs in circles as fast as he can. Or he uses his squat move to sneak up on bugs. He saw a fly on the side of the pool so he squatted down and moved his feet inch by inch. Everytime the fly figured him out and took off, Ben would squeal and run in a circle and do it all over again (the fly kept landing in the same spot--not a very bright fly if there are bright flies).

Words: here go (like when you hand someone something and say "here you go"), where go?, go!, all done, Dada, Mama, gunk (drink), gunkgunk (binki), and you might hear peek-a-boo and stop if you listen with toddler ears.

Current favorites: climbing onto Sam's bed and jumping off into my arms, whacking people with long, hard objects (swords, empty paper towel rolls, etc.), dancing, swimming--he blows bubbles and kicks his legs really well, climbing on anything that gets him higher than he already is, coloring on the walls, eating markers, sticking his tongue out, sticking his finger in other people's noses (or his own), eating popsicles, trying to eat other people's popsicles, binkies and blankets at bed time (his yellow blanket with stars on it seems to be a favorite), Thomas the Train, wrestling.

Dislikes: Getting out of the bath, carseats, Lucy squishing him, Sam poking him in the face, walking through doorways without someone holding the door open--he's really scared it will slam on him.

Cheese or cheesy? You decide!

The last family picture we took didn't include Ben and Lucy wasn't even walking yet...it was time for another attempt.

80% of the family cooperated--we had to do some work to get Sam on board, though.

Ben, on the other hand, is our little male model and Lucy a budding star. She had a shirt on the other day that said "I'm the prettiest princess." I told her what it said and she smiled her toothy grin at me and said "I am" matter of factly.

He's a Maniac!

If Ben wonders why he won't have much info about his childhood, I'll tell him it's because he ran me so ragged that it's his own fault! The kids doesn't stop! Here's a list of Ben's favorite things to do:
Running in circles with his head cocked to one side.
Climbing into his high chair to beg for food.
Climbing up anything that gets him a better view of the world.
Climbing up the jungle gym and attempting the monkey bars (he can grab onto the first wrung and hold on and hang for a pretty long time--I just worry at how fearlessly he does it).
Hitting Lucy over the head with Sam's new croquet mallet.
Eating sand by the shovelfull or handfuls of dirt.
Pouring dirt or sand on his bare toes.
Trying to jump into Nellie's pool (he can't get off the ground, but he squats and then swings his arms and then tries and tries and then just steps in--again, with no fear at all). He laughs like crazy watching Sam swim around.
Pretending to be a puppy--crawling around making a squeaky barking noise.
Climbing on the dining room chairs and then up on the table to get food.
Purposely throwing things and then pointing at it with a big "Uh oh!"
Other words: All done, Owie, Mama (spoken clearly but used to mean I want something right now) and he might say "Da" for Dad. He jabbers a lot.
He loves lying down on the ground inside and out.
Sucking a binky makes all of life's problems melt away.
Begging for the sacrament bread loudly! He sees the men disperse and starts howling and reaching and pointing.
Conducting the music when organ music plays at church.
Dancing.
Here's Ben at the turtle pond--all red-cheeked and loving the freedom of running around the paths.

Ben, the young Patowan, is strong in the force and actually knows how to extend the light sabers, even if he carries it upside down sometimes.