Tuesday, October 29, 2013

New Kind of Speech

Benjamin still mimics a lot, and in fact if you are having trouble understanding him, the first thing you should check is what you just said, because he is probably trying to repeat at least part of it.

But over the weekend he started a new kind of speech. More responsive, even conversational I might say.

The two examples both come from our trip to Target on Saturday.

1. He was sitting in the car with DH pushing. DH wedged the cart between a rack and a support beam and said "We don't fit!!" and Benjamin responded "too big!!"

2. As we were walking out to the parking lot, DH played a game (similar to slug a bug without the hitting) and Benjamin repeated after him. DH said to me "Even Ben beat you!" as I had not said the required word. Benjamin said "I beat you!" Hello correct pronoun, nice to meet you!

I hope to post soon (maybe even tonight if your lucky?) about the Halloween party I had last night. It was a lot of fun :)

Friday, October 11, 2013

Adorableness

Tonight it was thundering pretty loudly. We haven't had thunder in quite awhile, never that Benjamin was aware of. When he heard the thunder, he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked very uncertain and like he was leaning towards terrified. I told him it was thunder and it was nothing to worry about. He heard it again. The perplexed bordering on terrified face remained, and then he said it was "owie". I told him it wouldn't be owie and it was OK and that I liked thunder. He never went over the edge into scared, stayed mostly confused, but he did call it "owie" more and want some mommy hugs. He also learned the new word "Thunder".

When we got home, DH was here. He had been out of town overnight. Benjamin was very tired, but not quite asleep. He gave his dad a hug, then I took him up and put him in his crib. He was too awake to go without a bedtime routine though, so I told him I would send Daddy up to read him a book. I came back down stairs, gave DH the plan, and kept unpacking the car. About 5 minutes later DH and I were in the living room and I hear from upstairs "DAD BOOK". Most adorable thing ever. DH ran up there and read him some books. I love hearing those two together. Apparently while they were reading tonight Benjamin pointed out a kayak by name (a word he learned when we read "Baby Beluga" then appropriately applied to "Good Night Minnesota"), then called a canoe a boat and  said "row row boat" and wanted to sing. I love that boy.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

21 Months Old!!

Benjamin is 21 months old today! So, I guess I should probably do the update about him I have been wanting to do.

We haven't taken any pictures recently and I really need to do this. I am hoping my little sis will take some "professional" style pics for us soon.

In short, Benjamin is showing his toddler colors in many good and bad ways. His language improves every single day, and he learns so fast. We recently heard the statistic that babies this age are learning the meaning of 10 new words a day. It certainly feels like at least that many. The most recent new phrase, like new in the last three days, is "I'll do it". He can go from "help please" (sounds like uppie) to "I'll do it" in a heart beat... making it very difficult to make him happy.  He is really trying to assert is independence and ability, and we are certainly let him try to do most things!!

We had a sleep issue for a couple of weeks in which he decided it was a great idea to wake up at 5 or 5:30am and think it was time to get up for the day. (He had been getting up at 6:30ish). We pushed back his bedtime from 7 to 8pm and that seems to have solved it. I guess he needs less sleep when he actually sleeps instead of waking up all the time!!

Benjamin LOVES trucks. It is his obsession. He has four truck books that he constantly asks for. "big truck" is one of his generic answers for when you ask a question he doesn't quite understand. That, or "yellow". LOL. Tonight he asked for a Yellow Sandwich at Subway. (Things That Go, Book of Trucks, Trucks (tab book) and Mickey's Book of Trucks). We also build with blocks A LOT. Of course, what do we build? Trucks.

He has gotten really good at puzzles. We have seven that he can do no problem at home, and he can do a couple of the more difficult ones at my parents. I know he does a lot of puzzles at daycare too, he frequently asks for them when we arrive there in the morning.

He has two little friends at daycare - lets call them bear and dino. They are quite the trio. If you get two of them together its instant ridiculousness - running around and laughing A LOT. All three, and you are in trouble!! We hopefully will be going to bear's second birthday party and I bet it will be a blast.

Benjamin has also had a couple of days recently where the report from daycare said he was biting and hitting a lot. I really think he is testing limits/consequences. I mean, from what we see at home, his throwing thing is rough play, not a tantrum. He thinks its fun/funny. We are working on it.

He has been more demanding. He has opinions about what we should do. This morning he melted down because we were right by a city bus, and didn't get on it. It took most of our walk and lots of distraction to calm him back down.

He loves hats.

We are working on a fire fighter costume for Halloween.

He loves bread and butter. He loves fish sticks, to the point we cannot say the word around him unless we are about to eat them. He loves dipping foods.

We do read other books, besides trucks. Lots and lots of books. And we are told he loves books at daycare as well.

He knows lots of songs. The other day he said the "merrily merrily merrily" of Row Your Boat, I had no idea he knew that song. Some of his favorites are Wheels on the Bus, Tiny Tim the Turtle, and I'm Bringing home a baby bumble bee.

In general, he can finish repetitive phrases from books (Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you __) and songs (10 Little Monkeys Jumping on the ___, one fell off and broke its ___) etc. He picks up on them so fast now. 

He wears size 6 shoes, size 5 diapers, and is just transitioning from 18m to 24m/2T clothing. We are working on building a cold-weather wardrobe. 

I think that's all! It is time for me to go do bedtime!!



Thursday, October 3, 2013

Addicted.... Sorry

I want to post and tell you about the awesome hike I took up the shore as part of my 30x30 list. It was beautiful, gave me a new bucket list goal (as in lifetime bucket list), and taught me something about hobbies and efforts.

I also want to tell you about how Benjamin is getting big, how he is acting like a "terrible two" toddler sometimes, and how much his language development amazes me.

I also want to tell you about something I realized with regards to "mommy wars" and "mommy guilt" in a conversation with a friend yesterday, that lead both of us to take a new "vow" for how we talk to moms.

I also need to do a "sleep diary", because even though he is normally STTN, we have a new issue we had to deal with.

But I simply don't have time right now. And I am addicted to Diablo III in the evenings, and that is sucking up a ridiculous amount of time. I know, lame, right??? Hopefully I can get to the above topics soon....