Wow, I am so behind. Ben is into so many new things, it's hard for me to keep up! I'll try to cover a few:

• He LOVES Halloween. He got into skulls and monsters after seeing a commercial for an installation at the Kimbell that had some creepy imagery in it. Now that Halloween stuff is everywhere, he's excited about all aspects of it. Lately he's especially into scarecrows. Also, he's going to be a skeleton for Halloween.
• "Little bit time" is probably the most common phrase these days. It's kind of a mixture of "a little bit more" and "one more time." "Are you finished pottying, Ben?" "Potty a LITTLE BIT TIME!" "Ready to go, Ben?" "Look at scarecrows a LITTLE BIT TIME!"
• He's big into asking to be held or hugged, sometimes because he really wants to be and other times because he's restless or unhappy about something that just happened or is about to happen. In the car, he asks us to "Hug nu foot" and then sticks his foot within reach for us to squeeze it. ("Nu" is his word for "your.")
• He still doesn't like for us to sing or act overly exuberant when we're cheering him on. He likes a little bit of praise and excitement, but he likes to control the levels. Obviously, he can't always control them, but he's getting a little more tolerant about people, you know, having the right to be loud occasionally and stuff. :)
• He's completely potty-trained now and has been since I finally just started putting him in underwear several months ago. I probably could have done it a long time ago ... my mom and grandmother were right. He is happy to use any toilet and never says he doesn't need to go. In fact, we have the other problem: he ALWAYS says he needs to go and tends to linger!
• I can't believe I've waited this long to mention Big Tex. He LOVED him at the fair this year. He waved and waved at him and was happy to be parked in front of him even when he wasn't talking. He asks to see Big Tex again each morning and will answer his own question by explaining that Big Tex had to go and the fair is over.
• He loves his grandparents. Loves, loves, loves.
• He is starting to venture out on his own a little bit more. At a recent clothing swap, he happily played with the other children in a playroom while I participated with the other moms. A few months ago I think he would have wanted to stay with me the whole time. Also, at a park recently, he saw a girl around his age arrive with her mom, and asked me if he could go say hi. When I said he could, he moved a little closer to them and waved.
• He's really developing a sense of humor and beginning to communicate his interests in fascinating ways. It's so much fun spending time with him.

Potty Training!

Ben is pretty much 100% potty-trained at home now. Of course, he also rarely wears pants at home right now. :)

I'm kind of not sure of the next steps. He uses his potty chair 100% of the time when he's not wearing a diaper or pull-up (running around the house) and he tries to use his potty-chair even when he is wearing them, but he hasn't learned how to take them off. Maybe 60% of the time he will tell me he needs to use his potty-chair and I will help him take off his pull-up or whatever. But otherwise I will come in the room to find him sitting on his potty-chair with his diaper still on. He's never been the type to undress himself, so maybe we just need to practice doing that.

My doctor recommended cloth training pants instead of pull-ups, and that's what I would prefer, too, but they're a little expensive, and then there's also the school of thought that says you should just go straight to underwear and that training pants just confuse the issue. I honestly think the pull-ups are really hard to get off and on and I don't wonder that he can't do it by himself. I'm wondering if the next step should just be him practicing removing cloth training pants or underwear.

I suspect he's ready for underwear, but I just don't want to start the underwear and then have to revert to diapers. I sort of think there should be no going back once you've taken that step.

So far, we have not used a public toilet. When we're out I've still put a diaper on him, but he will typically hold it until we get home. I've asked him if he needs to go but he will tell me he wants to wait. I kind of can't blame him for that, but he will need to try it eventually! His diaper is usually still completely dry when we get home. Also, a few times he has woken up in the middle of the night asking to use his potty chair. So I guess I need to get him converted to a big boy bed and maybe keep the potty chair in his room overnight. I'm not ready for him to be wandering the house!

I know we'll just need to try and see what works for us. For those of you who are going through this or have already, what worked best for you at this stage?

He actually really likes using the potty chair and I've never had to promise any rewards or anything. He loves the praise when he uses it and occasionally we call his grandparents or something to tell them how great he did. I'm hoping he doesn't lose interest, because I don't want to be trapped having to give him a treat every time or something.

Also, how do you buy exciting character underwear for a kid whose favorite things are words, clocks and the number 11 (note which one he's clutching in the picture)?

Got to got to got to

I've GOT to write down some of the cute things Ben is saying and doing lately. I was telling Michael yesterday that I should really keep the camcorder trained on him all the time. I just can't keep ahead of the cute!

• He's saying "yes, please!" and "thank you" pretty consistently now for most things he asks for and gets. Sometimes he says it on his own and doesn't have to be reminded! This morning I coughed and he said "bless you"! Manners on a toddler = dying of cuteness
• He's finally developed an ensemble of stuffed animals that he needs to sleep with, consisting of Froggie, Monkey, T'Bear (teddy bear) and Duckie. He will do a mental tally when he's put in bed at night and ask for anyone who's missing with a very sad, suspicious tone. One time Michael tried to tell him we didn't know where Monkey was, and he shook his head and made a low, disappointed sound. Sometimes when he is put in bed he will say, "All done rocking?" and if told yes, will say, "T'bear needs rocking."
• The other day after breakfast he asked for "cake AND pie?" When I told him we didn't have either one, he said, "Go buy some?"
• When I ask if he loves me, he'll say, "I love Mommy AND Daddy AND Grandma AND Grandpa." He calls both Grandmas the same thing, so we assume he means both. :)
• Though he didn't say much to them while they were here (and they were here for just an hour or so), he was really intrigued with Michael's friends Kevin and Josh. He loves to identify them in photos and speculate about what they're doing.
• As you can probably tell, he likes the word "AND" and tries to use it to his advantage. For example: "Would you like a banana, Ben?" "A banana AND juice? OK!"
• His grandparents are on his mind often now, and he constantly asks about them and when he'll see them again. Though he asks to talk to them on the phone and loves to listen to them, he doesn't say much once the phone is passed to him.
• He's known his numbers and counting order for a while now, but is just now seeming to enjoy just counting for its own sake, without looking at the numbers, too. For some reason, he starts to whisper when he gets to the teens.
• He helpfully reminds me that we need to go shopping soon, or clean up soon, and points out trash I should pick up.
• He still loves Sesame Street best of all, but he doesn't like the Elmo part. When it gets to Elmo's World, he usually asks if he can watch "Sabat" (I don't know why he calls it that) again ... he seems to think the Elmo part is a different show. Privately I kind of agree with him ... I like old school Sesame Street! I've tried to expose him to a few other good children's shows, including "Word World" (which I thought he'd love because it's all about letters). The only one he really wants to watch is Sesame Street, but he'll condescend to watch Curious George.
• He LOVES his They Might Be Giants children's DVDs (Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s). He might actually like them more than Sesame Street. He asks for them by asking for ABCs or 123s.
• His favorite restaurant is Chipotle. He loves beans and rice, guacamole, salsa, barbacoa and carnitas. He asks for "chips and guac" and doesn't want any type of chip unless he can have salsa too (which he calls "sauce.") Sometimes he will eat the salsa by itself! He also LOVES cherry tomatoes (which he calls mayos) and broccoli. He will regularly ask for more of these vegetables instead of his usual fruit dessert.
• Though still basically cautious, he's getting a lot more adventurous at the playground, and recently climbed the fake rock wall at our local park.
• He's had several successful potty chair incidents, but we are still in diapers and not really training hard-core. He likes to play with his Legos or his clock while sitting on the chair. He often tells me before he needs to poop.
• He asks for hugs sometimes when he doesn't like the way something is going. Often he kind of yells it: "Hug! Hug!" and then he wants to hug endlessly instead of getting into his highchair, or whatever he doesn't want to do. I like this much better than the screaming he was doing for a few weeks when he didn't want to do something. When we put him in his crib at night, he says, "Big hug?" in a very quiet, very sad voice.

This is the "rock wall" he climbed as we watched in terror:


Did somebody say my name?


Swinging


He seems to be the only one concerned that the animals' heads and bodies match.


The big slide!

ABCs: cuter than ever

Have you ever heard anyone recite their ABCs more adorably?

Happy Birthday, Ben!

I can't believe my little boy is walking around making the peace sign and saying "Two on my birfday!" This is so different from last year I can hardly process the difference. This year has been so much fun! Now I have a little boy who yells "OCTAGON!" when we pass a stop sign, requests hugs and kisses, and can put on his own mismatched socks and shoes! I can only imagine what he will be doing next year.

Happy Birthday to my little guy!

Fear of forgetting

I haven't really kept a Ben journal per se, but I think I've been pretty good about keeping track of most of the cute and unique things Ben has done. But these days he's just gotten so cute that I can't keep up! I've asked him to slow down, but he won't. I know this is not a complete list, but I've got to write some of these down before I forget, because he's already stopped doing some of them:

• Saying, "Hi, hi, hi!" in an increasingly agitated tone when he wants more attention, or he's just been forbidden to do something he wants to do. Answering "hi" and giving him a hug usually helps.
• Saying the name of the opposite parent in a questioning tone when one of us has told him to get down, stop touching that, or any number of things. Usually, the other parent has to confirm that he really has to do what has been asked.
• Saying, "Hug? Hug? Hug?" when he wants — you guessed it — a hug.
• Saying, "'KAY!" instead of "yes." Example: Would you like some juice, Ben? "'KAY!" (Also, nods usually accompany this.)
• Saying, "Hot?" when he doesn't like the taste of something. He said it recently when we gave him some chocolate milk, which he has never liked (even though we keep trying, since it's an important part of childhood). He also says "Hot?" when he approaches the kitchen when I'm cooking, or when he gets near the heating stove at my parents' house.
• Saying "Daddy go?" or "Daddy?" approximately 1 billion times if Daddy had to leave for work before Ben got up.
• Frantically making the sign for "eat" (which is putting your fingers to your lips) when he's hungry, to the extent that he's pretty much punching himself in the mouth. Also, making close-lipped whining sounds while he does this and occasionally stopping to reiterate: "Hungry! Eat!!!"
• Saying "Ben? Cake?" when he approaches the computer (he loves to watch a video of himself eating cake at his first birthday party).
• Playing enthusiastically with everyone's socks and shoes and saying the words "socks" and "shoes" over and over.
  
• Remembering specifics of stories. The other day I pointed out a seal in one of his books and he said "circus seal."
• Learning to combine descriptors, like identifying a number AND the color it's written in AND the shape it appears on.
  

I know there are many more, but that's all I can think of for now. A cute thing he was doing for awhile that he's long since stopped is approaching us with a book and nodding, as if to say, "Yes, I would like you to read me this book." Now that he can ask specifically for a book and pretend to read it to himself, he doesn't do that anymore. :(

Here's the video Ben loves:

Ben at 23 months

(as posted in my other journal this morning)


Ben enjoyed his first trip to Boomerang's this morning, where we had plans to meet a friend. I guess we were celebrating 23 months, although I didn't realize it at the time!

A LONG list of what Ben is doing now:

• Ben still loves books, reading, and being read to, but he is really starting to enjoy "private" time with his books more than he used to. He carries his red Ikea chair into the kitchen with a pile of books and reads to himself for long stretches of time. He will mostly say "hop-eee, hop-eee" (I think he's just pretending to read the words) as he flips the pages, but will sometimes interject words of things he recognizes on the page, or will sometimes call out letters or numbers he knows. I have yet to get video of this, sadly, and it is so adorable!
• Ben knows all of his alphabet and numbers now (I have not tried to teach him past 10; maybe I should?), and all of his colors. He loves loves loves to play with his magnetic letters on the fridge and his big foam letters and numbers, and to try to draw letters and numbers on his easel chalkboard. I do not really sing him the alphabet song; I guess it didn't seem to be a big deal to me to know what order the letters go in right now. But he does love for me to sing it to him and tries to sing along, so I guess I need to try harder in this area! I also fell behind as a parent in the "animal noises" category. Ben has long known all the animals and what noises they make despite my embarrassment, though.
• He loves arts and crafts, pens, pencils, crayons, paints, chalk, etc. and is really good at handling all of these tools. I'm hoping he inherited his father's artistic abilities. He loves to draw at restaurants and people always comment at how neatly and carefully he handles a pen.
• He knows so many words now; it is such a joy to have "conversations" with him. It is so nice to be able to get a better glimpse of what he is thinking. Just today, he surprised me by saying "yucky" when he bumped his mouth on the kangaroo ride at Boomerang's. Usually he will say "ouch" when he hurts himself, and when I asked him why he said "yucky," he said "yucky mouth," so I'm guessing it's because he tasted the kangaroo when it bumped him.
• Some important first steps of potty training have taken place. I commented more fully on this very private topic on my other journal!
  
• Though he's now almost two, Ben still has the sweetest, most generous personality that I could not have hand-crafted myself out of the finest materials. Wherever we go, I am so proud of his kindness and good nature. Just today a girl half his size shoved him away from a toy he wanted and he just came over to me smiling, with a knowing look in his eyes, as if to say, "These bratty kids, huh?" That said, though, he has his moments of impatience, for sure. I'm sure I don't always handle everything the best possible way, but I'm learning. I know he's two and that this is probably just the beginning!