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!

Ben-isms

We had Ben's 2nd birthday party this last weekend, and I've been too busy to post pictures, so for now I'll post the quiz we had for guests at the party. It lists Ben's unique pronunciations of words, and you're supposed to guess what you think he might be saying. Feel free to take a crack at it; if you do as well as my mom did, I'll send you the same prize I gave her!

Courtesy of my stomach virus: a recipe for homemade ginger ale

1 1/2 c. sliced fresh ginger
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 (1-liter) bottles club soda or plain seltzer, chilled

Combine ginger (don’t bother to peel it), sugar, and 1 1/2 c. water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and simmer mixture about 15 minutes, or until it reaches the consistency of pancake syrup (you should have about 1 c. syrup). Strain syrup and cool to room temperature. Stir in lemon juice. Place 2 T. syrup in 8-oz. glasses and fill 3/4 full with club soda. Gently stir to blend. Add ice and more club soda or syrup if necessary.

We just returned from a cruise yesterday that we went on with Grandma and Grandpa, or as Ben calls them, "Pa." (Michael and I call them Pa: the Collective.) More soon on the trip when I'm feeling better. Christmas preparations are getting away from me!

Dum-ba, and other fun facts

So, I've been really bad about updating. It's not because nothing new has been happening. In fact, something really exciting is happening! Ben is really starting to recognize letters and numbers! For some reason, fellow parents hadn't warned me about how exciting this milestone would be.

It started with the letters I and J, and then moved on to the number 6, and it's just exploded from there. And then ... and then ... we moved to the magical letter Dum-ba. What is Dum-ba, you ask? That's just what we asked ourselves as we failed to notice that Ben was usually pointing to a letter when he said it. Finally, after weeks of frustration for Ben (we guess), I realized once that he was pointing at a "W" on my shirt at the same time that he said it. W! Dum-ba! For some reason, I just can't recover from how cute his pronunciation is!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We had it at my house this year, and my parents, grandmother, mother-in-law, brother, sister-in-law, two nieces and nephew came. Who knew that Ben would laugh hysterically when his cousin taught him how to spike a football? Not me. I probably wouldn't even have known how to show him! He had a great time hanging out with everyone and feeling thankful, and so did we.

I'll leave you with a photo of my sister-in-law futilely trying to teach Ben how to blow bubbles (she said he usually just ended up putting the wand in his mouth):

This one goes out to our moms

Ben telling my mom about clocks

Ben got visits from both of his grandmothers last weekend, but I only remembered to take pictures in the afternoon. Sorry, Cynthia! I've been trying to remember to take pictures more because Michael, the obviously superior photographer in the family, never ends up showing up in any.

We took Grandma S to Chipotle, then we hung out at home for a while, futilely waiting for Ben to take a nap. (He fell asleep in the car, which almost always ruins nap prospects for the day). Then we tried to see if Ben could say some variation of "Grandma." He can repeat "Nana" and other stuff like that but it seems too contrived. He can't really say "grandma" yet and typically he won't attempt a word until he can say it perfectly. I bet both grandmothers will end up being "Grandma" and not a cute variation. I called both of my grandmothers "Grandmother"!

Then when Cynthia left, we went to visit my mom at her hotel nearby, where she was in town for work. She had brought a whole bunch of watches of my dad's for Ben, feeding his obsession with clocks. (In the picture I'm fairly positive he's saying, "clock, clock.") She, like us, was filled with joy and love upon hearing how cutely he says "clock." She also brought a big book of words that he loves! He has spent hours telling us about the shapes (especially moons) and colors, and demanding that we immediately label items he doesn't recognize. I found out he knows a lot of words that I didn't realize, just because this book covers so much ground!
I really wanted to recommend the book to other parents, but it doesn't seem to be in print anymore. Oh well.

Next, Grandma W took us to Blue Goose, where we ate pretty good fajitas and stellar sopapillas while receiving incredibly poor customer service. Ben nibbled on a lemon and charmed his grandmother some more, then we took her back to her hotel!

Ben really enjoyed his day with his grandmothers and looks forward to seeing both again soon at Thanksgiving! Thanks to both of you for the visit.

Goodnight Moon just got real.

Hi, it's me Ben's dad, making a guest-post. I just wanted to make this journal entry so I wouldn't forget the Amazing experience of reading Goodnight Moon with Ben at his bedtime last night. I've read this book to him probably a hundred times before, but this time was different. He identified so many details in the book, it blew my mind. He pointed out a balloon, without any prompting and said "balloon" for the first time ever. I asked him to point out a bunny, and he pointed out one that I hadn't even noticed on the page. He was very excited about all of the moons in the book, and at one point, he finished my sentence, "The cow jumping over the ___________!" Seems like there was something else that I'm already forgetting. Anyway it was really cool. It's like he's just going through an explosion of understanding and awareness! (and speech!) And this Goodnight Moon is no longer just a book that I read to him — It's an interactive conversation piece.

Before I forget ...

I keep forgetting to mention some new words that Ben has been using lately. He's always loved our big analog clock in the living room, and just these past few days he's been walking around pointing at it and kind of chanting, "Clock, clock. Clock, clock." He always says it twice in a row! He says the L sound really emphatically. He's also been saying shoe, sock, snack and a few other S words.

For a long time when we would try to get him to say Ben, he would just emphatically thunk himself on the chest over and over as if to say I'M HEEEERE!! But lately when we ask where he is he pats himself on the chest and says "Bean." Impossibly cute.

Also, I thought he had a fever the other day and asked him if he felt warm. He felt his own forehead for me and then shook his head no. :)