Naughty Monkey

Benjamin has a very funny monkey hat. I think his smile in this photo is so mischevious that he must be up to something. In the picture of both of us, I am sure he is trying to escape, since he is much too busy and important to snuggle me anymore. Also note the cool Sounders warm up jacket. Since there is no other real story behind these photos, I will just note a couple of his latest funny sayings. He has been watching the Jungle Book recently (I know, bad mommy letting him watch tv), and has taken to singing "Barenee Cessity", which I find to be hilarious and charming. He also now asks what you are doing, but it comes out "dooney", so he will ask "Dooney Daddy?" with a very serious expression. I have been trying to teach him to say "I love you Mama" with mixed results. He says "lovey" for "love you", but mostly wants to say "lovey kitty". Shows you where I rate on the totem pole. We went to a baby shower today for Loren's cousin Justin, that was in way the heck out Redmond. Anyway, a deer (a big deer with 4 point antlers) showed up in the back yard. Pop (Grandpa Lee) took Benjamin outside to see it, and he spent the next 3 hours asking "Deer, where?" and saying "Deer away". He was bound and determined to find it, and dragged several different people out on deer hunts. He then started saying "Deer nap. Bunny house." I have no idea what that meant. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, and when we pulled up to our house, he woke up and said "Deer, where?" again. I think he will be looking for it for days. Similarly, Grandma Anne and Grandpa Jon took him to the zoo on Wednesday (this is Sunday). He was still talking about the tigers they saw. "One raaar. One nap." It made a big impression. Not quite a "monk loud" impression, but almost. Some other of his funny sayings are his re-naming of things. His names are very logical. Ladder has become climber, shovel is digger and broom is sweeper. You can hardly argue with him on those. I'm not sure how he got "noke" for milk though. He called it milk for a while, and then switched it up.

Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum with our peps group on Saturday, to celebrate birthday 2.0. We had a great time. Benjamin has been with Jasmine the nanny before, and was very excited to go to the "zee-um", as he calls it. For probably the third time, Benjamin and Luca had matching outfits. I'm not sure if they coordinate in advance or what, but its pretty funny. Sadly Cora and Amelia couldn't make it. That N1H1 is really cramping everyone's style. I would have liked to get photos of all the kiddos, but those darn toddlers move to fast to capture on film. Benjamin conned us into buying him a small plush big bird at the gift shop (it was the Sesame Street exhibit). He took it up to the lost and found counter (which is in the gift shop for some reason) and put it on the counter and said "Pay", with big bambi eyes. So, since we are total suckers for the boy, we decided to get it, at which point he went back and got Bert and Ernie and added them to his pile. He now calls it "Little Bigger Bird", which I guess makes sense. After the museum, we celebrated another second birthday with Zachary (of raising hill fame), and then went to Luca's house for tacos and cupcakes and general mayhem. It was quite the party day.

Driver

Benjamin looooves the car these days. He says "driver!" very demandingly, which is his way of requesting that he get to drive. We spend a lot of time playing in the front seat of the car, while he turns on the hazards and tests out the mirrors. I got in my car the other day, and when I started it the wipers were on, the blinker was going, the brights were on, and the rearview mirror was covered in tiny smudgy fingerprints. He also likes to hang out in the back on occasion.

Rain Gear

We tried out Benjamin's head to toe rain slicker ensemble and rubber frog boots the other weekend on our coffee walk. Very agreeable for puddle

stomping. He is still not sure about the rain though. I think he forgot what is was over the summer. He looks up at the sky kind of squinty and says "rainy. windy." in a kind of critical tone.

Bouncy Seat

Maija and Colin returned some of the baby stuff they had borrowed from us this week. Apparently Benjamin had been watching Eamon in the

bouncy seat, because as soon as he saw it in the entry way, he got all excited and climbed right in. I think this is the most he has ever enjoyed it. Funny guy.

Biker

Benjamin is obsessed with bikes right now. He says "biker" as a noun. I have totally screwed up his grasp on language by calling Maisy "dogger". He now thinks you can ad "er" to the end of any word you want. So anyway. He loves bikers. We got a bike seat for the back of Loren's bike, and he was beside himself with joy. I think he thinks he is actually riding the bike. It was a big hit.

Little Reader

Benjamin has done a few things lately that are so cute that I have to come out of my blog coma and post. The first is that he has been reading us stories. First one was Good Night Moon (aka "Moon"), which we read to him every night ("Moon. Fire. Mitt.") Then last night he read me Go Dog Go ("Dog. Little. Car. Climber."). He also has very funny titles for his favorite books. Jamberry is "Boat". Where the Wild Things Are is "Max". The Best Mouse Cookie is "Mouse". Why a Donkey was Chosen is "Camel". Mama Do you Love Me is "Dear". When Mama Comes Home Tonight is "Baby". The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza is "Hen". Curious George Rides a Bike is "George" or sometimes "Biker." Everyone Poops is "Poop!" (read with great enthusiasm). There are others, but those are a few of my favorites. Last night I was putting him to bed, and he tried a new tactic for tricking me into staying, which totally worked. First he said "Mama sing!", which was completely a surprise, because he will never let me sing to him. Then he said "Mama rock!", also surprising, because he does not usually like to sit in the rocking chair. So I got to snuggle and sing to him in the rocking chair, and he got to stay up extra late. It was a win for everyone.