Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Birthday 2.0

Well, today marks the momentus second anniversary of Benjamin's birth, and if you think I am late in posting, I say hah hah! You are wrong! He wasn't born until 11:10, so I still have almost a full hour before I am late! Also, I was busy all day doing fun things with the young man, which was more important anyway. Today Loren and I played hookey from work to hang out with Jamtot on his birthday. We had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream (cake! berry! whip!) for breakfast, which Benjamin helped make. He is becoming quite the chef these days. He then refused his fork, and opted to eat his pancakes, which were little mini baby sized pancakes, with a giant red spatula instead (spatul!). We opened presents (omp! omp!) after breakfast, which was a big hit. In particular the birthday boy was a fan of the little wooden knife which came with one of his presents, and wanted to use it to open the other packages, and then to do things like install batteries with it. After that big excitement we went to the aquarium. The big news at the aquarium was the diver, which Benjamin did not stop talking about all morning, followed by the fish that looked like Nemo. Sadly not one single good picture from the aquarium. Sigh. We will have to go back. We went to lunch at a very touristy fish and chipsy type place on the pier, and rode the carosel after lunch, which was a big hit with Jam (he had woken up in the morning saying "red horsie!" I'm not really sure what that is about.) We also ran into my big boss (big important, not big in size) on the way to the car, who was spending his rainy lunch time running, probably doing something disgusting like 5 miles in 30 minutes. So it was a good thing I didn't call in sick. We pushed the poor guy way past his nap limit and he zonked out in the car on the way home. After nap time we gave him his big deal present, a vintage (fancy way of saying bargain second hand) radio flyer red trike. He was a little unsure about it at first, but then kitty rode it, and he got more excited. The bike is just a squidge too big for him, and he can barely reach the peddles, if they are positioned exactly correctly, which made it all a little tricky. We will either need to modify the bike a bit, or wait for another inch or so in height before he really gets going. So after a little trial biking, it was time to go rake leaves and shovel dirt (digger!) in the back yard. Then Pop and Grandma stopped by with a birthday balloon, bib and cup for the boy. He was really excited to see them and was at the window shrieking "citey! citey!" when he saw Pop get out of the car. After that it was dinner, cupcakes and ice cream, followed by watching the Jungle Movie on the couch with mama, which is just a cheap ploy on my part to get him to snuggle with me. It was all in all a great day, and much fun was had by all. I have high hopes of a more thoughtful and reflective post on how great my two year old boy is, and how much he has learned and changed and grown since I have known him, but that will happen maybe later this week. Right now I must tuck myself into bed, as I am very tired and a little sniffly nosed.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

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.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

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.









Monday, November 2, 2009

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.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

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.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

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.

Friday, October 30, 2009

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.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

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.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pony!

We were hanging out in Jam's room tonight, reading stories and getting for bed, when he noticed my hair. "Pony!" he said, pointing at my head. Then, "Pony!" touching his own head. He sprinted toward the bathroom, where he knows I keep the pony tail holders. So, I humored him, with uber stylish results. He then considered giving Kitty a pony (unsuccesful), and tried out his first (to my knowledge) fake camera smile, which just looks pained to me. The whole thing was pretty funny, I thought.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

drums please.... summertime


Well, since labor day seems to be marking the official end of summer, with rainy rain rain, I am staying inside and posting about summer, which seems very long ago right now. I am teaching Benjamin early about the joys of a lounge chair in the sun, and he is reminding me about the importance of sun block. We are a good team. He is such a cool guy in his shades, I can hardly believe it.