Bennys Days

Back to work

2009-01-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

We made it through the first day back. I made it a point to not do much running around for vacation since life is so busy...and was mostly successful. Highlights: seeing family and friends, LOTS of cuddlin with Ben, a trip to NYC with the Kellers, sleep sleep and more sleep, having Alex and Ben there all day in our cozy house, playing with Syl and shoppin with Lee and Kate. Mostly, I enjoyed not rushing around.

All the hibernating put Ben in a bit of a tv rut so a couple days ago I took him to a indoor kid gym, kid juction, with Syl. They loved it and we loved watching them have such a nice time. Ben dressed up in a red superhero get up and felt so cool speeding down slides and climbing roped bridges. Then we had a birthday celebration for Kacey at her place. What a fun day!

We recovered on Sunday and made it back today. Ben did just great and I could tell he had a fun day-he wouldn't stop singing the whole way home. This is despite the fact that he said last night: "no school. i sick. i stay home." Where does he get these things!?

A Great Christmas Afterall

2008-12-27T06:47:00.000-08:00

We had our doubts about whether Christmas would be enjoyable this year because on Christmas Eve, Boo came down with a nasty stomach virus. After several hours of no warning, projectile vomiting, Ben had a long rest and woke up mostly okay on Christmas morning. He didn't tear into the presents, as I thought he would, but enjoyed each one nevertheless (which made my desperate day before Christmas Eve shopping spree feel worth all the effort). He especially liked the Thomas lego train. After opening this one, he had to be persuaded to stop playing to open the rest.

After stomach fluids stabilized, we had pancakes and then headed over to the Youngs' house for a lovely Christmas dinner. My sister and her family are staying with her in laws because there was a fire in her kitchen several days before Christmas (what a year it's been!). Thankfully, there is limited permanent damage, but lots of smoke damage-everything is coated in a thin layer of soot. So, all cramped in a tiny living room, practically sitting on top of one another, but somehow not really minding, we opened presents.

Meanwhile I followed Ben around with a plastic bag in case he got sick because cleaning puke off Lorette's white couch might actually ruin my Christmas. He managed to stay well, although he wanted no part of dinner and has just been picking at food ever since. His adorable fancy Christmas outfit with the green sweater vest stayed clean. We enjoyed playing Wii, playing with the Hess trucks, rocket and haunted castle car toy Ben got. Adam had gotten Ben an incredible truck full of cars...which he hasn't stopped toting around since. The girls made makeup with the Barbie kit, showed off their Uggs and designer duds. It was a great Christmas. I have so much to appreciate and be thankful for...

This morning Ben says, ma, who we seeing today? Sylvie? Meghan Gramma Nobody? Just us buddy, just us.

Snow day!

2008-12-19T03:45:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, the sky opens up and from the depths of the expansive galaxy, a great blessing falls from the heavens into the mundanity of one's life. That's right: a snow day when you are a teacher. It is a treasured thing and today I plan to revel in it!

Ben snores away on top of Al right now. He is fond of laying on him while sleeping. Papa Bear and Little Cub all nestled up. We might go to Pfizer's family day at Alex's work today since the snow near us isn't bad. Santa will be there and Ben is growing increasingly curious of the old man. Might be fun...but worth the drive...we'll see.

Yesterday he killed me with saying for the first time, "Are you serious?!" with the most sarcastic expression on his face and if I recall, hands on his hips. Well, since I laughed so hard, that's all he says, to the cat, to the Bear...is anybody, anywhere serious? And boy is he bossy. Two days ago Alex tickled me and as I squealed Ben said, "that's not nice! go sit on the green chair, daddy!" which Al did. He was merciful and after a couple of minutes Alex was allowed to get up. But first Ben said, "go give mommy a kiss and say sorry." We are so sunk...not even 3 yet!!!

We were gonna kick off potty training over winter break which is NEXT FRIGGEN WEEK (are you getting the excitement there?) We're doing pull ups at first cause with all the defiance, I am expecting it to be a slow go. He says he wants to go potty before bath time but throughout the day when he wants to be doing other stuff is another story. We'll wing it and follow his lead. No pressure on him and see where it goes...

Dinner with Syl

2008-12-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Ben and Sylvie had a special pre xmas dinner at the diner this weekend Before we met up, Kacey chatted with Ben on the cell. Of course the chat led to a discussion about Santa , the old man we keep bringing up lately. Kacey asks Ben what he wants Santa to bring him. Without missing a beat, Ben says, "I want batteries." For all the broken toys he has that aren't working....it was hilarious. So ghetto. Kacey took a while to recover.

After a rousing dinner with tinkerbell (Sylvie arrived in costume) we went shopping and bought designer training underwear for tinkerbell...the men wrangled the toddlers as we did a quick spin.

Sunday was a grading marathon for me- 9-10 hours of grading papers while Ben hung with the grands and katie meg lee until way after bed time. Apparently he saw Santa on a firetruck so today he was wondering why Santa wasn't on the ambulance that whizzed down 78. The kid thinks...On 2 hours of sleep I somehow got us home alive. We are beyond tired...and so happy to be home. 6 days left till break!!!

The conference

2008-12-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

Today I met with Ben's teachers to discuss how things are going. What a nice, long chat we had! Ben is described as a very polite, social addition to the classroom. He apparently is obsessed with reminding everyone to push in their chairs and remembering to say please and thank you. He sits nicely in circle and enjoys hearing stories and books. Sometimes this well mattered behavior doesn't carry over into asking friends to leave his work alone, though-he sometimes pushes instead of using his words. Or he shouts "walk away!" to someone a bit too close to his work.

Another insight was that he is rather reluctant to show his teacher his lessons. She will ask him to show her how to do a particular work and he won't, he's not too interested in lessons...At first they wondered if he could do the lesson, but on his own he completes the very same lessons start to finish with no problem. It's curious...I wonder if maybe he feels on the spot during the lessons. I see this at home, too. For example, we read the Dora the Explorer book and there's all kinds of questions about what Dora needs next in her journey to wherever...he identified the scissors for cutting the net correctly the first three times we read the story, but now he says she needs the life jackets for every question. He knows Dora does not need the life jacket to cut through the net to get over the troll bridge, but he shouts "life jackets, life jackets!!" when I ask him now. I think it's because he likes the life jackets. Ohh Ben...

According to the teachers, on most things, he is in the practicing mode rather than in the mastery mode. He has mastered sorting, but he can't identify red, blue, yellow on his own. He can count to 11 outloud but doesn't actually identify any number but 1 consistently. This apparently is age appropriate. I wonder if he is able to do more than he shows since he is so reluctant to show off his talents to his teacher during lessons. He can hold a pencil the appropriate way, he loves art work, and he has wonderful friendships in the class.

Sometimes, the teachers have to remind him to stay on task, but then at times he will sit for long periods of time concentrating...especially while stringing beads or doing a very tough shape puzzle. He could spend the whole day in the practical life section pouring, spooning, or at the easel painting.

Overall, I was left with the feeling that Ben is loved and taken care of at his school. They really like him, which I needed to know after I heard he had some trouble pushing and hitting. I feel so much more connected to them and comfortable about having him there all day. It was a great day!

Pictures Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-30T07:34:00.001-08:00

I had a hard time dropping off Ben at my mom's for the vacation...I even cried! Three nights seemed like an eternity away from Ben. But it actually went great. Ben got to spend some time with the grands and Uncle Addy and me and Alex got some much needed couple time. Mornings were great cause I just breezed into work without the stress of the morning drop off...but as the third day wore on, I really started missing Boo and realized that life right now is challenging, with or without Ben around. My job is really so much work, and its easy to justify my impatience with the fact that I have a child now. In truth, teaching, at times, is a tremendous amount of thankless work...and I am not sure what to do with the fact that it feels less than rewarding for all the energy I am putting in. This break is really needed!!!

We had a jubilant reunion when me and Alex pulled up at the time share house in Atlantic City. Ben never looked so cute and screamed with joy when we saw him and sprinted towards us...it was great! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant in town and it was a good thing that we had our own room there so that Ben, Lilah and Meg could run around the table and go crazy...it was so classic! It was amazing to snuggle in bed that night with my boys all together again.

Along with Kate, Meg, and Marysa, Ben and I had such a nice time in the pool. Not only is he no longer timid in the water, he jumps into my arms, goes under and squeals with glee! I had a blast in the recreation room, almost beating Alex at some intense air hockey. We played Taboo which was so fun and enjoyed the festival of lights and shopping at Smithville. There we hit a toy shop with the greatest stuffed animal selection and I loved watching Ben animate all the creatures around him...they were so real to him and it was so interesting to watch him reenact little dramas with them: "Oh you're stuck, baby jaguar! Here comes daddy...do you want a hug? That's better!" Even though the quarter games were cheezy, they too were fun, as was playing the slot machines with Adam who made a killing on the penny slots and treated me to lunch! We relaxed with everybody at a fun mall that had a deck that looked over the Atlantic and had sand for kids to play with inside. I loved to watch Ben so engaged at playing in the sand with Meg for almost an hour.

It was wonderful to see him surrounded by all the love in my family, we didn't wanna go home and I felt so blessed!

Starting Over

2008-11-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

It's been around 6 months since I updated and I have let this site go to seed! So I am just starting over. We ran out of room on the computer for pictures, so I don't know when I will be able to add those...hmmm...we'll see.

Ben is currently going to a new Montessori near the high school where I teach. Mornings I scoop him out of bed (that's our bed, usually) and he sleeps on the car ride over. When we get there we have a precise ritual-I wake him up, we snuggle, read the book "Cuddle" or "123" and I walk him in. He still cries when I leave, which I hate, but what can I do? Then I sprint over to my school to go teach my 9th and 11th graders and get him as soon as I can get there at the end of the day...

He has 7 other friends in his Toddler class and various other friends of assorted ages after 12 noon. I like the school, but lately he's been pushing and sometimes even hitting (gasp!). I am not sure what to do about it...it's the first time I have heard about him being anything less than an angel so I am at a loss. He has consequences (the hated green chair time out) when he does these things at home-so I dunno. I have his conference in a few days and am a bit nervous about it. The idea of someone who spends the whole day with my kid not liking him because he misbehaves is very unsettling to say the least. This might not be the case but I worry. I want everyone to adore him, or atleast like him....and if he acts up-maybe they won't! Yipes!!!

Ben is now absolutely fluent. Right now he is laying on Rissy's belly after pulling her leg and getting yelled at. I yell too much these days and I hate it...I feel like he is constantly testing every single boundry we have and it's exhausting. I have a friend who has a child that's a few years older than Ben and when she was 2 and a few months I remember her saying "oh my God, she is naughty every moment of the day." I naively asked her if she uses time outs and she rolled her eyes and said that if she put Darwin in a time out for everything she did her time out would statrt at 9 am and end at 8 pm. That's exactly how I feel lately. There's moments where we play nicely and he is focusedad we laugh but then he'll be doing something ghastly the next minute. Today we played with clay for like 25 minutes straight and it was great, we were having so much fun. Then he started beating up the cat and putting his feet on the computer, pulling at wires... It's a tough time kinda. He wants what he wants when he wants it. And it's tiring.

Tonight I will bring him to my mom and family then he will be spending 3 nights away from us-we are already in withdrawl over it...then when I am done with school on Wed. we will join the family in Atlantic City for the time share. I feel like supplying them with a list of how to keep Ben from being an absolute terror but something tells me he saves his very best misbehavior for me and will be fine...God we're gona miss him! I hope it goes by fast!

The Big Little Guy

2008-05-31T05:34:00.000-07:00

We had a nice week and are winding down the school year-miraculously, just 2 weeks left. Some smaller siblings have taken to visiting our class lately and it is so fun to see Ben handle the little ones since it is he who is "the little one" most of the time. He bends down to a little baby girl and gets this huge smile on his face, gently puts his arm around her and says "hello, baby". He even has a "you are smaller than me" tone that is kinda a bit sweeter and manufactured. After nap the other day a smaller child who is two months younger than Ben woke up and pointing to Ben he shouts, "Ben!" In this big guy tone Ben says, "Yes, that's right, Ben!" So very cute.

Interesting sayings I never taught Ben but he acquired anyway:

"Whoa...motorcycle! Way cool! Awesome!"

"Oh my God!"

"Shut up" (I am not so proud of this one...)

{At the top of his lungs, out the window} "Who wants ice cream?!!!!!"

Potty Time!

2008-05-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here Ben sits for the first time on the potty! He liked it so much that he stayed for 15 minutes!

2008-05-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 2 BEN!!!

2008-05-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

So much fun was had in the inflatable bouncy! Ben sits down to accept all the wonderful gifts!

2008-05-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Benny's Birthday!

2008-05-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

What a great day! After a week of rain we finally had a gorgeous spring day to celebrate Ben. Everyone came to Lee's for a nice afternoon lunch. We spent most of the day outside-it was a leisure sport decathlon with bad min ton, beach volleyball, baseball and inflatable bouncy hopping all going on all at the same time. Alex and John decided to take it to a new level by playing EXTREME bad min ton where one participant (ahem, the not very responsible dad!) got on the roof of the garage! Shhh...don't tell Brian!

Ben had a blast with Sylvie who he has been requesting to see for weeks! An awesome time was had by all....special thanks to Lee and mom for making it all happen! XXXOOOO

2008-05-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

2008-05-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

2008-05-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

What color to make it??

Pictures

2008-05-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

Uncle Addy displays an easter egg made with Benner.

Fantasies!

2008-05-24T07:28:00.001-07:00

Ben has now reached a new level in his cognitive abilities to make crazy things up and then act like they are really happening. Remember the fear of caterpillars? Well, this morning he was standing by the window and "saw" a spider: "Oh no! A spider there!" said he. Then he comes over holding his hand and says, "Oh mommy, spider bit me. Spider hurt me." Again, no bite, no spider. But in Ben's mind this whole little drama played out.

He also likes to reenact events: particularly people arriving and going. It goes something like this: "Oh hi guys! How are you? Good? Ok. Ok. All right guys. What are you doing?" then "Bye Grampa. Bye Meghan. See you soon!"

Today we will celebrate his birthday at Aunt Lee's-should be a hit!

Wake up!

2008-05-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a nice week. A funny thing happened the other day. Ask any parent how important a nap is and imagine for a moment the task of putting 10, yes 10, children to sleep. It is a grand one, and it takes us nearly half the year to get all the kids to sleep. Someone in charge, obviously not any one who has ever taken on this immense task, thought it was a good idea to put our school next to a firehouse. So, the other day the children are settling down, tossing their blankies into the air, darting their socks at children next to them-keeping them from sleeping while Enya purrs along, pleading the children to rest for gods sake. Finally they fall asleep and about 10 minutes after the last child finally gives up the battle against Heavy Lid, the fire alarm next door goes off. Ben, from a coma like state of sleep pops up and exclaims: "FIRETRUCK, FIRETRUCK, FIRETRUCK" like he just won 10 million dollars. The children wake up like popcorn, one at a time...it was agonizing and hilarious at the same time.

Ben went to the farm the other day and it was a wonderful trip. He got the chance to pet a cow up close and bossed the 500 lb. mammal around: "Hey you, come here. Hey come on, come back. How are you? Good?" The next morning we went for a walk and found a caterpillar. "Ewwww!!!" he screeched and recoiled. "Go away! Get down". Makes no sense at all!

Happy Birthday to Benny!

2008-05-15T19:06:00.001-07:00

Two years old today. What a perfect day! We had the pleasure of listening to 2 serenades of hb to you, compliments of gramma and leekatemeg. Then we enjoyed brownies with friends and sang the earth goes around the sun tra la in circle. We enjoyed giving speed racer stickers to all the friends in Ben's class and making a birthday bow (ben chose blue and green).

Lisa came over and we had pizza for dinner, Ben's favorite. This was followed by ice cream soup since the ice cream cake I picked up at lunch time and stored in the freezer at work did not make the ride home-oh well, it was still delicious! We opened presents presents presents (quoth Ben) and of course he was all "oh my goodness" about his vehicles: a truck that spits out a car, a set of Tonka construction vehicles, a wheel barrel and watering can, and a Diego set of building blocks where you can build up to 6 kinds a things. When I turned the jeep into a plane, Ben looked at me, grinned and said "nice". What an incredible discovery to come home to Adam's wooden vehicles last night-getting the mail will never be the same! A great birthday all around!

Ben, you are the sunshine of our life. We love more than you will ever fathom and consider ourselves the luckiest humans on earth.

I leave you with something from around 8 months old and something kinda recent:

Fancy food handling

Ben in the bath

Boilin'

2008-05-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ben is sleeping after a complete meltdown that dad didn't put him to sleep, instead it was me, chopliver. The tantrums have been intense-sometimes he turns red and screams cause he dropped his car and he can't reach it from his car seat; sometimes he freaks out when it's time to put his work away-especially cars, man is it hard to part with cars. Little guy has a temper and it has been hard to watch him fall apart at the seemingly smallest of things lately. In some ways it is a tiny bit funny to watch him go stiff as an ironing board and watch his head turn into a tomato. I guess I just dig deep down to find the patience to handle it as best as I can.

"Oh my goodness" is uttered at least 15 times a day lately, he loves saying it and doing the Home Alone hands on cheeks thing. Today I enjoyed watching him play football. It was funny and so terrible twos: He would throw me the ball and I was allowed to catch it. But if I held out my hands to catch while he was practicing the kick he was all, "no mommy, mine!" But if I should try to do anything else like read something I might be interested in that was completely unacceptable too. Oh Ben!!! Two days till your birthday, little guy!

My Helper

2008-05-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Ben wakes up from his nap grumpy. Today he woke up and designated himself the ambassador of classroom safety. As he munched on an animal cracker he yells "Ella, no running!" Paige, dismayed at the outburst squealed some complaint and Ben says, "No thank you, Paige" and smugly sips his apple juice.

Completely on his own and much to my surprise, he has taken an interest in sitting on Drayton's potty! So exciting...he points to it and says "Poopy there! Sit!" So I put him on and we chat. He feels cool, you can tell.

Tonight for dinner we had chick pattie parm and shells. A hungry Boo demands, "I want boat, more boat"-an apt description for the little pasta shells.

Tuesday Score

2008-05-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today I trashpicked a great set of unopened blocks. On our way home from school Ben insisted that I open the blocks and he made a "firetruck". Nevermind that it was vertical and looked nothing like a firetruck-it was indeed a big red fire engine in benny's mind and he sirened the whole way home. Meanwhile I sang him "hurry hurry drive the firetruck" and he asked "again? again? again?" until I simply could not comply any more. The motor vehicles thing is a full on obsession that never stops. I don't see it, vroom vroom...what's the big deal? But Ben is in love so what can I do but cheer at a mack truck or better yet school bus sighting too? Sirens are a whole other category of elation.

We had a nice day at school with almost no incidents. Ben ate his body weight in hummus and I discovered that he loves oranges so I am happy to add those items to his diet since he is such a carb freak. He is still dealing with separation issues which really blows my mind. If I leave the playground to take a kid to the bathroom, he freaks out and when I leave for lunch at nap time, the same drama ensues. I mean I come back each and every time, so it is curious to me that we aren't over it yet. New twist on the crying, while he wails he says, "I want daddy". Yesterday he fell and bit his lip, a big gushy bloody mess and the whole time it's "daddy, daddy". What's up with that? I'm chopped liver, I guess.

Today was funny. Douglas, a boy in Ben's class who is around one year older was crying and screaming when his mom came to get him. He always freaks out when she comes. Any way as he is sobbing kicking and carrying on, me and Ben were leaving and Ben is saying "Bye Douglas, bye Douglas, bye-bye." He just wouldn't let up till Douglas acknowledged him. Feeling bad for Douglas's mom who is obviously humiliated by this daily display, I picked Ben up and nudged him along. He shouts, "Bye bye Douglas" over my shoulder. All of a sudden Douglas stops crying says "Bye, Ben!" cheerfully then resumes his screaming. Agh...toddlers! How many days left till the end of the school year?

Bossy

2008-05-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

Ben has been a little bossy lately, to everybody but most especially Rissy. If she meows, Ben says, "Rissy! Stop that now!" Or if she complains about wanting to go into the basement he sighs, runs up to her and says, "No Riss, go away. No pushing."

Yesterday we went to a restaurant after Meghan's communion. He loved the gazebo and especially chasing panpa (grandpa) around the gazebo, but when it was time to have some appetizers, he wanted no part of coming inside and screamed at the top of his lungs "No mommy! Stooop it! Don't! Go away!!!" Lovely...so I managed to get him inside kicking and screaming and into his highchair. Much to my surprise he was appeased with a few mozzarella sticks and "dip" (a big fan of the condiments is Ben). A few minutes later I felt his little hand stroking my back....is it possible for a 2 year old to have remorse? Probably not, but it did make me feel all better!

Fun with Food

2008-04-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Ben is healthy and happy again, back to his usual jovial self. This past weekend we celebrated grandma's birthday. Of course he practiced the happy birthday dear Benny song, but when the cake came rolling in he was awestruck and speechless. While he pushed around the dinner on his plate, the chocolate cake went down with no problem. "Yummy!" said Ben and I have heard "I want chocolate" every day since.

Yesterday we went for Chinese. Ben was enjoying lo mien, eating and slurping the noodles down one by one. As he ate the noodles, I offered the bean curd with broccoli, "have some tofu"...then the rest of the dish-much to our amusement Ben says with a smile, "yummy trees"; an apt description for the broccoli. So cute, Ben!

Sickiepoo

2008-04-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ben has his first fever! Never thought I would miss the tearing around the house or the WWF bellyflops and assaults but boy is a sick Ben weird! It's eerily quiet as he sits listlessly in our lap and I think even the cats are wondering why balls aren't flying over head or why tambourines aren't being played to marching benny feet.

That reminds me: Ben is now writing his own songs. Well, it is unfair to say writing. While he does sing his own tune, the words are really a conglomeration of other songs like, "wheels on the bus... go away, come again another day, open shut them...laaa!!!!!" It is is very cute and I am really hoping I can get one on tape.

Tomorrow he stays home and rests...can't wait till he is his usual crazy self again!

Back from out of the loop

2008-04-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

We are experiencing technical difficulties with uploading pics of Ben and I have been remiss in keeping up this blog...my apologies to all our faithful readers! Nevertheless, we are back at least in word with many pics to follow of our travels since Easter.

Uncle Adam recently asked, "what's he saying now" and I thought, geez he seems to say everything. He is officially into phrases, and he says too many single words to reasonably count. He is getting better at communicating what he needs, though he gets frustrated sometimes when he can't get it out. He has a fascination with saying "I want juice, I want car, I want cheese..." and actually getting it so there are a lot of "I wants.." uttered in a given day. He has a quasi-obsession with all modes of transportation and loves cars trucks tractors with great zeal. He is so compassionate-the other day he crawled under the jungle gym to snuggle a friend who wanted mommy.

Ben is sleeping the first half of the night in his own room and the other half in our bed, which is great actually. Yeah, the tough love and crying it out wasn't working-every month or so he would revert to crying out and I had to ask myself if something isn't working why keep doing it. After talking it over with a dear colleague who co-sleeps with her 7 and 4 year old sons I decided that it was OK to be open to other solutions. Alex was glad cause he wanted to do it all along. I couldn't be happier with the arrangement (except when he sleeps horizontally) and I really think Ben is more affectionate and huggy than ever before-which I love. Recently I decided to go back to teaching at the high school and it has dawned on me that my little boy is growing up...I want to snuggle him as long as I can get away with =)

we are sick!

2008-03-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

Ben and I are home on a Wed. cause we both have strep. You wouldn't know it in Ben; except for a bit of coughing he is his usual self...he is currently undressing his favorite bear, Bearsly, who exclaims "i love you" when you squeeze his arm. Ben loves this little guy, especially after he has been de-clothed.

A typical boy, he loves his cars and trains. He has a love/hate realtionship with a big bucket "choo choo truck" of his- he loves it but then gets very frustrated with it too...dashing it to the ground saying, "ohhh my god!!!!" and exhaling heavily. Another favorite activity of Ben these days is turning his table upside down and pulling off the legs. Terrific. Then of course, there's his books-he has us read each one I dunno 8 or 9 times in a row.

As for the kitchen... it's pretty much just a place to dump stuff. He clangs the pots and dumps all the stuff. And he has so far ripped off the oven door and one faucet handle (note to self-next time get the indestructable more expensive one).

Little Boo enjoys hanging out on the cat condo and just beig his adorable self.

2008-03-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

Nice Weekend

2008-03-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Ben got to spend lots of hours this weekend socializing with all his adoring fans. Yesterday we went to Syl's and spent some time at Lakeshore, the teacher's store. Ben and Syl tore it up with musical instruments and discovered a lovely demo of moon sand. Then he went to Lee's where he was of course the best playmate Buster the puppy could find. We spent the night and he even got to sleep with Meghan for a bit. Earlier when she tried to hold something he was playing with he said "my work....ok?"

This morning after a lovely breakfast of pancakes he chilled with Poppy on the couch and then we went out for a haircut. While he was incredibly well behaved, he still got a crooked doo-can't wait for it to grow out a bit!

2008-02-26T18:52:00.001-08:00

Sentences!

2008-02-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

Ben is speaking in sentences a bit and it's very exciting. Today he declared, "I want it! I want it!" He also says

I'll get it.
I got it.
What happened?
I love you.
What's that?
Stop it.
Daddy coming home?
Hi Rissy!
Juice, please.

2008-02-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

Snow day!

2008-02-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

Today I woke at 5 to Ben calling at the gate. It's been a rough week. With conferences the kids at school have been off of their schedules and out of their minds. Yesterday I almost hid in a bathroom stall and never came out-it was that bad. Ben wasn't bad-the older kids, even the normally helpful and quiet ones were beserkus. So as Ben cried at the gate, I mustered all I could to leave my warm bed and bring him back to the big boy bed and cozy up for a few minutes with him before facing the inevitable. It was very cute, tucked neatly under my arm, every time I sneezed he said, "bless you" clear as a bell.

Moments before stepping into the shower-the miraculous call came...SNOW DAY!!! We watched a movie at 10 AM and I even got to nap myself in the middle of the day. Life is sweet!!

Saturday Parenting

2008-02-17T04:47:00.000-08:00

This morning I went shopping with Ben and he was less than enthusiastic about it. So in my haste to appease the cranky toddler, I ended up having to go back to the same store during his nap. Something like 4 hours was spent when all was said and done. Suffice to say I was up for an easy going evening. And that's just what Ben gave me!

Earlier in the week I had spoken to Stefanie, Ben's other teacher, who went through a training called Redirecting Children's Behavior that's offered to parents at Ben's school. In a nutshell, the emphasis is on positive discipline-rather than shaming the child into behaving properly, or just saying "no" you help them to redirect their negative behavior into a more approprite one. For example, if Ben is throwing the remote, you say, "I see you want to throw and throwing this could hurt mom or dad or the cats. Let's get you a ball." Or you could say, I see you're interested in the remote, let's see how to use this neat thing instead of throwing it so no one gets hurt." That kind of thing, though that's just the tip of the iceberg. You have to also give them a choice whenever you can and a reason. ("You can either stop throwing or I will take it away from you and you'll sit in the pack and play for some time. You choose.") So, "no throwing" is kinda arbitrary to Ben, and totally meaningless to him so he will not comply much of the time, so the theory goes.

I thought this sounded hoaky and that it was one of those parenting theories where the child is put on a pedestal and catered to too much. So my approach with him has been, "no hitting" and "no throwing". Lots of no's all over the place and it's not working so well. So I am trying to use this more RCB language. Much to my surprise, it seems to be working a bit better. I am trying to communicate better with Ben by giving him reasons and choices and he is listening more readily. I am some how less angry, and more willing to let him help me with the things I do that interest him. So today he "helped" me change the litter, rather than me chasing him outta the bathroom and yelling.

It's been nice and so far, it's been a bit easier and he is stopping the negative behavior sooner. I love him so much and today he was so cuddly and wanting hugs and kisses. It was so great because I have been missing that so much lately.

Apple!

2008-02-16T05:34:00.000-08:00

Here Ben enjoys an apple at the dinner table at the Youngs.

For some reason, he always says apple with great excitement and enthusiam so it's never apple. It's apple!

Katie started juggling the apples! and Ben was so excited by this prospect that he started pelting the apples! across the table. Monkey see, monkey do.

Dinner with the Youngs

2008-02-16T05:21:00.000-08:00

Lovely Day

2008-02-16T05:16:00.000-08:00

Here Ben is playing with Jonathan, an older friend as Anish watches on. Usually in the morning he is running around with Adam and Noah, two very active friends. But today it was Jonathan and Anish from Elementary, much quieter chaps. In this picture he is showing Anish a block. I love these kids!

Happy Valentimes!

2008-02-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

Today we had Aknowledge your friend day at school and celebrated by making pancakes, eggs and soy bacon together. It was a delight and Ben really enjoyed it.

We did have one pulling hair episode that warrented a time out, but I kept my cool and redirected Ben to a chair away from friends while he gathered himself. Apparently, right before he goes to sleep at night, he replays my scolding him to Alex, holding his cheeks and saying "no stop it, no no no!" This report broke my heart and inspired me to get a grip and remember the lil guy isn't even two and i gotta lighten up for his sake.

The other little guys in class are doing the same things-pushing hitting, pulling and it is important for me to keep this in mind when I get upset. I tend to go harder on him and expect more cause he's mine and that's not exactly fair.

We started a new nightly ritual of ball catch and throw after Ben's bath. The three of us toss around the little green ball or his Nerf football which Ben often bites. This is by far Ben's favorite activity-he goes nuts and runs around the house like a maniac. Not exactly conducive to zzz's but hey it's fun!

2008-02-13T15:41:00.001-08:00

New Levels of Hyperactivity

2008-02-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

Right now my voice is hoarse from shouting at Ben-ok I am not proud. But the little dude has reached new heights of hyperactivity and defiance. Our latest pet peeve is the throwing of pain inducing objects-he's not choosy: remotes, phones, hard toys, books. And here's the kicker-he laughs and laughs when he does it. So I am not very successful lately at controlling my anger and frustration over this. Moments ago he pelted a hard container at my head, before that a book at the cat. I feel like one of those lost parents on the supernanny.

We do have a system of consequences in order. First we say no and redirect him to throwing a ball-clearly he needs to throw. Then if he continues the negative behavior, Ben goes in the high security prison-the pack and play which he hates more than anything. Usually he is in there about 2 minutes, and he screams his little heart out the whole time. So we have a system of coping but it is taking a while for him to learn. Or we are just doing it wrong. When I reprimand him it takes a while to sink in-he has never been one of those kids that responds to a scolding, it takes a lot of volume and repetition before he appears to have any regret over his negative behavior. So I am screaming at times at him while he laughs and laughs at me. It's not pretty. Maybe we'll just take him directly to the pack and play after a warning. Why should I tire myself out yelling when it doesn't make an impression?

Whew! What a day! It's time like these when I consider myself nuts signing up to mange 15, yes 15 toddlers. Ohh please do something cute Ben so I feel better!

2008-02-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Ben sleeping in the big boy bed with Rissy, his sleeping companion. They love to snuggle and she keeps a close eye on him. In the picture is Ben's favorite blue blankie. When he gets tired, he brings over the blankie and a book, usually to Alex but sometimes me. It is his way of saying, "Now I am ready for sleep."

Tonight he brought blankie and book and said to me, "daddy coming home?" (poor Alex spent over three hours getting home from Manhatten). It was so sweet. He was covered in yogurt as it was pre bath so the boy musta been really sleepy cause every night it's the same deal and he was all confused. Suffice to say, when Alex walked in moments later it was a happy reunion for all three of us and we converged in a threeway hug before dad took the little guy in to bed.

Visit with Grands

2008-02-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

Last night Ben was picked up at school by grandma and grandpa. He excitedly chatted away as they drove off and much to my surprise, he gave them no fuss at all in car (unlike my recent car trips with the boy). They went out to Italian and Ben was described by the waitress as the happiest baby she ever met. He spread butter on his bread with a knife and got his little tongue stuck on the butter container. My dad enjoyed watching Ben dip his fries in the sauce and dress his pasta with some sauce they put on the side. He was a delight, they said. When I walked in he said "hey mommy!" and he showed grandma his weeble castle. Freddy had to get home to rest so we called it night, eargerly anticipating another visit this weekend.

Cow!

2008-02-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Ben and I pass a farm everyday on the way to school and each day he shouts, "Cow!" whether they are there or not. On the one day that Ben actually visited a farm, he fell asleep before the animal tour began. It was outrageous really-it was October and we got a pumpkin from the field, picked a gourd. Then at some point during the hayride back, he just fell asleep on me and slept through the entire "this is a goat, this is a chicken. this is a pig" shpeal, which sucked because we were miles from the car and he was really heavy. I think he did wake up for the cows-but it was a little disturbing how close they got to us and it freaked him out a bit. Nothing like waking up to 20 black cows striding toward you, mooing like nuts and swatting flies. Much better to admire them from the comfort of the car with a baggie of goldfish, a juicebox and a toy police car. (Though lately, despite these comforts, Ben is cranky in the car and it's been tough).

2008-02-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Sweet Sunday

2008-02-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today was really warm and nice. Since Ella's birthday took up most of yesterday, we needed today to regroup and get some things done so we could stand a chance at surviving the work week. We had a nice lunch together and as we ate, Rissy snuck into Ben's farmhouse. Ben chastised her just as we would him, clapping his hands to startle her then saying, "Rissy, you go-okay?" It was hilarious.

Well, I finished the chores earlier than expected and while the world was inside watching the big game, we went to Princeton to take advantage of the warm weather. The fountain, our favorite place in Princeton, had been emptied so we played a riveting game of ball and ran around like lunatics. It was so warm that we were able to walk around the campus for over an hour and just soak in the beautiful architecture. It was the perfect family day!

2008-02-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

When seeing this pic on the computer Ben said, "Cracker with Sylvie." Yes. Incidently, "cracker" was Ben's first word.

2008-02-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

A Week of Hard Work

2008-02-02T07:41:00.001-08:00

Considering that here it is Saturday and my first post this week, it was a busy, fun and productive one. Ben is sleeping much better in the big boy bed-waking once and going right back after a bit of reassurance, and we are doing well despite battling some nasty colds.

This week, Ben was really hyper in the classroom. He likes to stand at one end of the fish tank and make faces at his friends on the other side then cackle and stampede around the classroom. We have a nice quiet corner set up with a fleece blanket and lots of comfy pillows. The intent is for kids missing mommy and daddy to be comfy and just observe the class while lounging there. Well many times this week, Ben has charged the "quiet corner", gathered the pillows and thrown them over his head like a wild warrior. Nice. And quiet too. Ben.

In my efforts to make the mommy in the classroom thing work, I often let the other teachers do work with him and engage for that hour or so with the rest of the kids in the class. Ben is consistently "better behaved " with them and more responsive when they do lessons. As a result of rarely doing work with him and being preoccupied, I rarely see just how much he can do. One day this week Stefanie, the other teacher, set Ben up with a pipe cleaner and some small wooden beads. Watching this I thought to myself, "no way can he do that. The small motor skill this requires is way outta his league. " In seconds he plucked up the tiny beads and effortlessly strung the whole pipe cleaner full, emptied it and did it again. I chastised myself for underestimating him. I was very proud of him.

It occured to me this week that while Ben talks all day and has a number of words, much of his language is still benspeak. (aside-one of the older kids was playing with him and exclaimed-"Listen, Ben is speaking English!") Anyway, it is cool to see how much more language he actually comprehends. He understands and does the following: Get your high chair for dinner. Put your work away. Give your friend a hug. Give me that. Put your blanket away (back on his bead). Put your coat in your cubby. Go back to sleep, we are right here. There are tons of other examples, these are just a few. So cool to watch him come in to the world a bit more each day.

Today is Ella's birthday party. She is a treasured friend from his class. I think Ben will be tickled to see all his friends somewhere else besides school, and it should be lots of fun!

2008-01-27T08:08:00.001-08:00

Crash

2008-01-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

After a fun filled day, Ben relaxes in Dad's arms. "I missed you daddy. Go away mommy!" was the sentiment here. I went to transport him to the bed and he said "No!!!!" Ben never holds back how he feels, that's for sure.

2008-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Cross dressing: Meghan gave Ben her headband to Ben. I'm not a girl!

Green Socks

2008-01-27T07:42:00.001-08:00

Directly after his nap, Ben unceremoniously pulled the dolls off this couch, dragged it out into the hall and demanded that I put these green socks. Uhhh...okay. His magesty will now be seeing subjects so get in line, please.

2008-01-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

Sylvie's B-day Party

2008-01-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Syl's for a sweet playdate with Cloe, Gina and John to celebrate Syl's birthday. Highlights included a jam session in Syl's room where Chloe showed off her rock star guitar playing stance and Ben tore up the drum set. This was followed by a pit dancing fury in the living room. Ben did a cool, understated jazz move where he attempted to snap his fingers because at this point a rash was creeping up his back. Sylvie did her dance/jump in a circle move and Chloe, once again showing off her rock star skills, tapped the tamboreen in perfect time.

A romp in Syl's new tent was next followed by pizza and cupcake decorating. (We almost lost Chloe as she bounded at lightning speed from the livingroom to the kitchen at the mention of "cup-. We had cozy sluggin time in Syl's bed as the Bennedryl hit Ben's system hard core.

A great time was had by all and I truly enjoyed meeting Gina and John who were as hilarious and sweet and fun as Kacey said. The best ending was Sylvie saying, "I love you" from the door. Despite being prompted by her mom, she seemed very sincere. We love you too, Syl. Happy Birthday!

Looking Back

2008-01-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

I think Ben is around 6 or 7 months here. The Behr's, family friends of ours, had built him a bear and in typical Marion Behr telepathy, they put Mr. Bearsly in an outfit Ben actually had. So we had to dress up the twins and take a happy snap.

Looking Back

2008-01-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here's Ben at around 3 or 4 months. We were just about to start babysitting for Adam and Meghan Gapp. Isn't he so perfect? Who is this little gem...it seems like a lifetime ago!

2008-01-26T06:34:00.000-08:00

Tough Love on Sleeping

2008-01-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

Last night we did the tough love thing and let Ben stand at his gate and cry for a while and go back to his bed himself and fall asleep on his own. I would say to him, "Go back to your bed sweetie, we are right here, go to bed and go back to sleep" . It was time. This is my darling son-the more we give around the sleeping thing, the more he takes. It would be okay if he slept well when he had finally beat us into submission with the co-sleeping thing-but actually the more we sleep with him (the thing he desperately wants), the worse he sleeps (...and the worse we all sleep-with Ben tossing, turning, sleeping horizontally, etc).

So at first it was just a while in the early wee hours,we would bring him in the bed when he cried. Then we compromised to 3 or so, then 12. Or Al would go in his bed and stay with him till he fell back asleep. We thought we were giving him what he needed by responding to these callings for us. But the weird thing is that the more he got used to us coming to him at night, the worse he got at putting himself back to sleep-ergo the more he would get up until we came. At like 6 night wakings I finally laid down the law. He can do this, he can sleep on his own and let us all get some rest. How many times do we have to learn this one till we finally get to the point of "oh Ben just deal with it."

It's tricky because it is so nice to cuddle him and have him snugglin' beside us. Especially for Alex because he doesn't see him all day. But atleast for now our snuggling will happen when putting him to sleep or during the day for as long as he is willing to sit still. So what took us so long to get to this point? Well, I grappled with some typical mommy guilt which also made it hard to be firm on the sleep in your bed rule. I reasoned that Ben was at school all day sharing mommy with other kids, surely he needs me at night to know I am all his. Alex just likes snugglin him and he didn't want to give it up. Well, the bottom line is that none of us were sleeping responding to this nightly neediness so I am glad we made the change. I feel like we made the right decision and I think tonight will go a bit better. We'll have a sweet I-missed-you-all-night reunion in the morning. And Alex will enjoy the pre sleeping snuggles and the we're home from school! hugs all the more. We love ya, Ben!

Sleep Issues...again

2008-01-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

Ben is now in the big boy bed! It's no longer safe for him to be in the crib since he is climbing and so it was time. For the time being we are using an air matress. So far, he is getting up quite a bit. We hear the pitter patter of little feet at least three times a night. He's really cute- staggering out, all disoriented and sleepy. Alex is all about sleeping in his bed with him for a bit or all 3 of us sleeping together. But this is tough cause he gets me up. So we're just gonna see if he gets used to it. I am really in need of sleep to work the long day so hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

2008-01-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

2008-01-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

I am surprised that I have not mentioned Ben's relationship with Iris the fat cat, or Rissy as he calls her. They are incredibly close, bffs. Iris thinks Ben is her kitten. He will hold still for minutes (no small feat for a toddler) as she matts down his hair with her rough licks. This is very cute to watch. Our other cats live in abject terror of Ben and they sometimes hide when he is home. Don't know why-what's so scary about 27 pounds of absolute fury running around the house screaming, throwing, and growling like a monster just to enjoy the fun of watching them scamper away with big frightened tails. With Riss it's all different. It's been love since the beginning and she lets Ben, enjoys Ben, doing whatever he wants. She will lay belly up as he pulls whiskers and rides her like a horse. She is an embarrassment to all cats everywhere. Shameful is what it is.

2008-01-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

Ben and Rissy cuddling, as always.

Ben's getting bigger

2008-01-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

Today and all week has been nothing but exhausting for me and yet somehow Ben is as energetic as ever. Today he chanted pizza! pizza! (his fave) followed by an hour long sprint around the house, then atleast 30 minutes of bouncing like Tigger from my lap to Al's saying book! book! and insisting we read "where's Elmo" then saying at every page "there he is!". Wow...if you could only hook up a toddler to some kinda hamster wheel I swear you could have enough electricity for a week!

I'm so tired cause my new job at work has been shadowing (following the every move of) a new friend in Ben's class. She literally climbs the walls and could easily decimate the entire classroom in 5 seconds if she wasn't supervised. So in the meantime, Ben has gotten great at not having me at his disposal all day, which I am so proud of. He does his thing and comes and talks to me as I pry small chokable objects from this little girls hands. The best parts of the day are when we snuggle, which I insist on even when he wants to get down and play. I can't help it, those plump cheeks of his are too irresistable!

2008-01-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

Syl graciously shares her stroller with Ben in Woodstock.

2008-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

2008-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

"D" is for Drum. Syl and Ben at the antique piano at the barn studio of Levon Helms for the new MMD kid album magical mystery tour!

Woodstock!

2008-01-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

We spent Saturday with Kacey, John and Syl and took a little road trip to Woodstock to see MMW, one of John's favorite bands that recently put out a kids album and held a kids only performance at the recording studio/barn of Levon Helms in Woodstock. The drive down passed quickly to the singing of Elmo and gang on Sly's DVD player and Dimitri the comedian for us. ("the best thing about digital cameras is that you can instantly reminisce. "oh look us us a minute ago. we were so happy. ")

The first two acts were adorable preteens. The first was Mojo Miles, a maybe 13 year old kid who had the persona and almost the talent of Johnny Cash and the second act was a group of she rockers who after introducing every song said "and we wrote it oursleves". They were awesome and it was so nice to see how the kids kinda owned the place for the afternoon. Ben and Sylvie danced and clapped and other toddlers climbed over our laps to get a closer look. The kids screamed "where's the music" and an awesome performance by MMW was enjoyed by all!

The cutest thing on the ride home was Ben and Syl's chatter back and fourth to each other. Ben would say "blah blah blah" and then Sl would say "blah blah blah" and then they would both laugh hysterically as if exchanging some hilarious joke that the only the two of them got. This went on for about 15 min amid our "shhhh...it's naptime..." until they finally they fell asleep. Later after they woke it was "Apple!!!!" (Ben) "Affle!" (Syl with pacie in her mouth since I know she can say apple). Then after 6 rounds of this, "Banana!" (Susie) then "Banana!" (Ben) then "Nanana!" (Syl and pacie). So cute!

The kids enjoyed grilled cheese at the diner. Syl impressed us with her mastery of drinking from a cup, shape recognition and the counting of five circles (omg!). meanwhile ben tried desperatly to poo (he's been constipated) so he ate standing up. The kids were soo well behaved all day and we had an awesome time!

Relaxin

2008-01-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

A quintessential part of our weekend is relaxing. After spending a long and loaded week at school, Ben enjoys the seriously needed downtime of our weekends where we stay in bedclothes, make a mess around the house, hang with daddy and lay low. Here he is enjoying some lovely frenchtoast on a lazy Sunday last week. Note the use of the fork, he is now a pro. Also, Ben can now drink from a cup and even shows off using it one handed at times. So big!

2008-01-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

Notice the lovely jewels in the hair of the beautiful princesses!!!

2008-01-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Snuggling with Marysa and Mikey, aka Binky and Bobo.

2008-01-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ben looks up at the window and wonders who will be popping out next!

Dinner with the Caps

2008-01-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we spent Saturday with the Caps. It was so nice and Mark prepared everything for us from lasagna to meat loaf to dessert-he was the perfect host. Ben enjoyed the window on the second story that looks out into the living room. The whole day he was looking up to see who would pop out next. Meghan and I enjoyed many rounds of Guess who; Katie, Marysa and Mike loved playing the Nintendo DS. Ben had his first popsicle as the girls played with the hair be-jeweller, a gift that completed Meghan's entire wish list! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Csr2uTaeog

Ben made friends with his leapfrog, a new buddy around the house now. It was a great day!!

So Busy!

2008-01-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Ben and I have been back at school and so busy, I have been remiss in writing. It is as if he has become all grown up at once. We have four little friends at school and he is doing so great showing them the ropes. As they cry for mommy, he strokes bellies, he calms them down and fills them with glee. He is talking more than ever, and his first official sentence is "i'll get it". I am surprised that he no longer pines for me on the playground-he wants to hang out instead with the big boys. And a little girl, Atsi always has hugs for Ben. Never thought I would miss his fussing to be held but I do. I am so proud of his accomplishments. He is our joy!

2008-01-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

Delicious!!!

2008-01-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Ben prepares a succulant dessert at his new kitchen.

2008-01-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

Ben enjoys some down time during our last few days of vacation...ahhh to do nothing! Notice the mp3 player in hand...well, he had a full fledged 15 minute conversation on it moments before.

2008-01-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

Chilling with the Robilotto boys...while Ben did not stay up for the Halo marathon with Dash and Daddy, he did manage some brick stacking (and throwing) .

2007-12-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

2007-12-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

I'm no sure which one is cuter!

2007-12-28T08:47:00.000-08:00

Pepe Le Cute!!!!

2007-12-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ahhh so refreshing!!!

Vacation Days Whizzing By!!!

2007-12-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

It's a wonderful thing...me and Ben are still in jammies at 11:24 in the morning! Yesterday Ben and I headed straight for the mall to spend my teacher gift bucks. To my amazement, he stayed asleep in the stroller for 45 min while I shopped! He was such a good boy that I bought him treats with my Starbucks gift certiffy! He ended up with about a pint of chocolate milk all over his pants but boy did he have fun fishing the straw out of the little hole-well worth it.

We celebrated Christmas twice this year so Adam and Stef could be with us. It was lovely-delicious ziti; so many gorgeous gifts, new cd gifts playing in background as mom sang along nostalgically. Fred enjoyed Benny, telling everyone to give the kid some space! We dressed him up in the skunk costume as an encore from Holloween-many didn't get to see the October performance. He sat at the table with us, tried egg nog and cut a banana..it was a delightful night!

2007-12-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Some after dinner mints and a few hershey kiss...thank you very much!

2007-12-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

Tossing tissue paper in the air was one of the best presents of the night!

With the Youngs

2007-12-26T10:44:00.001-08:00

As the girls take a break from their new Nintendo DS for a snapshot, Ben screams noooo!!!!.

Christmas

2007-12-26T10:31:00.001-08:00

I can help with the wash if you give me a ride!

Week Home

2007-12-24T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we are fiinally on vacation. The night before the last day of school I drove around like a maniac to get a cookie cutter so the kids could decorate sugar cookies for the holiday party. The holiday party days are always zanny with parents watching on...kids beserkus for that fact. No workside, which they need so bad. So without an activity we were, well-screwed. At last, after three stores and a vow to kill each and every Walmart employee in cold blood, Lisa came through with a cookie cutter. Boo stayed home with Daddy while I hosted the holiday party at school. What a sense of freedom being at school Ben-less! But at the same time, I felt like I was missing something all day. So many presents! How nice to be a teacher this time of year!

Home at last and finishing up Christmas errands. We visited the Farrells since they will be outta town and Sylvie loved her dollhouse. To everyone's delight she said "I love it!" once we had it all assembled. Ben got an adorable little people airplane and he will have the absolute delight of crashing through his cardboard brick wall with his set of bricks. We hung out with Kacey's second cousins, 13 and 14, who were so nice. They were very cute doing math problems on Syl's miny chalkboard and racing each other to finish. We saw a light festival and even better, went around the neighborhood criticizing the lights. The net lights and "laso effect", the blowups and the plastic figurines scored low while the icicle lights and evergreen swags scored high. So much fun and Ben danced up a storm. We were sad to leave.

Next day was spent with me stressing and taking Ben shopping-not very fun. The only part he liked was the stroller ride to and from the store with the wind blowing rain directly on us-the rain moved horizontally up noses and undershirts...nice! Can't find the car in the monsoon!!!! Argg...gotta love this part of Christmas. He managed, barely but ended last night with a complete and utter meltdown. Too much! he seemed to scream through clenched teeth, screaming, throwing, howling, and then ahhh...sleep at last!

Christmas for Ben

2007-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

I have been wondering what toys would make Ben's Christmas. "Wondering" is not the word. More obsessing. He might like a play kitchen and there are countless decisions to make on that. Wooden or plastic? How big? One unit or three separate? Then there's the train table. More decisions...icurumba!

Will he even play with these things? Ben is not that into toys and never has been. Though at this moment he is playing a tamborine to the beat of Baby Mozart. Usually he likes real people stuff. So i dunno. He doesn't even get that it is Christmas so it's not like there's all this pressure. But still. Part of me wants to NOT feel like I have to get him the biggest, bestest presents. I want to walk away from my own expectations about what Christmas should be-lots of toys! I look at a a family in our school who doesn't celebrate with the copious toys and think, yes that's far better for us. Then I think ohh just spoil the kid a bit. It's Christmas!

I hope to hop the fence soon and get shopping. Afterall, I already got the greatest gift I could have gotten on May 15, 2006. It's payback time!

2007-12-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

In this picture Ben is grabbing a cell phone. Later on, he is appeased with a cookie instead.

hitting and throwing

2007-12-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

Ben is 18 months. not even two. this is a truth i have been needing to remind myself time and again. lately he has been hitting. there are many kinds of hits. there is the "hey how you doing wanna say hello" swat. there is the "get away from me and leave me alone" wack. then there is the "you didn't do anything at all i just felt like smacking you" hit. well, suffice to say, it has been a little disappointing to watch. will boo ever learn the control he needs to stop these impulses? He has also experienced a bit of defiant behavior in the classroom. He had been sitting to eat, now he tours the classroom with his snack in hand and does the ironing board stiff stance when you attempt to put him in his seat. He knows to put his work away but wants to leave it out and kicks and lifts his feet when you take him through the steps of putting it back. throwing work again, bothering other kids working quietly. yeah, it has been a bit disheartening to watch this all and see it as normal and not be upset.

well, tonight was winter wonderland at ben's school. families brought many of the kids in our school and there was a magician, food and fun. ben sees ella, his girlfriend and waddles over to hug her. as the magician performs, ben quietly goes from friend to friend, tapping jj on the shouldder and pulling him into a hug, tugging on joey's shirt and bear hugging him. diving into nickie and ella's lap for a threeway hug. then walking over to one boy he didn't even know and just stroking his hair as he sat on his mom's lap. he just patted his hair and leaned on the boy's back like they had been friends from birth. he emmanated love and affection. there was a sense that he was with family and his love for all those around was apparent.

i know the hitting will stop. there will be plenty of time to see the fruits of enforcing proper work habits and responsible behavior. for now, the best i can do is let ben be ben and appreciate him for the loving little guy he really is.

The Robilotto visit

2007-12-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to visit grandpa frank and dashiel. ben was very shy at first and the only thing that lured him away from our arms was julia, the tiny dog or woof woof, as ben calls them. he loved her and the fact that she could jump into his lap was delightful. we chatted with dash for a bit in the kichen and ben, gathering confidence, went into the play room with frank. before long we heard lots of laughing followed by crash! crash! when we went into the room we found that ben and frank were playing pool, babystyle: ben was literally standing on the pool table and spiking the hard balls down into the pockets. this was magnificent. we all gathered around the table and joined in the fun. as ben got a ball in he clapped his hands and waited for our cheers-yeah! we all said in unison. he like it very much.

a bit later the boys (al and dash) decided that wrestling would be fun. apparently, this is a regular occurance at the robilotto house for a futon as already set up as a mat. ben did no like this activity one bit. if al was pinning dashiel, ben got a very worried look onis face and pet dashiel's head. if dash was grabbing al's knees, he petted daddy. i tried to distract him with tinker toys, a play toolshop, anything, but he wanted to be near the big boys even though it upset him.

next we saddled up ben in the racecar chair for his second haircut (we learned in july that we should not attempt this at home after he turned his head quickly and ended up with a nascar mullet). he did all right and fussed and grabbed for the scissors but debra was a pro. dad was cut then me. it was cute. frank let ben play with all buttons every where so he was deemed very cool right away by ben. laptops, cellpones, remotes, it was heaven for ben who held two or three gizmos at a time and even conducted a phone call "conversation" much to our amusement. the best part about the conversations is the realistic wait times where the other person is "talking". it's hilarious to watch these calls, ben waves his hand in exasperation, says "i know" and is totally engaged in the non existent caller.

by dinner he was down right giddy and it was hard to believe he was ever shy with these folks. he sprinted around the kitchen laughing and opening cabinets. as he scarfed down pizza, i think debra was worried that he would choke. but he chewed and chewed. he tried a bitter rasberry for the first time and confirmed that yes fruits are yucky. it was a nice visit and i again lamented that was no camera to capture these nice days. please santa please.

2007-12-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here Ben is singing with mom during thanksgiving. I love her smile and wow doesn't he look like such a big boy!

Half the Class

2007-12-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Winter is definately here since literally half of Benny's school mates have been out for a better part of the week due to various illnesses. Ben has taken to redirecting his class mates (imitating me I guess). So he will go "stop it nick" or "no ella". He says it with such vehemence that it's hard to correct him, though I do while stifling my laughter. Another cute thing is that every fruit and vegetable is an apple and every cartoon character is Elmo. Big bird, Dora, and Lighning Mcqueen-all Elmo. This morning Ella ran around trying to put a barette in ben's hair. No luck. He peeled and enjoyed a clementine. During work he is regressing in some ways. Past few days have been all about not putting away work and dumping-everything. Including a fish bowl of wooden beads all over the floor. It's times like this when I am glad I have to be professional and not bite his little head off. All the toddlers rush in to help us clean it up and it really isn't that big of a deal but I have been frustrated with it past few days. He seems to say two things all day: mine and stop it. I hope the phase will pass quickly. He also says please and thank you regulary which is interesting-we have a complete beast who is also a gentleman. He is very proud of himself for pulling off Alex's socks. And he is terrorizing little Diamond Woo. How much longer till bedtime? Sweet dreams my little prince!

Seeing Amma

2007-12-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that one year ago Ben sat with Amma for his first real food eating. What an incredible year it has been! The road trip to see Amma was miraculous in and of itself. We left in the still of night so Ben could sleep as much of the 10 hour drive as possible. Though we left an hour later than planned (sorry lisa who was waiting oh so patiently for us to pack the toys, 17 outfits and countless books needed to entertain a near 2 year old!) we nevertheless sailed across rt. 80-through sticks, stones and the toothless truckers with no hitches at all. Alex did almost all of the driving and while I straddled much stuff in the backseat, we arrived with no incidents.

We pulled up at the hotel, checked in and flopped into the double bed and were able to enjoy some restful hours before the program began. ben was taken with the hotel lobby waterfall. He was amazed at the grandeur of the patterned carpet and the shiny elevator buttons. The washer and dryer coin slots and trash cans were also very attractive-it never occurred to him that we were there for anything else since the hotel held such treasures.

The first night of programs we arrived to the hall with all of our stuff. Through the satsang talk we thankfully sat in the back with buddy Claire and some other wiley toddlers. The stackable rings provided an excellent lesson on sharing. By far ben's favorite word is mine! mine! but he also enjoyed passing the rings to Claire. After every mine! outburst I saw that he shared his toy with her and he complied. They played along while munching on dried mangoes. The three of us got a long awaited hug that as so very special. Ben had fallen asleep so he cried but I thought to myself that it really did not matter. We left the program at 2ish and squished into the bed all 3 of us. Alex would snore big zzz than ben would snore small zzz for an amusing little duet the whole night through.

The next few days are now a blur of quiet special times and just chilling out in the amma vibe. Ben slept in with dad and I got some needed quiet meditation time at the program in the morning. Ben was enjoyed by many admirers. He danced to the bhajans, did seva (walked trash from the snack tables over to the can and slammed dunked while waiting for a cheer of praise. then dusted his hands off.). He chased his ball and interrupted big boys playing with cars (who eventually shared after their moms insisted). He made friends with lots of small kids and bonded with Seesa, Lisa. He walked around saying Amma! Amma! and even though he screamed each time we went up for darshan, I have no doubt that he too enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere of her presence. We took him to have dinner at her table. He got a blessed popadam and dipped it in his icecream. I look forward to a darshan that will come when he plays with her and makes her laugh. Thank you for a wonderful trip!!

Ben sleeps!

2007-11-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

Well, the sleep gods have been very generous and Benjamin sleeps! Tonight Ben snuggled with Daddy like every night before bed, read some books and went into his crib absolutely peepless! Apparently he has developed a fond liking for a certain blankey. He likes to ball it up and shove it under his chest as sleeps on his belly (according to dad who does the nightly sleep ritual).

Update on new words:

hug (as he is hugging you)
fan
book
elmo (which he says to refer to big bird, ernie or any of the gang)
baby (as he demands to know the whereabouts of baby Carter in the office at school)
leaf
itty itty itty! or kitty
meow
doggie
high five! (as he gives you one)

little mother teresa

2007-11-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at school Ben showed a different side than I have ever seen. One moment Justin, 5, is playing calmly with the stacking blocks. In walks dad and he turns into a screaming hysterical mess. I scowl in the recesses as Ms. Soltice moves in to handle the outburst. As the obviously embarassed dad tries unsucessfully to apease his demonic child, I arrogantly think of my "superior" parenting skills. Amid the cyclone of flying styrofoam blocks Ben waddles over to Justin and starts stoking his back saying "ok?" "ok?" Justin smiles and stops crying for a minute, we all laugh.

I am so much older than my little guy but yesterday he showed me that I can learn a thing or two from him too.

Back at School!

2007-11-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

After a refreshing break, today we made it back to school. Last night Daddy and I were convinced that Ben was sick. We had spent the day at the fun junction and for all the ball pit diving and sliding fun it seemed to be a bit of a germy place. (atleast boo had fun and dad won me a coupla bouncing balls playing skiball). I sent Dad out into the dark of night to get a new thermometer since ours was broken (there he came across a loose boxer that he had dreamed about the night before, but I digress). After we took his temp eight times and saw no fever and took his pulse 27 times to determine that there would be no cardiac arrest, he fell asleep. I thought how happy I was to be scared with alex instead of alone and how nice it is to share the scaries of being a parent with him. Suffice to say, after our antics, he slept more or less soundly and today we had a great day back at school.

We learned leche, "milk" and pan, "bread". Mrs. Hurtado was thrilled to hear Ben say "salte" before jumping into the circle. He impressed me with how well he worked with the thread cylinder since I thought it would be way too hard for him. he squeezed orange juice with the hand juicer saying "ahhh" after each sip. he was covered in ink by 11:30 AM which is always a great sign that fun was had. We ended our fun tonight with dragon tails "let's start a band" some free form dancing and several nice stories read by dad. he is having a hard time sleeping at night which is very hard on us..too much cuddling past few nights? Ahh may the sweet god of rest be generous and let our hard working boo get some rest...

Thanksgiving wake

2007-11-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

Today I was inspired by sylvie's blog (ben's bff) and decided that it's far time to start documenting some of ben's milestones, the countless moments of greatness that occur in the most unlikelyest of times when i am preoccupied with my own ridiculously unimportant life.

This morning we watched elmo ad zoe's dancing video and it is a treasure. ben is an avid dancer so he enjoyed dancing along with zoe and paula abdul-spinning african inspired circles and asian welcoming dances. right now he is mad because dad is sleeping and he has already charged the door three times and succesfully raided the bed-so after some nice hugs the door has been closed.

We have been working hard at school and this break we are determined to take it easy and loaf around. It is a good time to make a list of benisms . His favorite activity is crawling into our lap with a book and saying "ok...okaaayyy" and then taking our hands to open the book for him. He isn't asking so much to be read to as telling, "now you will read me a story". green eggs and ham is his favorite. hold on, he wants to see the laughing baby on you tube. ok we are back.

he says:

juice please
cheese please
thank you, thanks
welcome
cracker
baby
when he sees a picture of himself "oh so cute!"
shoes and ocks
syyyvie (sly-bff)
doggie
meow
cow
apple
banana
ella
stop
don't touch!
hot!
down!
mine!
mamma, mommy, susie, bhak
dada, daddy
1,2,3
meg an
tadie (katie)
picking up the cell phone, saying "hello" then having a whole conversation in benspeak with the "caller"
hola!
salta!
uno
bye!
all done

things i am particulary proud of:

every last thing he has accomplished
eating with a spoon and insisting to do so
putting his work away and returning it to the shelf in the correct spot
ben has many friends and hugs readily and affectionately
ben defends himself very well (too well at times) when the bigger kids at school smother him
allowing me to pry him from bed at 6:45 every morning and drag him to school (a place he really does love)

we need to get a new camera so i don't have any pictures yet but will add some soon! ttfn