On Sunday, we went for a walk on the Orting trail. It’s paved, but it goes along the gorgeous river and farmland. Ben walked (ran) most of the way. He loved stopping and checking out the slugs and any other little thing he saw along the way. Lots of bikers went by, and he pointed out the “emets” (helmets) on all of them. He waved shyly to most of the passersby. I love it when people are kind and wave nicely back to him or stop to let him look at their fish, bikes, dogs, etc.
Football was on this weekend…that means snuggle time with Mom. Ben snuggled in my lap for a good 30 minutes just waaaatching the game. He was excited to realize that football players wear “emets” too! He has a helmet that he has to wear whenever he rides his strider bike…even if it’s just around the living room. He’s very good about knowing that he has to put his helmet on…he brings the helmet to us whenever he wants to get on his bike. But it was fun to be able to point out to him that lots of people wear helmets! And he knew exactly what they were! We didn’t have to tell him! He was the one that pointed the helmets out to us!
One more thing about this weekend…It’s been kind of damp and misty lately. We have some foam mats on part of our patio. Ben discovered that there were some worms hiding under there. I asked him to help me move the worms from the patio to the garden. So he worked hard to pick up the worms with his little fingers and then he trotted over to the garden and dropped the worm in. The worms would dig into the dirt, so Ben would say “bye bye! Bye bye!” as the worm started to disappear. He did this over and over again until we couldn’t find any more worms.
Ben’s singing. For a while, he’s been singing Twinkle Twinkle. He sings the “Up Above the world” part. The section that he can sing is getting longer and longer. He also sings parts of the “Great Big God” song (best song ever!). Well, last night, Joel kept singing the football anthem “I’ve been waiting all week for Sunday night”… and Ben started singing it over and over. He started singing it after just a few times hearing Joel sing it! I mean, I’m his mom and I might be biased, but I think he’s got a great little singing voice :)
Also, he’s always getting better and better at letting us know exactly what he wants or needs. He’ll pull on our hands or leg or whatever in the direction he wants to go or try to make our hands do what he wants. It’s amazing how well he can communicate what he wants or needs without the use of many words. He’s very insistent…It’s great…buuuut when he’s not allowed to have what he wants, he Throws. A. Tantrum. His tantrums involve screaming, FLAILING, rolling around, yelling, crying and thrashing. This happens maybe 5 times per evening (just from the time I get home till bedtime!). We just try to put him down gently so he doesn’t crack his head on something hard and then walk away and let him work it out. Yeeesh. This weekend he smacked his head HARD on the wood floor during a tantrum…and I noticed that during the tantrums he threw later in the day, he had a little more control and didn’t flail as uncontrollably until he was laid all the way out. Huh. So that’s how they learn….
Routines… I suppose like any kid, Ben thrives with routine. For a long time, his bedtime routine has been very solid and that’s pretty much the only solid routine we have. He knows that it’s pj’s, teeth brushing, book, prayer, song and then bed. He walks to bed on his own as we start singing and throws Tucker in and tries to crawl in bed himself. Karen said that he knows his routine well at Daycare and he knows Abby’s routines, too. He knows which highchair is his and her’s…which crib is his and her’s, etc. But, lately, there are other mini routines that he has picked up. For example, he knows that his cup of milk has to be put “awaii” (away) in the fridge when he’s done. When he’s done with his milk or if I bring it to him while he’s playing and he doesn’t want any, he’ll take it from me and walk straight to the fridge saying “awaii awaii”. He also knows where dirty diapers have to go and he knows the morning routine. If he’s not going to Karen’s, then he knows we take Emma for a walk. He goes to the drawer and gets Emma’s leash and says “amma” and goes to the door. Makes me wonder what other little routines we can be working on to get him used to doing things the right way…hmmmm.
Sweetness. So, of course, Ben is an independent, active guy, full of energy, seriousness, and adventure. But then there’s his sweet side. Just like other things he’s serious about, he’s also serious about his sweetness and love. Oh dear. His kisses and snuggles are the best. When he wants a kiss, he’ll be buzzing around, but then he slows waaay down as he gently leans in for a kiss. If someone tries to just give him their cheek to kiss, he uses his hand to turn their face for a real kiss. If he does something not-so-nice, like hit me, I’ll say “no” and right away, he slows down and gives me the sweetest kiss. I seriously don’t know how he learned that. He also loves his snuggles. If he’s had enough alone time, he’ll make it known that he needs some loving. He’ll either come crawl in one of our laps, or he’ll pull us over to the couch for a marathon book reading session….or, like yesterday, he’ll decide he wants to watch football snuggled in my lap :) Sometimes, if we’re reading, he’ll tug on my arm until it’s wrapped around him. He sure looooves his snuggle time! And boy oh boy do Joel and I love it, too!! His attachment to Tucker is also super sweet. Tucker goes everywhere with us. If we go to the park, Tucker is in hand the entire time (unless Ben is trying to shoot him into the basketball hoop or have Tucker do the preliminary investigation of slugs and other mysterious creatures). Tucker is Ben’s little buddy. When he is reunited with Tucker after a few hours, his face LIGHTS up and he runs towards Tucker and buries his face in him. I can totally relate ;) If Ben gets his attachment to loveys from me, we might need to buy a lifetime supply of Tuckers before they stop selling them……We’re seriously considering buying a third Tucker!
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