Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the encouraging comments! I definitely want to continue the blog, I just need to be better at organizing my life so I can find the time!

I've had a whirlwind couple of weeks (48-hour trip to London, DC overnighter tomorrow) and it's likely going to be that way through June. Such is life.

Anyhow, Ben and I had a great weekend visiting my parents and I hope to have a new post up in the next couple of days.

Thanks again!

Shameless Request

So I haven't been updating the blog as often as I used to. Mostly this is because my job sucks and it controls my life. All my remaining energy goes to playing with Ben which leaves very little time for writing about Ben. It is definitely something I want to keep doing but I could use some extra motivation. Knowing that people read this blog would be a big help. If you could become a follower or leave comments, I would appreciate it. And thanks to all of you who have been reading and commenting all along!

Really, Really Fast

Last weekend we went to a store that sells those ginormous swingsets that are frankly ridiculous (though I certainly would have killed to have one as a kid). Ben had a blast playing on all the models. He kept going down this one slide and every time he would say "I went really, really fast!" as he ran back to climb up the ladder to go down it again. It was such a big kid sounding thing to say! Airplanes also go "really, really fast."

We didn't buy a swingset but 2 days later our neighbors down the street offered us the swingset their kids have outgrown. For free! It's not ridiculously huge but it has a good slide and we will get some new swings for it. And Ben will love it. If we can ever get it moved into our yard.

Umm...

Yesterday I asked Ben what his favorite part of school is. He looked at me as he was thinking about it and said "Umm...name song." I love having these little conversations with him.

Dance, Mommy!

Ben is saying and doing the cutest things these days. Here is a random assortment of vignettes, or Benettes as I like to call them, though that's kind of girly. Maybe we should go with a southern interpretation: Benyets.

As always, he still loves to dance. But now he also loves telling us to dance: "Dance, Mommy! Dance, Daddy!" he says (a bit bossily if you ask me) while pointing at us and dancing around in circles. Super cute. Current favorite dance songs include "Red Robin" and, as always, "That's Not My Name." He also likes "If You're Happy and You Know It." When dancing to this song he always puts his fingers on his cheeks during the "your face will surely show it" part.

About 5 or 6 times a day Ben will run up to me, give me a hug, and say "I love you Mommy." It is the best thing ever. Last weekend, when we went to visit my parents I gave Ben some cheese for a snack. When I wouldn't give him anymore and left the room he went over to my Mom and said "I love you, Nana" several times, hoping she wouldn't be able to resist his 2-year-old charms.

Ben also tries to hug Mortimer and tell him he loves him, but Mortimer isn't as fond of Ben hugs as I am. Mortimer does let Ben pet him while saying "It's a nice doggie."

Last week Ben was eating lunch and having a bit of a dialogue with his food. His goldfish had apparently commited some offense and he told them "Not nice!" and then hugged his juice cup and said "I sorry, juicee."

Ben still likes trying to hit me sometimes when he doesn't get his way, but he then immediately hugs me (not unlike the juice cup incident above) and says "I sorry, Mommy. I sorry."

One of Ben's current favorite tricks for getting out of any situation he doesn't want to be in (e.g., a restaurant high chair, especially a restaurant high chair) he looks at me and says "I made poopy, Mommy, I made poopy," when he has not in fact made a poopy. This trick was very effective the first couple of times he tried it, but now I'm on to him.

Ben was very excited by the recent snow and loved yelling "Snow! It's white!" while inside the house. He didn't like going out in it so much. That may have been due to the multiple layers of clothing he was required to wear.

Please note that I wasn't purposely going for a conehead look.

Potty Time

So it's finally that time - potty time! Ben is very proud of his pull-ups that we started using at school this week. (Yes, we are aware of the mixed feedback on pull-ups but we figured we'd try them out for a little bit).

(All of these pictures were so cute I couldn't pick just one)

I on the other hand am not that excited about potty training. Changing diapers isn't so bad. It's better than scrubbing pee out of the carpet. It's much easier than trying to get Ben away from the potty once he's decided to set up camp there, repeatedly wiping and throwing toilet paper in the potty, lifing the lid and seat up and down over and over. I don't particularly enjoy that so much.

We've been changing diapers for so long that it's hard to even fathom that we won't have to do it forever. The idea of Ben being completely potty trained is somewhat fantastical to me at this point. But if the dog can do it so can he, right?

Happy Ben

Ben turned 2 over a month ago and I am just now getting around to writing about it. Sorry Ben!

We had a great little party at the house with friends and family. My Mom (Nana or Nanny as Ben calls her) made Ben a Thomas the Train cake that turned out much better than the dinosaur I attempted last year.

Here is Ben eyeing the left over birthday cake the next morning (I could not move this picture to the bottom and I am trying not to obsess over it being out of order.)

Ben was very excited when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. My favorite part of the whole party was when he turned around to hug me before leaning over to blow out his candles. Melts a Mama's heart!

We had a house full of 1-2 year olds and they definitely made the most of their resources. All toys were thoroughly examined and utilized in one fashion or another.

It was fun to see how the kids played together this year compared with last year's party. There was much more interaction this year. A little too much in fact. Ben is going through a bit of an aggressive stage and loves to move in for a hug that quickly turns into a headlock that usually ends up with the other kid on the ground. I'm hoping this is just a phase and that Ben will not grow up to be the playground bully.

I like this picture because Beckett and Ben look like they're having such a grown up conversation.

This is Ben's mad scientist look. Fortunately he recently had a haircut, just not in time for his birthday party.

Ben is becoming more and more entertaining every day. He is so much fun to talk to. He is not shy at all and he loves being around people. He loves loves loves to dance and run around in circles. He does this a lot, especially when we have company. He loves Curious George, Finding Nemo, and his trains, but his absolute favorite thing to do right now is color

with his "markies" (i.e., markers). We draw together every night. He loves drawing circles and asking me to draw various items (witch, airplane, train, kitty cat). Hopefully he will be able to draw much better than I can.

For a while now Ben has been saying "happy" for a while now. I don't even remember how this started (because I need to blog more often) but he will often go through a list of happy things/people: "Happy Mommy. Happy Daddy. Happy Doggie. Happy Ben." It is the cutest thing in the world and we are so lucky to have a Happy Ben.