feet

feet

Friday, October 7, 2011

Benjamin at 2 years old


Profile of a 2 year old:
*I will update with his stats after our dr appointment Monday
Interests: balls, animals, make believe
Enjoys: anything Zeke is doing, tormenting Zeke, wrestling with daddy, paci (still...)
Turn-Offs: leaving paci in bed, daddy leaving for work, mommy leaving him anywhere at anytime (oi seperation anxiety!)
Vices: tantrums like no other when he doesn't get his way, having to come inside (example, made to come inside for dinner and proceeded to rip the pin the lion poster from the door a couple days ago...and then got mad because it wasn't on the door)
Strengths: super snuggler, quick to forgive and move on, thankful spirit

Favorites of my 2 year old;
Foods: any fruit, french fries, any kind of snack
Songs: ABC or 5 Little Monkeys are sung all the way through each meal (we enjoy dinner theatre)
Shows: Mickey Clubhouse (as he calls it) but he doesn't really watch it, he has recently shown an interest in my fave movie for the boys Letter Factory! He talks about Toy Story a lot but doesn't actually watch it either
Books: really any book we are reading at that moment
Toys: sports stuff (golf clubs and balls, baseballs and bats, soccer), cars
Activities: anything outside, play doh, writing, attempting to use scissors

Words:
Ben is such a talker! He repeats anything we say and expecially is using some of Zeke's phrasing, such as "I'm not sure" "Mommy can't hold you, she's driving, stop crying, Zeke" and "I-don't-know". He can totally express anything he wants or needs now and does so using sentences instead of short phrases.

How Ben is like...
daddy- loves anything athletic and outside, must.eat.as.soon.as.awake
mommy- loves that paci (I had one when I was little and am quite partial to giving it to him now actually, it is a sanity saver), so grumpy when he wakes up

Treasuring Details of our 2 year old Ben
*still an early riser, sometimes at 4:30! Usually we can get him back to sleep, but that is only on the couch with us or with one of us laying on his floor while he is in his crib (yes both are super comfy options for mom and dad)
*wide emotional scale- meaning he expresses whatever he feels at that moment and expresses it clearly
*adores Zeke and always wants to be with him
*wears size 4 diapers (boy I was hoping to use up some of these left over 5s, but I'm gonna keep holding onto them just in case)
*misses his daddy so much while he is at work
*super, super clingy to mama, I can barely go into another room some days
*told me last weekend that his best friend is Lindsey (our friend from college who is in our small group, he seriously loves her)
*can still fit into 12 month clothes, but mostly wears 18 months. 12 month jeans are to small but the 18 months are so baggy it is funny
*wants snack all.day.long
*pretty decent eater, and will try most stuff once
*would live outside if we let him
*screams like a dinosaur (to which I respond that we scream outside and let him stand in the drive way until he is done- yeah our neighbors think we are weird)
*knows most colors and shapes and numbers
*this past weekend at church recognized the letter B on a sign
*I think we are ready to start potty training and will begin at the beginning of November
*we will be taking his paci this week :(
*can count to 10
*he has enough personality for about 10 people
*so observant, the other day I caught him with my contact case. He was dipping his finger into it (I had already put them in my eyes) and then putting his finger to his eye. Such a smartie!







He lights up with attention

Dressing up is a fave (even if it just with towels after bathtime)



Such a cutie!







Thursday, October 6, 2011

I want my presents

After cake, Zeke asked if he could help open presents. I told him they were Ben's presents and Ben responded with "I want my presents!"



Zeke is plotting his next move to take a gift
Ben hugged every person and said thank you after opening their gift
Quick aside: This is Max (he is 3 days older than Ben) while Ben opened each gift, Max asked me "Cutney, WHAAAAT is it?!" SO cute!


Benjamin LOVES money :)


oh and the chair was a gift that immediately was put to use


Rocking cool hat


After opening his gifts, Ben took 2 victory laps through our loop to show his excitement


Zeke found the books that were given and jumped right in

Learnin' the boys early how to mow

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Let them eat cake!

After the excitement of blowing out the candles, it was time to get down to business. I let Ben choose between a lion or monkey. He chose a lion. Oh, and I forgot to take family pictures before so I made Spence strip him before giving him his cupcake.



Can barely contain the excitement
OOOOO... look!

Big bite!

Zeke dove right in

Sophie chose a zebra

Stuffing his face

Sugar rush!

Incredibly messy

Icing feels cool when squeezed through fingers

Cake is serious business

Look at my belly!

This picture was just for Spence because of his fear of belly buttons

Icing beard

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Cupcakes

Animal cupcakes (made by moi, with some help from my neighbor girls!)
Close up

Monkey


Lion


Zebra


Happy birthday to you!


Big blow


"I Did It!!!!"


"Yay me!"


"Give me cake!"

Monday, October 3, 2011

bubble bubble toil and trouble

We way overfilled the bath and added tons of bubbles. The boys thought it was the greatest thing ever. They splashed and blew bubbles for the longest time.



simple joys



Ben's Birthday Bash take 1

We had Ben's party Saturday. I have a combination of about 4 cameras worth of pictures so this cuteness is gonna have to doled out over a few days.
We did a Wild Animal Theme because Ben likes animals but also he is our wild animal. He told us leading up to the party he was going to be a lion at his party. (No, I was a mean mama and didn't let him dress up in a costume)

After everyone arrived, we played Pin the Nose on the Lion.


Zeke refused to wear the glasses
Zeke had to try to precisely fit the nose exactly into the spot

He even ripped off his name to make it fit better


Ben took a turn and loved the glasses

Rockstar!

Such a ham!

Max's turn!

Maddie's turn!!!

Sophie's turn!!

Finished product

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Countdown

Zeke loves learning. The boy is a nerd. He adores reading and asks questions about everything. It thrills me to watch him soak everything up. He mastered letters and their sounds before he was two. I totally credit this to Letter Factory dvd. If you do not have it get it. He is even starting to sound words out. He can type familiar words on the computer when we sound them out. So far, he has typed Zeke, Ben, Mommy, Daddy, and YaYa. He is also interested in numbers. We recently found Math Circus also by LeapFrog, and of course it was love at first sight. Something new I want us to start working on is actually writing his letters and numbers. One way to do this is writing them in chalk and having him trace them in another color of chalk. He loves it and is doing really well.



Blast-off!