Animal Noises

This video features a very truncated version of the dinosaur noise. Imagine it longer, louder and more high pitched.

Things that blow my mind

Thing 1: One day on the playground there were a couple teenagers hanging out behind some of the equipment. They weren't smoking or doing anything besides talking, so it didn't bother me. When Ben wandered over they said hi and continued their conversation while he played in the little tree house. I sat down nearby to keep an eye on him and after about a minute I realized that the teenagers really didn't want me there. They were probably 16 years old and though I may have been closer to their age than their parents' age, I was An Authority and thus cramping their style.

Thing 2: When it's raining or too hot/cold to play outside sometimes we'll go to Monkey Joe's, which has inflatable slides and bounce houses. Last time we were there I realized that they were playing all 80's and 90's music over the sound system. It made sense because that's when most of the parents were kids or teenagers and would thus appreciate the music. But it's so weird to be marketed to as a parent. I'm still not used to it.

What's Chewbacca?... Wookie!

I've tried to keep a list of all the words Ben can say, but they're coming fast and furious now so it's impossible to track. He says probably 60+ individual words and maybe half a dozen two word phrases. His current favorite is "go outside." As Heath said on Twitter, "When you're used to hearing only single words, two-word phrases sound profound."

Ben's also learning animal noises but some of them are pretty loose interpretations. I'll try to post a video soon, because they're just weird. As revenge for Heath's "Lessons in Annoying Your Parents" to Colin, our friends Pat and Beth taught Ben this god-awful dinosaur noise. It's a high pitched screech suitable for frightening animals or peeling paint off your walls. Of course, these are also the people who taught their son, when asked, "What does a Shatner say?" to respond with, "Khaaaaaaaaan!"

Heart attack commencing...

In the last month, assisted by a growth spurt, Ben has become a very good climber. He's starting to get the idea that he can climb onto a chair to get an item out of reach. This is a Very Bad Thing. Almost nothing in the house is safe now, especially Ben himself.

Yesterday was the ultimate. I put him in his room while I took a shower, which I've done many times. This time, however, when I came back into the room he was sitting on top of his changing table, grinning from ear to ear. At first my mind boggled as to how he got up there on his own, and then I noticed his plastic chair pushed up against the diaper pail. The little sneak made himself a staircase!

From here it's only a short journey before he's jumping off the roof.

I knew I was blogging this the second it happened!

Last night we were at Ian and Bekah's celebrating the end of Ian's 27th year of life. Bekah's starting to show her pregnancy, so I thought it would be cute if we could get Ben to point at her stomach and say, "Baby." We were all sitting around the table and Ben wandered between Bekah's and my chair, so I pointed at her stomach and said, "Ben, look! Baby!" And instead of imitating me and pointing to Bekah's stomach he went around the table, pointed at Ian's stomach and said, "Baby!"

Whether he was commenting on Ian's physique or maturity level we'll never know.

He loves me, he loves me not...

For 9-12 months now Heath has been the obvious Favorite Parent. At first it didn't bother me at all and, in fact, I welcomed it because it meant I got a break when Heath got home. Lately, though, it's started to affect me. Ben's favoritism doesn't seem to be diminishing at all. If Heath's home Ben wants almost nothing to do with me*. Seriously, he bawls like it's the end of the world when Heath goes into the bathroom for a minute. It makes me feel like I'm some strange babysitter. I know he loves me and he clings to Heath because he doesn't see him all day. I choose to believe that since Ben and I are together all day he's extremely secure in our relationship so he takes me for granted. That only relieves a little of the sting when he's pushing me away, though.

Yesterday morning he woke up with a slight fever. Nothing worrisome. It barely got over 100 and today he's fine, but yesterday he was sluggish and just not feeling well. Before Heath left for work we were all in the kitchen. Ben walked up to me and said, "Up, up, up." Already that was strange because Heath was standing right there in Ben's line of sight and he came to me. I picked him up, figuring I was merely a vehicle to get to Heath, but he put his head down on my shoulder and snuggled in. And that's the way he stayed until Heath left. We spent much of the day on the couch watching cartoons and though I felt horribly guilty for letting him watch that much TV, it was so nice being the chosen parent for once.

Today he was back to his normal self and was barely consolable when Heath went upstairs to shower, but maybe next time he's sick I'll get another deliberate snuggle.


*Unless I'm engaged in an activity I don't want him involved in, such as cooking. Then he's all over me.

Wonderful Weekend

 

What a great weekend! We thought it was going to rain on Saturday, but it turned out to be beautiful so Ben and I went to watch hurling. Unfortunately Ben napped through Heath's game, but his team won so that was awesome! Here's hoping he's on a winning team this year (or at least not last place!). We spent the afternoon playing outside and after dinner we walked to the local ice cream shop. I love that we can walk places!

On Sunday we had no specific plans. Heath's parents' church is near our house, so they visit most Sunday afternoons. Nancy brought us an Easter basket and some delicious cupcakes and we had an Easter egg hunt for Ben in the backyard. It was fun, though Ben got distracted by each egg he found and was then reluctant to keep searching. He had an egg to fully explore, why would he want to find more?

We decided to have an impromptu barbecue so I headed to the grocery store for supplies. When I found that it was closed I had to think fast. What would be open? Whole Foods, the atheists' market! :) And they would definitely have Boca Burgers for Nancy, Don and Todd. So we had our barbecue and It Was Good.

Uncle Todd juggling eggs

Found it!

Licking violets 

(because he's a toddler, that's why)

Grandma's cute bunny cupcakes

Deliciously messy

I was That Mother again

On Monday Ben and I spent some time with friends at the playground. When it was time to go home I decided to make Ben walk back to the car instead of carrying him. It's something I've been doing more of, with mixed results. Yesterday he was wasn't in the mood, but I decided to make him do it anyway. Because I'm the Mom, that's why. He'll run down the park path all the time if we're still playing, but as soon as he realizes it's time to go, he wants nothing to do with running or walking. It's not that he cares about leaving, it's that he's LAZY. So I started walking to the car and he was hugging my legs and whining and I kept saying, "We're walking to the car. I'll hold your hand." But he wasn't having it. Eventually he just went into tantrum mode.

So he's screaming and lying on the ground and that's about the time another mother walked by with two kids, pushing a stroller. She looked at him and then gave me a look that said, "I feel for you. I've been there." We shared a smile and then she was gone. And though my kid was bawling on the sidewalk it made me feel very serene and connected.