I thought it was crazy how many changes babies make in the first year of life, but it just gets crazier and crazier! When they're babies, I feel like the changes are mostly physical...but now I feel like each day I am amazed by how much Bennett is talking and learning! Don't get me wrong, he is a sass sometimes, but he is also loving, curious, energetic and playful. I love this boy so much!
Bennett's talking is insane. Really. I guess I'm not around too many kids his age, but he just seems to catch on to everything, and he can reuse a phrase he heard me use once, with the right tone and everything. Yesterday I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Oh well!" and then he did the exact thing later in a situation that made sense to say that! I feel like a couple times a week Brad and I will look at each other like, "Did he just say that?!" about something Bennett said. We've started working a little bit on letters and numbers. He's got all his basic shapes and colors down. He only recognizes the number 2, and can count to 12 or 13 before he starts repeating, "Seventeen, nineteen, seventeen, nineteen!" He recognizes and can tell you the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, M, P, and T. He will say when he sees a sign at the library, "Look mommy! C for Cooper! Where is B for Bennett?" And he'll say "I love my letters!" (Can you tell he's a teacher's kid?!?!). Bennett also still really loves reading and now he's more into books with a story to them. He also loves to analyze the pictures as you read and stares at them hard. He also will correct you if you're wrong. It hasn't happened too much yet but I can see where this is going once he's doing high school math and I can't remember how to do it. He'll say something like, "What does the walrus say?" and having no clue I'll just try my best to make a noise like what I think a walrus might, and he'll say, "No - that's not it!" and laugh like I'm hilariously wrong.
Bennett loves Eleanor. Really. He gives her lots of hugs and kisses (many unprompted). He loves to wake her up from her nap and say, "Hi sweetie girl!" He always picks up this one framed picture we have of Eleanor and carries it around saying, "It's my favorite!" He also tries to parent her which is really cute. "No eating your bib Eleanor!" or "Eleanor no like baby food." He also likes to "hold" her, like the picture below. But now that she can move around a bit he sometimes gets frustrated that she won't just lay there. He also sometimes gets upset if she grabs his toys, so we're working on sharing and letting Eleanor play too.
Bennett has a crazy amount of energy. We'll get home from the zoo and I'm thinking, "This is good. He'll be ready to take a long nap," when suddenly he starts running around chasing Cooper like we've been sitting around all day doing nothing! He loves to jump/hop and climb. At the park, there's no holding him back. I've found myself laying Eleanor on the grass so I can quickly get behind him as he pulls himself up on something that I'm sure is meant for 7 year olds. But I can't make it obvious I'm there to help, or I'll get a "I do it myself!" Everything lately is, "No! I do it myself!" Then I patiently wait as he tries to put on his shoes or climb into his carseat and finally after a few minutes he'll say, "Help me please!" *sigh* At least he's polite, right? Actually that's something I've been working hard on, because I hate it when a fourth grader bumps into me and doesn't say anything. So now my two year old will fall down running and get up and say to himself, "Oh - sorry!" Haha.
He is really really loving. He will randomly hug me or say, "I love you mommy!" Without me saying it first. Probably my favorite thing is pretending to be asleep and having him kiss me awake. So sweet! :) I think he's getting more attached to me now that I'm home with him all the time. And he has a hard time with transitions, so if Brad comes home sometimes he'll say, "No Daddy, no coming home!" But then after a few minutes he's all Daddy's boy. He loves wrestling with Brad, tickling, and being on his shoulders.
Eating is not going so well. He's pretty picky and often won't try things, although we have been having some random luck with meat lately (like brats, grilled chicken...). He has started to like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so we have that a lot. He is all about drinking out of a cup with no top lately, which 90% of the time ends in a little spilling. Then we have to change clothes, because he can't stand to be dirty or wet. Ben loves snacks, and I've been trying to cut down on snacking so he'll eat better at meals. But if he doesn't eat for a few hours he will get really crabby (read: Hangry). We've started a morning chore chart because breakfast takes So.Long. Like an hour...he's up and down in his chair and distracted... So now if he eats his breakfast, gets dressed, and brushes his teeth he can watch a show.
Also he is definitely a toddler. Tantrums/whining/begging oh my! We do timeouts but they are less effective and so we're currently looking for advice on this if you've got any! :) I think I hear, "I need that!" a billion times a day. Which is probably why I've given in to letting him watch 1-2 TV shows per day....I get a little peace and quiet. His favorite shows are Daniel Tiger, Curious George, and Wonder Pets. Daniel Tiger is great because there are songs to go with everything. So we have a clean up song, a sad song....I hear there's a great potty song which I'll have to look up because we need to potty train soon! I'm so sick of changing two sets of diapers each day. Especially since Bennett can verbalize when he's pooping but refuses to actually sit on the potty to do it. He has sat on it only a few times and always pushes then says, "It's too hard," and gives up.
Bennett is such a big boy lately! I can hardly believe it. Time just flies by so quickly with these little ones. I definitely lose my patience sometimes being with him all the time, but it's worth it for getting to see him grow and change every day.
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