"Benja"

Couple of quick Ben stories:

*He has been so amazing with the transition to becoming a brother. Recently, though, he has taken to acting like a little baby on and off throughout the day. I don't know if its just a random coincidence or if it is part of his acceptance of Molly, but it has been his favorite game for a couple of weeks now. He likes me to feed him bites of yogurt, and to carry him like a baby. He also loves to make "baby sounds" which are really just (incredibly annoying) very high pitched squeaks. I don't really mind much, though, because he has done so well so far, and if he needs to do this to keep processing it all, then fine by me. But I sure won't mind when this stage is over!

*He likes the taste of Children's Motrin. We gave him some this week when he was running a fever from an ear infection (thankfully this was his first one in 18 mos!! So glad his ears have generally been fine). But now that he is fine, we won't give him any "purple medicine" and he is not pleased about this. Tonight in the car, Aaron and I were explaining to him that he could only have "purple medicine" if he had a fever. So he asked if we were going to put the thermometer in his mouth when we got home to see if he had a fever and could have purple medicine. I said, "Sure! Why not?" So then, in a fit of inspiration, he proceeded to stick his hand in his mouth and announce, "You know what? I feel a little tiny something in there! I think it's a little fever!" (It didn't work...no purple medicine for him tonight;)

*We have come to the end of an era with Ben. Though there are still a few precious words that he mispronounces because he is so little, most of his speech is quite clear. But our favorite mis-pronouncement has just left us. Since he could ask for it by name, Ben has been calling yogurt "yogRET". But this week, he has figured out the g and the r, and is now exclusively calling it "yogurt". I will admit that I am sad to see it go. It was such a sweet little word. And since he still LOVES yogurt and eats it every day, it was so cute to hear it every day!

*He is still generally a GREAT kid, but I will admit that he has been a little touchy lately. I read somewhere that some kids don't do the terrible two's, they start early around 18 mos, and then are good until 3. And I am starting to think Ben is one of these kids. 18 mos to 21 mos was a little rough, and now that he is almost 3, we are seeing quite a bit of struggling and whining. There is almost always a clear reason (i.e. hungry, tired, having to do a lot of non-preferred things, etc.) but he is definitely a little "squirrely" as we like to call him.

*He is still absolutely amazing so much of the time, and is still a source of so much joy to us!! I do so love that little guy!!!