Last month Ben turned two and we all enjoyed looking at his icy blue eyes as they looked happily at his train birthday cake. He is getting so big and grown up. As he continues in the journey through his second year of life, Ben's blog posts will focus more on the fun things he is doing each month.
Health: Ben had his two year check up on February 15th. At that check-up his growth stats are as follows: weight--26 pounds and height 35.5 inches. He is tall, skinny and very healthy. He made it through two years of life without ever being on an antibiotic or going to the doctor for anything but well checks. Hopefully he won't visit the doctor again until he turns 3.
The Not-so-fun: The last month or so Ben has started to test his boundaries. It is true that our angelic little boy will do things that he is told not to do--shocking, I know. It is probably a combination of him getting older along with the arrival of his little brother. Two prime examples of this are mealtimes when he spits food out on the floor or when he dumps water out of the tub during his bath. Andrew and I are both learning how to navigate this stage and a friend of ours with a toddler told us it, "is about time," that Ben is displaying some less than perfect behavior.
The FUN! Ben fills our days with laughter. He talks all of the time and is using sentences with more than three words. He uses adjectives to describe things and is trying to figure out how to use pronouns. When we walk down stairs he will often say, "Carry you Ben?" His language explosion is so much fun to witness and it reinforces our decision to keep TV watching limited to the occasional Youtube viewing of a garbage truck or train. He loves books and picks up so many words/ideas from what he is reading. Every few days I do send a few books on vacation (under the couch) because 200 pages of Curious George or 100 Nursery Rhymes get a little exhausting. Yesterday we were looking for a toy and we found a few vacationing books and Ben exclaimed, "Books vacation all done!" (as you can imagine the curious little monkey was back in the rotation).
Hanging out with Ben everyday is a joy as his laughter fills our house and his actions make his parents laugh. One of my favorite Ben things is whenever he walks backwards it is accompanied by a, "beep, beep, beep," like a truck. He loves to get dizzy to Bodypump music while I am learning new releases, he likes to crawl under things such as the dogs or our legs and calls them dog tunnels and leg tunnels. He hangs out in the swing or bouncy seat occasionally which makes everyone laugh.
With Caleb as a part of our lives and gross winter weather hanging on, we have been stuck in the house more than usual. The result of this is a love of running errands or going on mommy or daddy dates. He discovered the car carts at the grocery store and he happily makes car noises while we shop and if we bump the cart he appropriately accompanies the crash with a "BANG!" He loves special treats from local bakeries. He is anxious for the weather to clear up so he can go for runs with either Andrew and I and will climb in and out of the "hingle Bob" (single Bob stroller) in anticipation. We are both waiting for Caleb to get bigger so we can try out the double.
He is adjusting to having Caleb in the house and tries to be a big helper. He says hi to Caleb when he sees him and is accepting the fact that Caleb gets to hang out in my lap--the minute my lap is free however, it is quickly filled with a toddler and a book. We have tried hard to keep his routine as consistent as possible which has helped with the transition. I treasure the quiet moments I have with him before bed or nap where he and I hang out, read books and sing songs. He loves to be sung to and often makes requests such as, "Jesus loves Me," "Noah boat," "Splish Splash" and "Jesus Go." (A few of those are Deerfoot songs that I've had to learn.)
We are loving life as a family of four and it is exciting to see Ben take on his role of the big brother.
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