Almost Two

As I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog a time or twenty, Benjamin, my baby is almost two years old. He's smart and happy and cute. He's mischievous and gets into trouble. Right now he has a bruise on his cheek, another on his forehead, and yet another on his chin. The cheek and forehead came when he tried to ride his Choo Choo ride on toy down.the.stairs. (I've tried the baby gate approach, but he climbs over it.) The chin was last night when he was climbing out of his brother's bed and bumped it on the way down.

Ben climbs onto the bathroom sink and turns on the water. When I rush to go get him down he looks at me like "what???" and says "teeeeeeth" and shows me his toothbrush.

Ben is in a toddler bed far before Mommy was ready (last kid should stay in the crib til their 3 at least I figured) because he wouldn't stay in the bed anyway, so we thought at least in a big boy bed he wouldn't harm himself. Although he never got hurt climbing out of the crib, but I knew the day would come.

Ben has been escaping into the garage for quite some time now. He's been able to open doors since we moved into this house. We tried door handle locks, but he just broke through them, so we started locking the door leading to the garage. Today, he unlocked that door. This is terrifying to me.

Ben has decided it is time to go pee pee in the potty. He's not potty trained by any stretch, but at every diaper change, and other random times, he'll announce "PEE PEE" and run to the little potty chair. He actually does pee, which is pretty amazing in my book.

I know I am still that mom that gushes over every little thing her baby does. It's probably annoying. You'd think after 3 other kids going through the same stages that I would be less amazed by every little thing. Somehow, it's every bit as incredible the fourth time around.

Ben in Washington DC in May (I think) of 2007, only a few months old.

Ben on Thanksgiving entertaining everyone.

Last night "reading" when he should have been sleeping.

Methinks the Twos Might Be Terrible

Ben is an individual. He has such an opinion about everything and it's a teensy bit hard to manage sometimes. He's in an age with almost no impulse control, and it's hard to enforce the rules amongst his SHRIEKING.

He's gaining words daily, though he still does not have very many. However, NO, he has down, and uses it very often and emphatically.

Recently, we were at a friend's house and he was sitting in a chair. Zack tried to get in the chair with him and Ben put both arms out and declared "NO" with a kind of growl like I've never heard out of such a little guy. I couldn't stop laughing

Last night I was bathing him and he ripped the wash cloth out of my hand and declared "NO!" His eyes said the rest "I'll do it myself thanks so much!" Then, it was even worse when I was trying to get him out of the tub. "NONONONONO," complete with kicking and screaming. Ay yi yi.

As I was getting his diaper on it was "Go WAY, go WAY" Now, we aren't 100 % certain that he is actually saying go away but it sure does sound like it. However, he'll often walk through the house saying in a sing songy voice "goooo way, go way, go waaaay" as if he's trying out the phrase. Where on earth did he come up with that? Anyway, after the angry tirade of "go away" I got an even angrier (more angry?) chant of "No NO NO NO" as I put him in his pajamas.

If this is 20 (and a half) months I'm not sure what I'm in for when he's actually two.