"What's Gonna Work?"

While watching an episode of "Between the Lions" today Benjamin learned the words "pot" and "poke." The letter "p" was being featured and he really liked the storyline where the little boy had to fetch a 3-legged pot from his grandmother's house to bring back home for his mother to make potato soup (with peppers, parsley, and some other p-word I can't remember). Benjamin has been waaay into potatoes and soup lately so it was very serendipitous that the show was about both of these favorites. We got a pot and spatula out of the kitchen so he could make his own soup. He ended up creating a fabulous Block soup. Dee-lish! Very colorful and hearty. He loved stirring it up and feeding everybody, smiling as we expressed how yummy it was.

When Henry got home we talked about the two new words he learned today and thought we should make an effort to each teach him at least one new word a day. Since I was ahead of the game with two, Henry had to think of a good one. He decided to teach Benjamin the word "spatula" since it fell right in line with the theme of the day and what he was using to stir and feed us his soup. After several attempts at getting him to say it we figured it was maybe a bit too late and a bit too long of a word and we would try it again later.

We all snuggled into the bed to do our nightly sleepy-time routine. Benjamin likes to lay on me and kind of hang off the bed. I usually just reign him back in but tonight Henry rescued us as I yelled, "Daddy, help us!" And Henry sang a line of the Wonder Pets theme song, "What gonna work? Teamwork!" And Benjamin says back, "Teamwork!" So Henry got his word in before the day was done. And it was a nice word to end the day on.

On another Wonder Pets note Benjamin also said the word "honey" tonight for the first time while watching the Bee episode. But we can't take credit for that one.

Happy 21-Month Birthday, Benjamin Bug!

Okay, so a whole month has gone by with no posts. A lot has happened this month. We lost Bum Bum, Ellie and Timber's baby dog and Benjamin's good friend. He still looks around for her when we mention her name and says "Good Girl!" So that has been hard. And I worked extra on some freelance projects plus lots of doctors appointments for Halmuni aka "Mahni." So with all that going on I realize that I used FaceBook a little more frequently to update people on Benjamin. Mostly through pictures. But here are a few posts that I grabbed from my FB page that happened between 20 and 21 months old.

strange to be called "Mom" & "Dad" by our baby. Still want to be "Mommy" & "Daddy."
August 20 at 10:16am

Had a wonderful family date tonight. Benjamin played on the swings, monkey bars, and slide for the first time!
August 29 at 8:40pm

Feeling like the world is different without the Bum Bum. We love and miss you, Baby Dog.
August 31 at 4:06pm

In more current Benjamin news his shoes from See Kai Run were delivered this afternoon. He loved opening the boxes and seeing them, all the while saying "shoes! shoes! shoes!" He wore them for most of the late afternoon and evening and when Mahni and I tried to take them off he said, "No! Mine!" and tried to run away. The baby likes his shoes and who can blame him? They are really cute! We'll try to get a good pic of them up soon. Thanks Poppy & Mahni for the early Christmas gift!

We love you, Benjamin Bug. We can't say it enough.

Love,
Mom & Dad