February Sayings Part 1 (most likely)

We had a 6 year old friend stay with us for a few days. Her school released during Benjamin's nap time (which we are religious about) so I asked Charity to come sit at my house while I picked up the friend. She's the one who told me this story. For any of you who know Benjamin on a personal level, you know the issues we've gone through with sleep. Most of the problems are gone, but he remains an extremely light sleeper (as in if the fork clinks on the bowl he wakes up and doesn't go back down). Yes, we tried the vacuum and music and all those tips, but have just learned to deal with it. Well, Katheryn makes little baby sounds of course at 7 months old. He must have heard her because all of a sudden Charity heard him yelling "Mama, baby Peter come out? Baby Peter come out??" He thought those baby sounds were from his little brother who must have come out of my stomach! lol Poor guy still has to wait 3.5 months!

Benjamin's whole body has been covered in awful eczema  that he scratches non-stop. He had it when he was a baby but we found an oil that helped get rid of it for over a year. It came back and the oil - as well as everything we've tried - isn't working. It's from his neck to his toes and is a constant mess of blood and scabs. He's going to have some awful scars. We're always trying to get him not to scratch, probably saying 20 times a day "don't scratch, Benjamin. Rub it!" Well, he was sitting on the toilet the other day and he yelled out "Mama, I'm scratching!!" I replied, "Don't scratch! Rub!" He responded, "Okay!!" Sometimes you just need someone to tell you something you already know.

I've been fighting a sore throat/cough thing. In the car I had a coughing/clearing throat attack. After it was done he said "Mama, you okay?" I said "Yes, I was just coughing." He replied in a matter of fact voice, "Oh. I thought you was choking."

A student's family recently gave us a red covered sandbox. We haven't put sand in it yet, but Benjamin likes to put his outside toys in it. The other day he was looking for a particular toy and said: "I think it's in the snow box".
"The what?"
"The ssssssnowbox" (sometimes I pretend I don't understand him when he doesn't say his "ss")
"The what?"
"The ssssssssnobox."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know, it's red." (goes to the window and points at it)
"Oh, the SAND box!" :-)

January Videos - 26 Months

"Down like a raindrop"

ABC puzzle - with a little bit of toddler ADD.

"Come at me bro!"

Playing Give Said the Little Stream on the ukulele. 

Give Said the Little Stream duet

Baby Bump

I was so good about taking a picture every single week when I was pregnant with Benjamin, but poor Peter isn't going to have many at all! This pregnancy is flying by. Here are a few I remembered to take. Today is my first day in maternity pants! All of mine from Benjamin were either summer capris or too big since I gained so much more weight with him. I've gone to many stores to try on pants but hadn't found any I liked enough to buy til this week. Old Navy wins! I tried on 4 pairs and loved all 4 - that doesn't even happen when you're not pregnant. I got 2 of them online and love them so much. I told Lamoni I'll be sad not to be pregnant anymore since I won't be able to wear them. I noticed Peter hasn't been moving around as much this afternoon since I don't have a button encroaching on his space. I'm sure he appreciates that.

After looking at the only 3 pregnancy pictures I have, it occurred to me that I must like stripes!

Benjamin Sayings

Benjamin's imagination has been running wild. On the way home the other day out of the blue he asked, "Mama, can we go to Africa?" I told him we couldn't because we have to go over the ocean and we needed a plane. He said "I'm a pilot and can fly the plane!" I told him I was too scared to go on an airplane flown by a 2 year old. He told me I could get a big airplane with a different pilot and he will fly his baby airplane. When we got out of the car at UPS he said "Are we at Africa??" Later I told him we had to go somewhere and he said, "No! I want to go to Africa!!"

He woke up the other day from his nap yelling "Mama, I see a monster! Look, there's a monster!!" I went to see what was going on and he was standing in his crib pointing at the wall. He was mostly excited, not scared. I couldn't find anything that resembled a monster so I let him down and asked him to touch the monster. He touched the pure white wall and said, "The monster is right there. It's huuuuuge!!"

Other cute things he says:

Come at me bro!

In response to me pretending to eat him "No, Mama! You can't eat peoples. It's not nice!"

(out of the blue) "Mom, there's frankincense on my red ball." I had to ask him 3 times to repeat it because it was so random.

Whenever something happens and we make any sort of reaction he says "What happened? Mama, what's happening?" He always wants to know what's going on.

We watched a movie with some friends the other night. A man had been in a car accident and Benjamin was so worried about him, as well as asking tons of questions when he saw the wife crying. Our friends commented on how empathetic he is which made me happy because that is one of my goals as a mother to instill in him.

He loves baby Peter. He will bring him toys, food and talk to him. He constantly brings him up. "Look Mama! It's a baby rock for baby Peter. The big rock is for me." etc.

We were looking at his animal book and I was telling him about the different animals. Everything I told him he responded with "yeah, I learned that at school." Haha! He must hear Lamoni say that.

January

Trying out cellos - the shop finally called and said they have one in his size! I think it's still on the big side, though.

"I Love to See the Temple" - One of Benjamin's favorite songs

Holding Uriah - getting excited for baby Peter!

Working hard on his computer and phone.

We got to go shopping with baby Katheryn.

The ocean is right there!

Practicing cello. It started out with 99% play 1% work but it's slowly adjusting. He asks to play multiple times a day. We are working mainly on following directions, holding the cello with his knees, flat feet - none of which are demonstrated in this picture. :-)

"I'm 8 years old"

Coincidentally we got stomachaches this night. It could have been because we had a bunch of desserts after a student recital, no dinner and then shared a Sunday. Hm. We learned our lesson!

Playing with Leila. Lamoni had to run dinner to someone while I was teaching in the other room so he put on Netflix and this is how he kept the computer from them!

On our way to California at a Hopi rest stop. Joy was with him on the horse while we were around the corner. A man came up and gave her a quarter to turn on the horse soon after this picture. He has never been on something that moved like that so he freaked out and we heard a loud shriek! He jumped into Joy's arms and we thought he would be traumatized but he talked about how fun it was the rest of the trip.

Look at that cute face!!

Poor Benjamin had a fever and was not feeling well at all (we went 4 days in a row with less than 5 hours of sleep each night!) but he was still a good sport and had fun at the beach.

We got to visit Nana while we were in LA (we went for a business function). She really likes the new assisted living home she's in.

One of the many yummy dinners Lamoni made.

Sunday dinner at Grandma Kara and Papa's house.