October/November

Cute things Benjamin has said:

I saw something on the counter Lamoni forgot for work and I said out loud "Daddy's in big trouble!" Benjamin looked up from his work quickly and said "I'm in big trouble?? Oh, Daddy's in big trouble. WHEW!" Haha I guess it's a good thing that worries him.

Santa came out the weekend after Halloween at the mall! We happened to be there during a slow time so the worker invited the longing-looking Benjamin to chat with Santa. He is still bashful around new people/situations so he stared at Santa with big eyes and an open mouth and didn't answer a single question Santa asked him. Santa told him when he thought of what he wanted for Christmas he could come back. He was such a sweet Santa. Well, that's all Benjamin could talk about afterwards. He told me he wanted a tractor for Christmas and would tell Santa. So we went back a little later, waited our turn and he went right up to Santa and said "I want a tractor please." As we left the mall Benjamin said, "We need to go back to Santa because he didn't give me my tractor yet!"

During General Conference one of the speakers had a glare off of his face. It looked shiny so Benjamin asked about it. I explained about the light and that's just what happens. Benjamin said, "He needs to wear some makeup to help it!"

At Joy School Liz told me that all the boys were comparing their dads' heights. "My dad's as tall as a giant!" "Yeah, well my dad is as tall as a mountain!" etc. Benjamin excitedly exclaimed, "My dad is almost as tall as my mom!!" Haha! To be fair, he is 3 inches taller than me, and one of the other Joy School dads is shorter than him. It's still funny to hear things from a kid's perspective, though.

While I was shopping with Peter in the Ergo and Benjamin in the cart, Peter spit at Benjamin as we passed by him! It was his way of initiating a conversation with him and he joyfully laughed when Benjamin responded. Peter stares at Benjamin all the time and Benjamin loves the attention. He laughs and laughs at his antics. It's especially fun to hear in the car as Benjamin makes silly sounds and goofs off and Peter rolls with laughter.

I had Peter in the Bumbo on top of the table while we were eating. He almost back-flipped out of it trying to get something. I thought it was cute and all until a couple days later when I heard a friend of mine's daughter at Peter's age did the same thing but she fell out and fractured her skull!! So we don't put Peter on the table anymore...

Benjamin had his second cello performance at one of my studio recitals. It was only a half hour long! My studio recitals had gotten up to 1.5 hours during the high time. It's odd to have so few students. Benjamin played Bob is a Noisy Bird and announced his name and piece just like everyone else (we practiced it a gazillion times). I've been surprised both times he has performed because he's normally so bashful. I'm careful not to say that in front of him because that's not how I want him to view himself, but it's true.

His cello group class has their first performance next weekend but we're quadruple booked, so he isn't able to play. They also asked me to help with a parents' panel for the lab school that morning that I'm not able to. It's such a busy season! The New Mexico Philharmonic asked me to sub for 3 of their concerts this next month. I turned 2 of them down for different conflicts and accepted 1. I went into it thinking it was fine and it turns out that Thursday night rehearsal is during our stake primary presidency training (I was just called from 1st counselor to president) and a business meeting. Friday night rehearsal conflicts with our ward group dinners that I was excited to participate in. Saturday rehearsal is part of the quardrupled booked time - I'm supposed to be teaching, the cello concert, a grand opening for someone's business we're helping and saddest of all my niece's baptism. :-( I didn't find that out until I had already accepted the gig. Then the Saturday evening performance coincides with the adult session of stake conference! Not a single thing was there when I said yes. I'm really excited to play this concert, though, so at least it will be a good one. A solo violinist is coming to play Prokofiev's 2nd violin concerto, which I played in college, so that will be fun to hear.

Oops, just realized I forgot to post this so it's all a little outdated.