"Cawo...sell"

Last night when James got home he surprised me by saying that he knew I probably didn't want to cook and we could go out to dinner, yay! He told me to pick a place close to the mall because one of the ways we got Ben to behave during dinner was by letting him know we would be able to go on the "Cawosell" if he behaved. It works! We decided on Red Lobster, had a great dinner, I think we could pretty much go anywhere and I would be happy since it seemed like quite a long time where we really couldn't take Ben out to eat unless we wanted a screaming Tazmanian devil along for the ride. Not to bring up bad times but to show how happy I am about this new lease on life, about 6 months ago we left a restaurant before we had even finished our dinner because Ben was so out of control. Last night Ben was pretty good and it helped the minute he started standing on the booth instead of sitting in his booster to just remind him about something he reminds me of about a thousand times a day, the "Cawosell". After dinner we made good on our promise and off we went, to see the vast array of animals going round and round that frighten and excite our Son equally and he, for some reason, wants to continue to go on it. Must be like scary movies, you want to see them even though your eyes are covered 99% of the time.

Making cupcakes

James LOVES cupcakes so we decided to make him some, he ate 4 as soon as we put the frosting on them. I sure enjoyed making them with my little helped, he really thought the ritual of eating some of the batter was fun, although it was a bit messier than if I hadn't had help it was great to see Ben's facial expressions!

Peace and Quiet

After going "swimmem" today at the gym and then working out we headed to the grocery store, which is something I have dreaded doing with Ben, but today was different. I have always, in the past, had to give him some treat or put him in the car cart or figure out a way to keep him calm and quiet but today I told him that we were just ducking in for a couple of items and he could bring a car with him. I sat him in the front of a cart and he took my car key and played with it the entire time. Opening and closing the key part, hitting the little metal knob to open it and then handing it to me to close it for him. It completely had his attention and he was perfect!
He is growing up.
This is bittersweet for me because my baby isn't really a baby anymore...the things that I thought would never end are seeming to, like not being able to go out for dinner. He was actually well-behaved at dinner AT A RESTAURANT last night because he had a new Ernie toy that he could play with and some crayons.
Again I tell myself that this is the very best stage of his life, so far, like I do each and every single day. My sweet, sweet boy makes my life full of the most overwhelming joy when he gives me kisses, smiles and screams "Mommy!" just because he's happy to see me. He fills my heart with sheer happiness that I get to wake up everyday and be his "Mommy!".

Playdate with "Awen"!

Spaghetti!

Ha!

I just noticed that in most of my recent posts Ben is wearing the same shirt, coincidentally, he does have more than one shirt.

He colored himself!

I looked over at Benjamin being quiet and coloring away to see that he had not only colored his new Giant Diego coloring book but also himself! Let's see how "washable" these markers really are!

Proud Mom

I have to write about how proud Ben made me today. He's too little to know if anyone has a disability and he has no barrier about who he will say "hi" to, they could be of any race, sex, etc. but today a girl came over to get in the pool using her walker, she was 12, her Mother later told me, and Ben cheerfully greeted her with a big huge smile and a "hi!". Her face lit up like there was no tomorrow and he Mother told me that he was so sweet, that some kids pick on her and one girl earlier had asked what her walked was in a mean, spiteful way. She said it made her day and also the young girl's day and that I must be a friendly, cheerful Mom to set that kind of example for him. Wow, what a heartfelt moment, I hope our sweet angel never let's things get in the way of his wonderfully kind personality and that he always extends that effort to make people happy, he makes me the proudest Mother in the world!

Cute

I must tell Benjamin he's cute pretty often because right before his nap he gave me a kiss and said "Mommy" and of course, as always, I replied "Yes Ben?" and he said with a grin as wide as the sky "You're cute" which sounded more like "You cute". What a little sweetie!

This was a poem that my Aunt gave to my Mother when she was pregnant with me and as I just came across it I realized how very poignant it is.

We are seeing Benjamin's personality coming through more and more each day. His sweet soul and gentle nature. He is so inquisitive and active, so smart and always so very present. He tells us what he needs, a lesson we could all learn from a Child. He says "say mo (more) please" rather than just "more please" and he says "Mo strawsies" for strawberries. He talks up a storm and hearing what he has to say is such a gift because communicating with words from a 2 and a half year old is not only some very funny material but helps take away the guessing game we've had to play. Last night he kept saying "hi" to the Moon, we would go for walks at night and point everything out but to hear him say it more than a week later means he remembered us saying hi to the moon on our walk. He also asks us what's wrong and why we are crying which is his way of repeating what we are asking him, things like that make us laugh, little Mr. Compassion.


On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Hot Hot Hot

Now that the weather has reached 100 and is approaching 110 our activities will be limited to indoor play so today we decided to check out the new Climber at the Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed our first of many days this summer spent playing there! It certainly is good for Ben to learn how to share with the other kids, he had a bit of a meltdown when it came to sharing a pretend car you could sit in. It also expands his imagination and allows him to play the way 2 year olds do, lots of fun make believe!

Grillin' time

James was off on Monday so we had a nice, relaxing day, grilled and Ben ran through the sprinkler. A good time was had by all!

Memorial day weekend

Mom, Dad and Julie came out for a visit over the weekend and Aunt, Uncle, Paul, Grace, Doug and Nick came over for a barbecue. Ben enjoyed all of the attention and had such a good time with everyone!