Benjamin Babble IV

Scene: In the garage and B is on his scooter (which always lasts about 4.7 seconds). Don't be impressed.

Me: "Where are you going?"

B: "I am going to storytime."

Me: "It's too far to go on a scooter (about 3.5 miles)."

B: "I can handle far away."

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Scene: Sitting on top of the playground equipment at a local park. Benjamin insists I play. He has just handed me the Bud Light blue football necklace we picked up as swag from a local geocache (that I didn't know was that when he asked if he could have it). I stick the necklace between two frisbees and start jiggling it around to make noise.

B: "This is not a time for play." (Anyone want to continue on from the Go Dog, Go! book? -- literature is powerful, hah!)

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Scene: B is in the backseat of the car playing with the old school GPS while I'm driving. I've recently started turning it on and sending us to destinations (I generally already know directions) to occupy him, because he loves the technology and maybe to teach him left and right

B: "Fix this, Mom. It's making me a crabby pattie." (I call Claire that when she's being crabby.)

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Scene: Sitting on the deck eating dinner together.

B: "What is Claire having for dinner?"

C: "Gobble, gobble."

B: "Are you a chicken, Claire?"

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Scene: Claire returns from the living room with a small bouncing ball. She attempts to balance it on her head and then let it fall (having seen me do this before).

B: "That's cute, Lady Bird."

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Scene: At the dining table finishing reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

B: "We will read that again tomorrow."

Me: "We like that book, don't we?"

B: "I want that book again."

[Claire hears the words I want and immediately assumes he's going to snatch it from her hands. This time he wasn't going for it.]

C: Growling, "Noooo!"

B: "Claire is being a crabby pattie because she is not sharing with me. She is not being kind. Claire, we need to be kind to each other." (Please see the latest Instagram video of Benjamin being "kind".)

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Scene: Claire spills blueberries out of the container and all over the floor.

B: "I will clean them up. I will go get my sweeper thing." (Cleaning is an extremely rare unicorn-like sighting in our home.)

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Scene: Benjamin is attempting to fork his mini penne pasta alone at the table.

B: "Oh, they are falling off. Mom, my bites are not playing fair. They fall off my fork."

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Visit From Gawbee

June brought Gawbee on an airplane, and also a date night for us! As always, it's so nice to have family in town to love on the kids and spend our time with.

Gawbee treated Benjamin to a movie date. He was thrilled. Especially since she actually put quarters in the arcade games.

Arboretum exploring and dinner in cute little chairs in the children's garden.

We even took Gawbee on a geocaching adventure in the woods and spotted 3 deer and hundreds of frogs. One of those frogs still lives under our deck.

Birth Order Baby Drama

We had friends staying at our house a couple weeks ago for about 5 days. They have two kids, 7 and 4 (...and they're going on a crazy road trip from California > Florida and back with those kids!).

They're pretty skilled at just about everything. They both swim proficiently and ride bikes and the older can read and is partially fluent in Spanish. They're awesome.

The oldest is also very cooperative and listens the first time. He's well-mannered and behaves and is typical of a firstborn.

Their youngest is a little wilder, tends to be more mischievous, must be asked many times to complete a task and often will answer with the naughty "no" instead of being agreeable. Typical second born.

We have local friends whose kids are identical and identical in ages, too. Sure wish they were in town to meet! Their family dynamics and similarities are off the charts (Marriotts!).

My friend (the mom) commented about Benjamin not being typical of a firstborn and more of a second born. And while he isn't a firstborn (and she knows), what does that say about birth order family dynamic when the firstborn died at birth? While Benjamin is not the firstborn, he very well should be assuming the role, right? He's never lived with an older sibling and it hasn't changed his daily dynamic. Is it in the gene makeup of the kid? Was he born with second-born traits because he actually is the second born?

The speculations and what-ifs of life with Andrew continue always. It makes me angry knowing that I'll never know what the family dynamic would be like if Andrew were here. What I do know is that if my second born had his firstborn brother here, things would be a whole lot sweeter (and the second born might be more mellow). Parenting after loss is all kinds of loaded. Among the many things I wish I had after losing Andrew, I wish I just knew what he would've been like and how he would have shaped our family. The ever gaping hole will always be present.

Can you guess their wild card? You easily know mine. ;)

Microblog: The Claire Tuck

Claire has this precious way of expressing she loves you and finds comfort in you. When holding her, she pulls both arms in and tucks them down, as to give up full control, in total trust. It also ensures you can't grasp her arms well to put her down. She's clever like that.

Then she plops her beautiful baby noggin right on your shoulder. She knows her people and exhibits this behavior often when in our arms.

Best feeling.

Microblog: $41 Phonics Lesson

My mom was in two weeks ago (today) and we hit up a local church rummage sale on a dreary and wet Friday morning together. We got there about 3 minutes before it opened and it was a madhouse with a line of around 100 people. I rummaged with Claire riding piggyback in the Ergo and Benjamin was charming my mom into buying everything he touched. It worked.

She bought him a slew of videos and toys and even a lava lamp. Grandmas.

One of the videos was a 35-minute Leap Frog Letter Factory Phonics video. I never thought he'd watch it because it didn't have Disney plastered all over it. Surprisingly, he requests it almost daily and has for the last 14 days. He's probably seen it 10 times.

A few days ago, he started pointing to some letters and telling me their sounds as we were reading a book together. That's the "tuh" (t). So, I decided to go through the entire alphabet. He knows every single letter sound. Totally floored.

The catchy little jingle probably makes it easier to learn, but he was able to say them all without the song. "The t says tuh, the t says tuh, every letter makes a sound, the t says tuh."

Would've been the biggest steal ever, at $1, and it should've been, if I hadn't lost $40 cash somewhere in the madhouse of that rummage sale that morning. Let's hope it was picked up by one of the church volunteers and put into their fundraising pot.

$41 phonics video for the win. Who knew.

(It turns out it can be watched here for free, too. The rest of you might have the luck of a $0 phonics lesson without leaving your home!)