Ben is 2 1/2

A two and a half year old is constant fun with a little frustration mixed in. Ben is a laugh a minute, but he is also smart enough to know that he is disobeying and that is where the frustration comes in. I feel like I have already mentioned this in a former post, but the saying "this hurts you more than it hurts me" feels so true when having to dispense the discipline. I so want him to get it without having to suffer the punishment, but it just doesn't work that way!

When Ben wakes from a nap, I usually hear "I come find you. Are you waiting for me?" hollered from the hall. It makes me happy.

About once a day Ben asks "I hold Nate in my lap."

When Nate fusses, Ben gets down in his face and asks, "What's wrong, Nate?" If Nate stops fussing and perks up at the presence of his brother Ben will holler at me, "He's ok mom! He not fussing anymore."

I found the boys in the playroom one day with Ben sitting behind Nate saying, "Want me hold you?" Nate does not like being 'held' by big brother because Ben never lets go. They are happy for about a half a second and then Nate screams. I have been trying to tell Ben that Nate's scream means "get off!" but Ben hasn't caught on yet.

When he does something that he isn't quite sure if it is allowed or not he will ask, "Was that funny?" If we say yes then he is in the clear. If we say no, he generally has a time-out because he knew he wasn't supposed to do whatever stunt he just did.

Ben is a sponge! He repeats everything we say - sometimes it's cute (I heard him saying "Oh my lands!") and sometimes it makes us work harder to change what we say (Oh my grosh (gosh)!").

At this age Ben is sleeping 7:45pm - 6:45am every night. He naps 1-3pm (sometimes just plays quietly or loudly in his room) everyday.

He is very helpful. His help usually makes my work take twice as long, but he really does try to help. He puts his laundry in his hamper each day and then brings his and Nate's hampers to the laundry room when I do laundry. He picks out his own unners (underwear) and other clothing most days. He "folds" laundry with me - he gently wads it up like he is folding. He is so meticulous as if he is actually doing what I am doing. He sits on the counter just about every time I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen. He loves to stir or put in the measured ingredients - and hopes for a lick at the end. And so many other things...

He can sorta count to 10. He usually says "1 2 7 8 9 10." Or if we help him get to 4 then he can do "5 7 6 8 9 10."

He can sorta say his ABC's. He gets the sounds of the song, but misses quite a few letters in there. He also sings "Now I LOVE my ABCs." We don't know where he got that because we don't sing it to him that way.

We don't actually work on these skills formally, just reinforce them when reading books or naturally talk about it during play time. He cannot recognize his numbers or letters yet except for "his" B!

Ben's independence - running!

Nate's independence - crawling!

Nate absolutely loves when Ben plays with him like this. It makes me a little nervous and sometimes ends in a Ben time-out, but mostly it is just giggles.

Here is a sampling of his silliness and skills - he doesn't like to perform.