"lou-der"

Last night, I had got to sing Bah Bah Black Sheep about 250 times to help Bennett fall asleep. As I sang each round, he would tell ask me to switch the "boy" down the lane with a "girl" down the lane or vice versa. Fine with me, it's nice to switch things up a little when your voice is a broken record!

At approximately round 125, I switched to a whisper voice, in an effort to help him get more sleepy. Um, no. Before I got to "sheep", he had piped up - "Lou-DER". I suppose this means that he understands volume.

Not really failures, but they feel that way

So, we're back to using diapers. Bennett has had several days of multiple accidents, all of them pee, but still accidents. And he doesn't seem to understand! UGH! It feels like I may have misjudged his readiness for this task. But really? He was having so much success!

Is it because we traveled? Is it because he's building his vocabulary? Is it because we put him in preschool? Or is it just because he's two?

I don't have any answers, but in an effort to save my sanity, we're back in diapers. And unfortunately, we're using paper diapers. The cloth were hurting him and I couldn't stand that. My hope is that we won't have to use the diapers for long, so our environmental impact will not be horrible, but there's still some impact.

Anyway - cross your fingers that my Big Boy Bennett returns and tells Baby Bennett to take a hike. (But when he's ready.)

Success at "gool"

Great news to report today!!!

Brian took Bennett to school this morning. Don't be mistaken, I followed behind them and made sure to keep myself from falling apart (let's be honest). Brian came back to the car about ten minutes after going inside. He was a little frazzled because Bennett had started screaming when they got off the elevator. Sheesh!

Anyway, I came home and busied myself to keep distracted. And then it was time to go back for pick up. I was nervous to learn how the day went, but was pleasantly surprised. Ms. Vivian told me that Bennett only cried for a couple of minutes after Brian left and then went on about his day. He only cried during transitions, which is normal at home. He was smiling when I came into the classroom and was so happy to show me what he had done that day.

We're all about celebrating the little things!

photo overload

We've had a busy couple of weeks, folks! Sharing a few favorite photos of your favorite TWO YEAR OLD!!! First, we spent the weekend before Bennett's birthday in London, ON, with his Oma and Grandpa.

What do these fancy napkins mean?

Why all the pics, ma?

FIRE!!!

mmmmmmmm - special treats.

I like TREATS!

too many treats . . .

Then, playdate with friends in the park on Monday afternoon:

I promise he did more running than eating!

Wednesday, we celebrated early in the morning with Daddy, and then with friends at a playdate at our house in the afternoon:

All of these for me??

Showing off his new Grandpa Pajamas

I think the balloons were his fave!

Ripping right in

The COUNT!!!!

Showing off his spoils - Elmo and The Count

Look at me! I'm the birthday boy.

WHAT?!?! More treats? Gimme more birthdays, man.

A little drunk on icing, I think.

Friday, we went to Virginia for the wedding of my good RMWC pal, Susan. Bennett came along and enjoyed quality time with Granna and Daddyo.

With Daddy in the gardens at Ferry Farm

Directing traffic - maybe for bugs?

He really loved that flag!

More flag - perhaps he was feeling patriotic.

And now he has his very own tri-point hat

Being wrangled by Daddyo

"my gool"

A couple of things worth noting about today . . .

Bennett rode to school with Daddy - after telling me, "Mama, go way. Daddy car." Alrighty then, Mr. Independent!

We made it into the building and his classroom without tears - yay! Bennett showed us where his cubby is so we could hang his coat and then he went to the bathroom. The waterworks began as Brian and I said our good-byes. It's getting easier for me to leave him when he is so tearful - but those cries really pull at my heartstrings!

When I went to pick him up this afternoon, he was very excited to see me and tell me all about what they had done at "gool". Most impressive was the petting zoo. Apparently the llama peed on the ground and Bennett found that act terribly fascinating. Ms. Vivian, Bennett's teacher, told me that Bennett made sure she knew that the llama was going pee. Too cute!

Along that vein, Bennett had no accidents at school! Even more awesome - he was in the very same pair of underpants at the end of the day that he was in the morning. Go Bennett!

p.s. When we ask him what his name is, he replies: "Bean." (You won't hear me complain!)

He's a brainiac, brainiac . . . on the floor.

And he'll work that brainiac right out that door . . . .

My apologies to "Flashdance" but it's the best reference I could come up with on the fly. A cute/brilliant moment happened a couple of days ago:

Bennett is playing with two measuring spoons as Brian and I are getting ready for the day. We're all in the kitchen.

Brian: "Bennett, which one is big?"
Bennett: (thinks for two seconds, holds up spoon in his left hand - 1 tablespoon)
Brian: "Bennett, which one is tiny?"
Bennett: (thinks for one nanosecond, holds up spoon in his right hand - 1/4 teaspoon)
Brian: (turns to me) "I think we've got our hands full, honey." *Grins*

p.s. Bennett hasn't been wrong since.

First Day of Preschool!!!

First Day 2011 (2yo preschool at ECRC)

Today was Bennett's first day of Preschool!! We decided a couple of weeks ago that it would be beneficial for Bennett to experience a semi-structured, not-very-but-kind-of academic, play-based learning environment before he actually started school. As I am in the process of trying to earn a little money for our family, we figured that there's no time like the present to give me a couple of hours during the day to work while the little guy is off expanding his horizons.

I called a couple of places (there are not very many non-faith-based preschool options in our area) and decided that we would visit one and then determine if we wanted to visit another/others. Our top choice is the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center at UB - North Campus. (ECRC for short.) You can check out the website here.

Some of the things that we really like about it are that it is on the University campus and run by the Graduate School of Education. This is not your run of the mill day care center! The two teachers in Bennett's class have graduate degrees in early childhood education and are not only teaching the little guys, but they're also teaching the other teachers.

The "curriculum" is play-based and child-centered. The teachers let the kids lead the way. As I watched Bennett this morning, he explored the painting station, the kitchen center and then the gerbil cage, all while his teacher simply observed. I love that he's given the freedom to roam safely!

I mentioned my watching him. Another thing that is really great about ECRC is that because it is a teaching center, the classrooms are observable all. the. time. I will even have web access to the cameras that are in the classroom so I can watch from afar if I so choose. The video that is shot of the classrooms is used to help the teachers become better. Because this is a research institute, the video is also used for data collection purposes when there is an experiment being run in a particular classroom. At this time, there are no questions being asked of the toddler room, but they're learning a lot from the older kids. I love the idea that Bennett is part of a greater research opportunity. I have two handsome scientists in my life and one doesn't even know it yet!

We go back for his second day on Wednesday. I hope that he doesn't kick and scream too much. He seems to like his teachers - Vivian and Stephanie. He cried a bit after he realized that we were not there, but I am told that he was able to be consoled, which is really nice to hear. He was a bit clingy this afternoon and evening, but that's to be expected, right? I'll keep you posted!

two new things today!

So, Bennett received his first hockey stick today. Actually, two hockey sticks and a street hockey ball. I'm surprised that he's using them correctly more often than not. Uncle Trevor, he appears to hold it like you, whatever that means!?

See the video below for a demonstration of his killer skills.

Notice that we're not really sure if we should focus on his slap shot or his sit spin . . . eh, I guess we've got time, right?

(Mom, this next story is for you!)
Tonight we decided to give Bennett a little haircut. He's been asking to use the "clips" for several days. I promised him that if he shut his trap about it we'd cut his hair this weekend. Don't you know he didn't ask about them one time today? When we needed to kill a little time before bedtime, Brian piped up, "Hey, you wanna cut your hair? Use the clippers?" Why, yes, dad - an emphatic yes. He practically threw his new hockey sticks into the corner and raced up the stairs.

As we're trimming his hair (don't worry, we didn't take much off at all), he starts to whiper because the hair is itchy. Sound familiar? Brian eventually put the clippers down and started to brush Bennett's neck, etc. As I went down the stairs to shake the drape off on the front porch, I hear a tiny voice pipe up, "MYSELF!" He grabbed the clippers out of Brian's hand and promptly took a chunk out of his hair, front and center. Granna's boy. I don't have a photo of that, unfortunately. Luckily, you can't really tell because we grabbed the clippers back pronto and began the "big boy shower".

p.s. no actual children were harmed during the filming of the previous video. :)