I Love To See The Temple

Benjamin's nursery lesson today was on temples and eternal families and so Kelly offered to take the kids to the temple after church. We've taken the kids to the Bountiful temple (where we were married) and to the Salt Lake temple, but never to the Detroit temple. It was raining like crazy (and later turned to snow) but they had a great time. What cuties. Benjamin was bubbly with excitement over his "walk around the temple" and seeing "where Jesus lives." It truly is such a blessing to have one so close.

Growing Up

My little Isabella isn't so little anymore. I look at her every day and see a slightly different girl than the day before. She's so amazing. She's such a social child and loves being the center of attention. She had 4 little girls gathered around her at the library today and she was loving every minute of it. She was smiling and waving. It was so cute. Her other faves are yogurt, stuffed animals, and windows. All three elicit squeals of delight. Especially the window. She'll sit/stand in front of the back sliding glass door for as long as I'll let her. I finally wrestled a clip into her hair today for the first time and wanted to take a picture. By the way, the clip lasted just as long as the photo shoot did and then Benjamin said she looked like Ava, another baby in our ward who often wears cute clips, and ripped it out because he wanted to wear it. However, the cuter aspect to the pictures wasn't her hair, but her facial expressions as she observed what was going on outside.



She's also developed a real spunk. She'll let you know when she's not pleased with something - like when you take away the paper towel roll she was gnawing on. She'll also get the slyest looks on her face when she's about to get mischievous - like unroll the toilet paper or splash in the toilet. Here's Queen Isabella enjoying her stylin' rides at Toys-R-Us. I love her expression in the second picture.



And she's already weaning herself off the bottle. She's been grabbing at Benjamin's sippy cup a lot, so I've been giving her a cup occasionally and she's loved it! So cute. We love you Isabella.

We Love Fingerpaint!

I have the problem that because Bella is so far behind Benjamin developmentally, that I often discount what things she can do and put her in my mental "baby" category - ie. unable to participate in most activities I do with Benjamin. So, up until now craft time has been exclusively during Bella's nap time. But now she's down to only one nap a day and it's usually during Benjamin's nap time (when fate is smiling on me) thus, it was time for a paradigm shift. So, today's craft time came after nap time and I decided to start small - fingerpaint. Fingerpaint, though technically non-toxic, still seemed like a poor source of nutrition (and I knew with 100% certainty she'd try to eat it) so I opted for a more food-based paint. Could use pudding, but that would require me to make some, and my philosophy on craft time is that it should be fun for everyone - not just them - and cooking is in all cases very un-fun. I know - pudding - it's milk and powder - how hard is it? Don't judge. I'm sure there's things you struggle with that I don't, so let's just let it go. So instead, I decided to pull out the unused frosting containers from my halloween party. They were still perfectly viable - further proof that frosting is really best scraped off of the cake rather than ingested. Bright colored goo in pink, red, blue, and yellow. I put some on Bella's booster seat tray and some on Benjamin's placemat and let them loose. Bella got right into it. She mixed and smacked and clapped her hands. She'd actually been "painting" for quite a while before the taste testing began.


And yet nothing got in her hair or anywhere else. I was impressed. Not like Benjamin's first food experiment:


She seemed to have a great time. I really need to stop automatically counting her out.


Some cute Benjamin pics from the past couple days:



He's really becoming quite imaginitive. It's fun to see.

The Blind Leading the Blind

I was cooking last night while Benjamin and Isabella played together and I over heard this:

BENJAMIN: Say Mama!
BELLA: Mama
BENJAMIN: Good! Try again. Mama.
BELLA: Mama.
BENJAMIN: Yay Bella! Good job! Say it again. Mama.
BELLA: Mama.

How cute is that? My little boy who just barely started speaking himself is already trying to teach his sister. He better watch out or she might catch up with him. :) I've noticed that he's always so happy for her when she accomplishes something. This morning she went down the stairs by herself while I was out of the room and I only knew she did it because I heard Benjamin cheering and congratulating her at the bottom and then he yelled out, "Mom! Bella down stairs all by herself!" He'll also repeatedly point out to me when she's standing or walking along something. "Look! Bella standing! Look mom!" So cute. Almost makes up for all the times he rips away the very thing she's pulling herself up on because it's "mine!"

Everything Is About Play

As I think about my children's daily activities, I realize that everything is a game. Everything they do is play. Even when they're eating, they're playing with their food or making silly noises or silly faces at each other. When we're driving somewhere, they're passing toys back and forth and singing songs. It makes life very entertaining - exhausting, but entertaining. I love being their mom because some days it's fun to just toss aside all chores and just play all day too and I don't have to feel guilty because I see this as being a "good involved parent." :) This last week, as it's been raining so much outside, they played inside.



As soon as it cleared up, I heard, "play outside now mommy?" and they were off. Bella got daring on the slides and Benjamin did what he does best - get wet and muddy.



Forget the playground equipment! Look at this gigantic stick just floating there; just asking to be played with!


What can I do with it now? I know - I'll throw it back in!


Wow! Did you see that splash! That was fantastic! Can I do it again, mom?


Bella's also become a real explorer. She's never content to sit on my lap for long. Everything is unexplored territory. She also loves going down stairs. She's so cute as she slides on her belly, checking occasionally to make sure I'm still there. She's not as fond of up, but probably because down is where the toys are!




And nothing is more interesting than the camera! One picture and she's charging for you. I have to hold her back with my knees if I want an additional shot.



As for Benjamin, he's certainly my son. I was feeding Bella and he wanted to play Jenga. When I finished and checked on him - here is what I found. Nothing says type-A like taking a toy of endless possibility and choosing to build a perfectly symetrical road.



To his credit, his next creations were a robot, a castle, and a "friend." I couldn't quite make it out - but he told me his friend had "face, buttons, boots, you know - everything!" Why didn't I take a picture of that!? I think I was too shocked that he had suddenly picked up so many new words.

And when the day's all done - what better place to curl up and take a nap, then with your favorite blanket in the guitar case?

One of those moments

It was one of those moments when the kids were a little too quiet for a little too long. I was upstairs cleaning out the dishwasher and the kids were playing downstairs. But then it got quiet. I told myself I should check, but I mistakenly thought it could wait until I finished with the dishes. Then I heard Benjamin exclaim, "Me funny face! Me go see!" He came running up the stairs and darted to the mirror in the hallway. That's when I got very suspicious. As I went to find him, this is what I saw:


Not as bad as it could be, I guess, but then I heard Bella cry for me and I found this:


Apparently just drawing on his own face wasn't interesting enough. Ah, my budding Picasso. I guess it's time the markers become a 'with adult supervision only' toy. Especially because there was absolutely no remorse. "Me funny, mama!" he declared, triumphantly. I have to admit, this is pretty funny.


Despite Benjamin's pension for art and photography, my attempt to mix it with a language lesson failed miserably. I wanted to make our own alphabet book. I thought he'd love it - get the camera and take pictures of various things around the house that begin with specific letters. Apple for A, etc. Guess how long that lasted? To D - his rubber duck. Then he handed me back the camera and informed me that he was "all done." What!?! I'd planned on this taking most of the afternoon? Now what am I supposed to do with you guys?


I have such a love for languages, but Benjamin most definitely does not. Not only is he way behind most kids his age verbally, but I can't get him interested in anything to do with letters or words. He'll even purposely answer me wrong, even if he knows the right answer, to such simple questions as, "Which letter is this?" He'll get a smirk on his face and I know he's about to pull something random out of the air.

I found a blog the other day written by a woman with twin 3 year old girls. They play a game (which the girls love) where she says phrases and they tell her how many syllables are in the phrase! Syllables!? Are you kidding me?! I don't think Benjamin could tell me how many words I'd just said. Even if he could, he wouldn't care enough to do it. On the other hand, I took the kids to open gym time at the rec center today and he's bouncing 5 feet in the air on the trampoline, swinging on the rope, and running along the balance beam. People kept guessing he was between 3 and 4 years old. They almost didn't believe me when I would say he's 2 and 1/2. He knows what he likes and you just can't force him into anything. Maybe Isabella will find a love for languages. She and I can take Spanish classes together or something. I just need to get her to stop eating the books.

Not Much New

I realize it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I guess we're sunk back in the winter blahs. Our glorious bit of warmth disapeared so quickly. Not much has been happening. But Benjamin and Isabella continue to keep us entertained. Benjamin has also become increasingly verbal. Which, of course, makes for some funny moments too.

I was talking to him about the story of King Noah and the prophet Abinadi.

BENJAMIN: King Noah bad prophet!
ME: King Noah wasn't a prophet. He was a bad king. Prophets are always good. God sends them to teach us. Who was sent to teach Noah the right and to show him how to live?
BENJAMIN: Obama.

We were talking about how God has a body, how he gave us bodies that look like his, and how we need to do all we can to keep them healthy and strong, like eating good food. Benjamin's take on the lesson:
"Me eat cream cheese, me eat yogurt, me eat apple, me healthy. Me no eat poop! Yuck! Me sick!"
Good advice.

Also, he's got a hard time with any word that starts with s and then a hard consonant, like p,d,or t. Such as store, spot, stud, etc. We've been working on it with him and he's making progress, but now he thinks whenever he's made a pronunciation error, that it's this issue that's the problem. So on the way home yesterday he was telling me about the large yoga balls he saw in the window of the gym we passed. I didn't see them, though, so I wasn't sure what he was saying at first.
BENJAMIN: Look mama! Balls!
ME: What?
BENJAMIN: Ssssballs! Ssssballs!

After he finished his lunch, he wanted to tell me how fast he ate.
BENJAMIN: Me fast!
ME: Did you say you're fast?
BENJAMIN: Yeah, me ssssfast!

While playing around in the kitchen,
BENJAMIN: Me see lots numbers!
ME: What do you mean you see lots of numbers?
BENJAMIN: See ssssnumbers!

Here are a few more cute pictures. The first is of Benjamin telling me how the man in the picture is a bad man because he wants to trap Gus the firefly in the jar. (Book: Sam and the Firefly) He's got no clothes on (except for the diaper) because Benjamin's least favorite thing is getting dressed, so he spends an inordiante amount of time naked. Luckily he loves snuggling in blankets, so at least he's not too cold most of the time.


We don't have a sled - so this became our sled. Both kids loved being pushed around on it in the snow. Well, Bella did until she fell face first into the snow right after I took this picture.


When daddy's not around to see, we like to get out his guitar and play around on it. It's full of pics that have been accidentally dropped inside and it's largely out of tune now, but none of us can play anyway, so what does it matter? It also makes a lovely drum when all the pics are gone.