Jack Sprat

Benjamin and Isabella are like Jack Sprat and his wife in most ways.

Benjamin only likes strawberry cream cheese; Isabella only white.
Benjamin likes egg whites; Isabella likes the yokes.
Benjamin likes marinara sauce; Isabella calls it "too spicy" and only likes Alfredo.
Benjamin likes his ice cream without the cone; Isabella will dump the ice cream in the trash and only eat the cone.
Benjamin loves fruity yogurt; Isabella always chooses vanilla.
Benjamin hates most kinds of meat; Isabella will often eat the meat first.
Benjamin never wears a coat and is almost never cold; Isabella almost always cries if she's out in the cold for more than a few minutes.
Benjamin loves to give hugs and is very physically affectionate; Isabella screams if Benjamin hugs her.
Benjamin loves to draw pictures for me and often writes me little love notes; Bella likes to color on the chairs, table, or herself.
Isabella is incredibly verbal and has been since a very young age. Although Benjamin is now, his only word was "Da" until he was nearly 2 and 1/2.

Yet, despite these and a myriad of other differences, these two are best friends. Today they were cat and dog or prince and princess or alien and astronaut all day long. We also did our usual Wednesday craft time today. We painted and made alien headbands.


Then they requested we play their latest favorite game "musical numbers." I made this up one night while I was trying to figure out how to teach Benjamin higher numbers. He recognized 1-10 just fine, but when you started to combine them, such as in 67 or 98, he was unable to name it. So I wrote down about 30 different random numbers between 1 and 99 on pieces of paper about 2 inches square. I wrote the number 1-10 in one color and all higher ones in another. The next day I spread them out all over the floor and had the kids dance around to music. When I stopped the music, they were to be on a number of their color. (Bella got the numbers 1-10 and Benjamin all the higher ones). If they were on a number when the music stopped, they got a point. If they were able to correctly name the number, they got another point and the number was removed from the game. We played this about a month ago for the firs time and they loved it so much that they now want to play it every week after craft time. It's amazing how it's helped too! Benjamin now knows all the numbers 1-100 and Bella went from knowing no numbers to knowing all of them 1-10. Because they've learned it so well, next week I'm going to change it a bit and start on reading. I decided to do letters for Bella and sight words for Benjamin. He knows a lot of them already, but this is a great way for him to practice more.


One last update: I took Christian to his 6 month check up on Monday and he's grown into the 75 percentile in height now. Yay for my little peanut! I guess he's not so little anymore! That was a funny doctor's visit because it had snowed about 6 inches the night before, so the roads were a mess. But I purposely left early and drove carefully and made it fine. I was in the parking lot, just walking in, when my phone rang. It was the doctor's secretary telling me that he was stuck in the snow and awaiting a tow truck and I shouldn't come in. I told her that I was already in the parking lot and could I see someone else in the practice? She said no, that they were all too busy. Do not tell me that I just drove 40 minutes in the snow with three kids to be sent home! So I walked into the office and again asked to see a doctor. I guess it's easier to say no to someone on the phone then to someone who's standing in your office. We saw a doctor and were out in 30 minutes. :) Don't mess with Mama Bear.