benney woe happy mommy

and he is.
a very happy little boy.

i figured it was time to do a bennett update, as i havent in quite awhile!  he is continually stringing multiple words together to create make-shift sentences like:
"yes it is bright mommy's office"
"two book fall down floor mama!"
"go outside play steele mama! no raining!"
"mommy car fast! slow down mommy!"

speaking of driving, here are the things i hear/questions i must answer every time we get in the car:
"train? train go?" {shaking his head and looking from side to side as in "WHERE did the train go".  we saw a train once and now he wants to see one on every outing}
"bridge mama? tunnel please?" {occasionally we go through the tunnel and over the bayway bridge and bennett loves it and thinks we should every time}
"woo woo? see woo woo?"  {loves seeing ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks}{update - now he calls them by name.  byebye "woo woo" :(}
"benney woe and momma going hospital" {for some reason he thinks everyone is going to the hospital.  la, mimi, thomas choo choo, mr wiggles, steele, mommas car, santa, redfish, EVERYONE}

he doesnt watch dora or diego anymore, simply bc i stopped recording it due to his quickly developing obsession.  now he likes mickey mouse clubhouse: which he asks for by name and goes around singing "oh toodles! mooska meeeeeeska mickey mouseeeee", super why: "wupah why", sesame street: which he occasionally will sit through, but only if elmo, cookie monster, or ernie are on it, and of course THOMAS.  his favorite thing to watch.  i just dont get it.  it has to be the most boring, most unstimulating cartoon but he LOVES it.  knows every single train by name, number, color, and number of wheels.  seriously.
i bought him annie and clarabel and henry from TJMaxx last thursday. {he already had a wooden magnetic thomas}

i made him close his eyes and hold out his hands and you would think i bought him the actual life sized trains.  he played with them from 6:30 on thursday until bedtime {we had to pretend thomas and henry were going to sleep so he would leave them alone} and the first thing he asked for the next morning was "thomas y henry momma?" {the "y" is more like what bennett's "and"'s sound like.  like the spanish word for and}. and four days later he still plays with them nearly every waking second.

he is becoming a very affectionate boy and we love it.  i think stephen and i could both hear his "hi mommy" and "hi daddy" all day every day on repeat.  he will say it out of the blue with a sweet smile and a tilt of his head.  he snuggles and hugs and kisses.
he can sing his abc's and identify all the letters.  he was singing them so fast this morning i thought it was a joke.  sounds something like this: "a b c d efg i jk memenenopee r s t v DOUBLE YOU ECKSSSS  y now i sen with ME!"
he can count to five and it goes something like this:  one, two, five, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen!!!!
{ps. he just brought me a golden book and was naming all the characters on the back.  bert is sitting on a train and when i asked him where bert was going he said "hospital!!!" and then i asked him, kinda to myself, why  everyone is always going to the hospital and he said "daddy work hospital too momma.  daddy working.  daddy home soon!".  ah ha i get it now!<---this was written on friday.  it takes me days to finish a post these days}

bennett can play outside for hours and i let him.  its how i get my chores done.  and how we both keep our sanity. :)

bennett loves to push anything with wheels.  and he can spend hours doing it, inside - outside - aywhere.

he is really into emotions now, telling me when people or things are happy or sad.  after hes been crying for some reason and he finally stops he tells me "benney happy now mommy".  he particularly enjoys telling me when the trains from thomas are happy or sad {bc they have such expressionistic faces...its the only thing that changes on that crazy show}.
sometimes he just comes up and snuggles and says "hi mommy.  mommy happy.  benney happy too."
{melt}

he does throw his tempers on some things but i still can get him to adjust his attitude quite easily.  he actually listens to me when i tell him : "you cant have daddys cookies right now bennett.  we have to go run some errands.  i have a snack for you in the car ok?"  i might have to say it a couple times but he eventually gets it and the fake tears, fake crying noises, and foot stompings lessen or stop.
if he blatanly does something we have told him not to, time out usually works.  although he doesnt cry at them anymore bc i think hes a little more used to them since his time out episodes at MDO :).
however good this may all sound {bc he really is an easy child.  and yes i know this means one of our next children will be a HELLION.  ive been told that too many times to count} there are still plenty of times i find myself fake crying and stomping my feet as well.  there are just some days im not equipped to handle the tantrums.  im just lacking all patience and find myself whining back to bennett in a distressed lightening speed barrage of words: "bennett you have got to stop whining or you are going to drive your momma insane! PUHLEASE stop screaming and fake crying and just be normal! {whatever that means} you cant always have everything you want when you want it ok? please just settle down! oogla blahblah eekkie yacky why bappa ugha itsy bitsy spider ARGH!" {by the end i usually dont even know what im saying}

he asks to see his friends on a regular basis but is still pretty much a loner when it comes to playing {which is normal for kids this age - they are only starting to venture beyond "parallel play" as my marriage and family therapist friend tells me :) }

bennett is basically a vegetarian.  he doesnt eat much of anything except the "usual": yogurt, applesauce, eggs, bread, "honey bread", cereal - but he loves total thank goodness, carrots, homemade pizza - not pizza from a restaurant or anything, cheese, all berries, bananas, waffles and pancakes {when he rarely gets them}, french fries {when he gets a few of mine when we visit chick-fil-a.  i get him fruit [mean mama]}, v8 fusion, rice, noodles, macaroni and cheese {again, sometimes.  sometimes he wont touch it - weirdo}, ...

just recently i have gotten him to add those tyson frozen chicken strips as a source of MEAT to his diet.  he sometimes will eat chicken nugget things from chick-fil-a but rarely eats all of the four piece.

he could live on fruit and bread alone.
sigh

i pick my battles as clearly he is NOT starving.
i just added a daily gummy vitamin to the diet, but i sure would love it if he ate more protein and vegetables.

and if you thought that was more than you ever wished to know about bennett and way too much more, one more thing quickly:

im going to start potty training soon!!!!!!
duh-duh-DUH
scary but true.
and time bc his little preschool hes doing this fall that he "got in to" {hes technically too young but they checked him out and said OK.  which is good bc he will be with all his playgroup buddies!} requires that he be potty trained.  so i have a deadline - august 1st.

wish me luck
seriously

and now bc it pains me the grandparents to do a post with no {bennett} pictures, here are some from a playdate at the park and an easter egg hunt with friends this cold, un-easterish morning:



sneaking some candies before the big hunt

SOMEONE's been in the chocolate

and now a rare photo of a boy and his momma.  we dont have many of these.  it may be candid but i think the last pic we had together was at his birthday party!! thanks stephanie, via facebook!