17

Bennett,

You are now 17 months old, as of this weekend.  You are a climber, a talker, a follower, and a reader.

You have mastered climbing onto chairs, the couch, the bed, the kitchen table, your booster seat- you can climb.   I wish the floor was cushy…

You love the park- the slide is your favorite.  You also enjoy wandering off in the completely opposite direction of where your brother wants to go or is.  Right now, it is fair to say, the park is not MY favorite place to be.  It is exhausting.  Your dad took you guys one afternoon and he came back a bit worn out, he understood why we don’t go as often as you would like.

You read books ALL day long.  You do not like waiting your turn if I happen to be reading Henry a book, nope, not at all, you do not like this.  You love pointing out things in the books, especially balls, but you can also point out things like robots, windmills, bikes and quite a few animals.  I am always impressed with what you know, even when I think I am stumping you.

Besides reading and climbing- you are quite the outdoorsman.  I think we wake the neighbors every day- you guys are out back bright and early.  I can hardly get you to finish your oatmeal before you are swinging the door open and handing me your shoes.  You have managed to pull out all flowers, many plantings of lettuce, beets and spinach.  You have picked off almost all of our unripen blueberries.  You dig, you eat rocks, you run in the grass AND you dump out the dogs water EVERY SINGLE TIME (you usually dance in it, which may be why you still do this and you don’t take my requests seriously, I must stop laughing at this…). 

Speaking of running- you do this now.  You are fast.

You now love all animals.  When just a mere one month ago you trembled at the sight of chickens, you now love them.  Your feed goats, you pet cats (your favorite, you follow those poor kitties all around the farm) and you quack at the ducks.

You pick things up at an amazing rate- for example.  The stomp rocket- you were not very efficient at getting the rocket to fly with your foot, so your dad showed you how to use your rump.  This was fun.

 

You must be doing everything your brother is doing.  Period.  No negotiation.  You were beside yourself while we were in Alaska and we wouldn’t let go of your hand on the dock at Mamie and Grandpa’s.  We are so unfair. 

 
You are getting so big, your hair is growing at a ridiculous rate and you eat more than your brother right now.  You love yogurt, cheese and anything sweet.   You really like to drink out of cups.  You are getting better at it, but we end up wearing a lot of water.   You have started letting other people talk to you- you hung out with Mamie, Bapa and Uncle Matt (he was your bud, he knew where all the balls were!).  And you use the froggy potty every night before bath- with a round of applause for ourself afterward of course.

Benny-Boo, you are fun, you sometimes sleep through the night and you shout out my name with such demand- I love it.  You pick up words every day- today your fell and stood up and said “crash” and ran away.  You make me laugh every day, your smile is the first thing I love to see in the morning.  Love you kiddo.