I Hear You Have a Small Dragon Problem, Ma'am

We've had some nice weather lately, but we're cooling off round these parts.  Here we are strolling in the funky Plaza Midwood neighborhood under some colorful trees.

Last week we went pumpkin ("bompy") shopping at the farm on Rocky River Rd.  They also had various farm animals on display, which Benjamin had only previously seen in books.  He baaaa-ed at the goat, whinnied at the horse, clucked at the chickens, and snorted at the pigs.  He speaks all farm animal languages.

We gutted the helpless bompy.  Benjamin learned a new word: "slimey".

The campus had a trick-or-treat activity in the fraternity/sororoty houses a few days before Halloween.  Benjamin had a chance to try out his dragon costume and practice his trick-or-treating and learn how to beg for food.

Daycare had a "Halloween Parade" that apparently involved dozens of costumed children running amok around the halls of the school.  He wore his cool skeleton sweats (thanks Aunt Megan and Uncle Brian) instead of the dragon costume.

Then: the big event!  Claire dressed up as a maiden in dire distress, marauded by a dangerous, snarling, carnivorous dragon.  Albeit a diminutive one. 

I bravely wielded my sword, prepared to dispatch the fire-breathing fiend. In the end I spared the beast because he needed a diaper change and a bath.

Todays lesson: you can knock on neighbor's doors and they give you free candy!  Why don't we do this every day??  And why is Daddy eating all of my candy??



Later that evening.......

Spud 1.5

Benjamin rolled up his 18th month last week. This seems like the stage where you stop reporting a child's age in months and start using "a year and a half", and later, "almost two". We went to the doctor for his last scheduled, age-related checkup until her turns two. He got (another) shot (flu..both swine and seasonal flavors all in one shot) and also had (another) illness from daycare and (another) ear infection. He's better now.

The stats: weight 25 lbs. 15 oz (50-75%); height 32.5" (50-75%)

I filled out an autism questionnaire at the doctor's office while we were waiting for Dr. Brian Adams to appear (he was probably off somewhere singing "Cuts Like a Knife" or "Summer of '69" while we languished in the waiting room). Most kids that have autism are showing signs by 18 months. There were about 25 questions and there was only one that I had to answer "wrong". He doesn't seem to "pretend" much yet (e.g. he doesn't pretend to have a conversation on the toy phone or pretend he's actually driving a car when he rolls his toy car around). He mimics all of those activities, but he doesn't seem to be pretending. Anyway, he doesn't have autism.

The doctor said he should know "about 12-15" words at this point. I just chuckled. Our little dude is Vocabulicious. Here's an attempt to list his current vocabulary:

all gone
apple
balloon "monon"
banana "nana"
Baxter "Datter"
book
box
broccoli "bocky"
butterfly
cookie
Daddy
dirty
door
ear
elbow
eye
flower
go
hair
heater
hot tea "ot tea"
help "up"
juice "duice"
knee
light
Mommy
moon
more
movie
nose
outside "owside"
paper
please "pease"
poopy
pumpkin "pompy"
read
rice "wice"
shirt
shoe
shovel
slide
sock
Sophie "Sushie"
stars
stick
sticker "sicka"
sun
tree
umbrella "ubbaga"
waffle
wall
walk
watch
water
window
wire

And in just the past couple of weeks, he's started putting words together in little mini-sentences. He's said two words for a while (like "hot tea" and "all gone"), but those he treats like single words. These, however, are individual ideas strung together to make more complicated ones.

"eww dirty"
"messy mommy"
"peeboo I see you!"
"watch movie"
"bye Mommy's shoes"
"Datter eat water"
"twickle twickle star"

The one word he most notably has not said yet? Benjamin (or even Ben). He refers to himself as "Baby" in pictures (but all other babies are also "Baby"), or just looks confused when you point at his and say "who's that". Identifying oneself as just another discrete piece of the universe is apparently hard to do.

Thunderhead

School picture day! What a cute cute little boy! Hey, what's that on his head?



Poor little bugger thunked his head in the week before picture day. Twice. Thunk. Thunk. Ouch. Ouch. Learning to walk is fraught with danger.



He looks like he's saying: "Look at me. They clearly dropped me on my head. Twice. Call child protective services. And get that damn camera out of my face, weirdo."



Growing up is hard. And so are walls. And gravity sucks.

No Thyself

It remains to be seen if we will experience the phenomenon known as the "Terrible Twos". We are at nearly the 18-month mark now, and, if anything, Benjamin is getting more easy-going. He's shed most of his (normal) infant-stage crankiness and he's now mostly just a happy kid with a burgeoning imagination and cheerful personality.



He knows at least 30 50 words now; we are compiling an up-to-date list (along with his pronunciations of them), and I'll post them when we think we have them all. One of the words he is making increasing use of is "no", and it seems that this word may come in handy for a Terrible Two phase, if one were to go through such as phase.

He uses "no" in two different situations. First, to deny the entry of undesirable food products into his mouth (picture a clenched jaw, then a turned head, then, when the spoon is at a safe distance, "no". He probably learned this skill at daycare. There are clearly some future occupants of juvenile detention centers in his class.

He also uses "no" in a more unusual situation. There are often certain items around the house that he can reach (my laptop, piles of work-related papers, breakable chachkies, etc.). When these items are in sight, he's on them like white on rice.



We politely take them away from him, waggle a finger, and say "no no no Benjamin". The punitive effects of this seem to be lost on him, however. Now, when he picks up the remote control or throws Daddy's journal articles on the floor, he dutifully says "no no no" while he's doing it. He is self-disciplining. Actually, "no" doesn't mean "no, don't do that", it's just what you say while you are undertaking certain activities with your parent's belongings. He seems to just be innocently mimicking us (like he does in just about every situation). Either that, or he's becoming an evil genius.