Awhile back, I did some gushy mommy-love posts about Anna and Matthew. I think it's finally time for Ben's. It's been hard to feel the maternal rush of love for him because, well, he's two. If you have or have had a two-year-old, you know EXACTLY what I mean. He's caught between the world of a baby and a child and we're both struggling to decide where the lines of independence should be drawn. I have to keep reminding myself that Matthew was just as frustrating at this age and he's fine now.
All that being said, he is a great little guy. A few weeks ago, we had an ice storm and the sidewalk was very slick. I was in my dress shoes and needed some help getting to the car. Since Ben is always the last one ready (usually still working on socks when most of us are ready to head out the door) he became my little helper. Ever since then, he has declared it to be his job to help Mommy to the car. He talks to me the entire way and reminds me to be careful and elaborates about all of the terrible things that might happen if I fall. Here's a sample rambling of Ben's: "Mommy, you need to be careful on the ice. You don't want to slip and fall, noooo. You need to be careful so that you don't fall and hurt yourself. Yeah. The ice is very slippery..." and on it goes until we're both safely in the vehicle.
He also babbles to himself at night. Rob and I just sit on the couch and howl at his monologues. Matthew and Anna will be sound asleep, but Ben's just telling himself stories, reminiscing about the day, and I don't know what all else. We think that he might have an imaginary friend because I've heard him refer to someone several times as he rambles and it's a made-up name.
Ben still looks like a baby to me at times. He got some pale green jammies for Christmas and he looks like such a little guy in them. He also still has to have his blankie (or binkie, as he calls it). Thankfully, he only needs it when he goes to sleep.
He has to be a big boy, though, and he loves shoveling with Daddy. Rob bought the boys each a child-sized shovel and Ben makes the most of his. Matthew will shovel for a bit then abandon it to play, but Ben mainly stays right by Daddy to "help" get the snow from one pile to another :)
He is also taking more responsibility around here. He loves helping me with Anna and will fetch things that I need for her. It seems that the more independent I make him, the better behaved he is. I guess he's just ready to step up to the next level. I don't think I'm ready, but if it were up to me, children would never leave the newborn stage. I love my kids at every age, but I especially love newborns. Newborns with night-time nannies would be best....but I digress.
Benjamin is my sweet, little right-hand man. I just love him to pieces, even when he's being two.
5 comments:
>>It seems that the more independent I make him, the better behaved he is.<<
Somebody keeps reminding me of this. Whenever Sela starts getting into a streak of misbehavior, it's usually because she needs more independence or responsibility.
Evan has been more moody lately. I told John, "I thought we were skipping the terrible 2s with him." John kindly reminded me that Sela had hit the terrible 2s by the time she was 18 months old, which is why it feels so delayed with Evan. He's probably totally normal, but it's catching me off guard because he's pushing 3. Oh, wait, 3 is sometimes worse than 2. Oh boy...
Sweet post! It's good to remind ourselves about the sweet qualities of our toddlers, isn't it?! It's all to easy to wallow in the daily frustrations we experience with them and forget that they are indeed blessings...
The days are long, but the years are short!!
I always love your "special" posts on each individual kids. I always loved the twos! It was the newborn stage I hated!! Maybe if I'd had a normal newborn I would have liked it. Y'know...one where they're not screaming constantly for the first year of their life. I'm going to try an experiment with this one and not vaccinate it until 3 months. If it's a "normal" baby until the vaccinations--I'll know it's them. Angela was the first and I had her vaccinated from day one with the hepB one etc. I told them "no" on that one with David and he didn't start screaming until week 2 when he had his first round of regular vaccinations. So we'll see. Part of what finally clicked with this was the fact that my mom told me I as absolutely incosolabe after I'd had my DPT vaccination.
David got vaccinations at week 2? Mine all had the one right after birth but then no more until they were 2 months old, then at 4, 6, and 12 months and so on. And that's in two different states (CA and WI).
I do know a baby who had to have hers really spread out. You know how they give them 3-4 shots at once? She had to have them one at a time because of bad reactions.
They did mine earlier than 2 months! Well...I'm separating them all for now and we'll see how that works.
Post a Comment