Benny Boy Update

Don't get any ideas. We do not plan to shorten his name, I just sometimes call him Benny Boy. We don't wish for him to be called Ben or Benny or B.S. or whatever else somebody might come up with down the road. We like Bennett, just the way it is.

In the very beginning, I warned you that there would be much Bennett talk. This post is definitely nothing but. I had written this in my journal several days ago and didn't plan to share it here, but I was looking over it and thought, you know, it's just too cute not to share. I know I'm his Mama and it is so much cuter to me than to y'all, but here it is anyway.

06-25-09:

I want to list out some things that Bennett is doing now. I was looking through an old baby book of Josh’s, and Lynn had listed all the things he was saying and what they meant, and the things that he could do at age 2, 3, 4, etc. It made me want to do the same, so here we go.

Bennett, 18 months old.


Bah Bah = Bye Bye

Ah wah wah wah? = more of whatever he was eating/drinking, or just “I’m hungry/thirsty”

(this comes from him learning to say “water” (wah wah). I always take his cup and say, “Mama is going to get you some more water.” So now, “more” is always “wah wah,” but almost always accompanied by the “ah and the last “wah.” And of course the inflection goes up with each “wah.”)

Dir-teee... = dirty (trash, diaper)

Chs! = Cheese (the food, cheese, or when he sees a camera)

Dah-dooh = Thank you (very good at this one, and says it when necessary)

Ah nah! = All done! (with hands up in the air)

Ooh… dah tah… = “look at that,” “what is that,” or “ooh, what’s that.” Not sure, exactly.

Nah Nah = Night Night

Dah tah! = Ta Da! (look what I’ve done!)

Uh oh = Uh oh

Dada = Daddy

Mama = Mama

Ma-mama = Grandmama

Bahpah = Poppa (still working on this one)

Gee-Geeee = Gigi

Bop = Pop

Bow… = Meow

Bak, bak = Quack, quack

Boo = Moo


He’ll see a pillow, towel, blanket in the living room floor and put his head down on it and say, “Nah, nah.” (night, night)

Any question you ask him, his answer is “No…”
“Bennett, are you ready to go night, night?” “No…”
“Are you sleepy?” “No…”
“Are you a cute boy?” “No…”
“Do you want a million dollars?” “No…”

He can go up and down stairs. He can walk up and down on his own, even though I don’t like for him to. One misstep and he’s tumbling down them.

He loves to push things around the room. Has a little chair made out of pvc that he pushes through the living room, kitchen, dining room. Also loves to push cardboard boxes around. Sometimes he gets in the cardboard boxes, sits down, and makes a “vroom” sound, waiting for someone to push him through the house.

Loves to put tops on things. If he has an empty water bottle, he’ll take the top off and put it back on, off and back on, off and back on… Or anything that can be put on top of something else, even if they don’t go together. And of course, every time something is balanced on top of something else, it’s “Dah tah!” with a huge grin and a clap for himself while turning around to see if anyone else is clapping for him.

If he ever gets hold of his lotion (which he does often), he’ll open it and try to stick his tiny finger in the hole, get lotion on it, and put it in his mouth and say, “Mmm!”

Loves to eat bananas, oatmeal, grits and eggs, grilled cheese and pbj’s, and will eat green beans straight from the can (takes after his mama). Loves the pizzas I make for him, with the sauce made from pureed vegetable soup (sneaky mama).

Won’t eat fruit unless it is pureed. Other than bananas, but he won’t eat those if they’re sliced up and on a plate – he has to eat it from the peel, bite by bite.

Still isn’t quite drinking milk. Loves, loves, loves water, but milk is still a work in progress. It’s getting better, though. Does not like juice. He’ll drink tea or lemonade, but put juice in his cup, and he refuses to drink it (which is fine with me!)

He is now feeding himself, and doing it pretty well. When he gets done with the food that is on his plate, he turns it upside down and says “Dah tah!”

Hates bathtime right now. I think it’s because he’s fallen down a couple times, and he’s scared of it happening again. I have since put lots of non-slip appliqués on the bottom of the tub, so maybe we’ll gradually become more confident in the tub.

Loves to read books. At bedtime, we always read a couple books before I lay him down. He’ll turn the pages for me. He’ll go to turn a page, but when he realizes I’m still reading what’s on that page, he puts his hand back down. Then when I’m finished, he reaches up and turns the page.

If he sees me or anyone else take a sip of coffee, when we are done with the sip and take the cup away from our mouth, Bennett will say, "ahhhh..." This, he learned from my mom and probably my dad too. They are the world's worst at doing the whole "ahhh..." thing when they take a sip of coffee. I don't (think I) do it, but it stuck with Bennett, so he does it even if I don't.

He loves to give kisses, whether it is a real kiss on the lips or blowing a kiss. Both are accompanied by an "Mmmmm......mah!" Sometimes when I ask if I can have a kiss, instead of leaning in to give me a kiss, he'll put his hand up to my mouth so I can kiss it, and he'll say, "Mmmmmm.... mah!" and pull his hand away. For a long time, I thought that was just his way of saying, "No kiss for you," and it would hurt my feelings just a tiny bit, but I finally realized what he was doing, and now I love it.

Another note on the kissing subject - he used to come at you with his mouth wide open and smooch you to death, sometimes even with tongue (this was probably around 9, 10, 11 months). Now, his little lips couldn't get any more pursed. So cute!

He will put his hand over his mouth and fake cough, but when he actually coughs, no hand. Most of the time, these are back to back. He'll fake cough and cover his mouth and then immediately take his hand down and actually cough. Go figure. At least he's trying.


There are sooo many other things, but it's really hard to remember them all unless you just go around with a note pad all day jotting things down. Plus, like I said, a lot of these things are for a Mama to love; not necessarily something the whole world wants to hear about. :)