It's beginning to feel like summer

Bennett definitely is a fan of the nicer weather.  Every day he's asking us, "play outside?" "playground?"  It took us a little while to figure out that playground actually meant the backyard swingset.  But with the warmer weather and more hours of daylight, we are now usually to play outside for a while after school.

This video is of the second time that Bennett got spun around.  Chris said he seemed to like it more the first time.

For the most part, Bennett has been doing pretty well with potty training and not having accidents.  And if he does have an accident, he is usually pretty upset about it.  There was one day this week though where he just did not care.  He had about 7 or 8 accidents that day and he didn't seem to even care that he was wet.  He certainly wasn't telling us that he was wet.  I threatened to take Curious George away for the night, thinking that that might help convince him.  He had another accident.  He didn't even seem to care about not being able to take George to bed.  Ugh.  When we dropped him off at school the next day we told them that they had our permission to take toys away- anything to show that there are reprecussions.  (We didn't mean real accidents where he was trying and just didn't make it in time.)  We were expecting them to be resistant to this method, but they were ok with it.  And luckily they didn't have to test it.  He was accident-free the next day.

We also tried taking the bike onto the bike path one night.  Unfortunately he didn't make it very far at all.  Far too distracted.  We'll have to try again later.

Friday was disgustingly warm with temps in the 90s.  We set up the pool for Bennett.  At first he was a bit unsure of it, but Chris started splashing him and then he realized it was fun. 

He then asked for us to move the pool to the bottom of the slide. (Was he really remembering us doing this last year?)  We obliged.  We got the slide wet to make it easier to go down, but then he wanted the slide dried off.  Ugh.


Please excuse the horrible sound in these videos.  A neighbor was mowing his lawn.  And even though these thumbnails of the videos may be sideways, that's not the case with the actual videos.

On Saturday Bennett spent the morning with Grandpa and Nana.  He had a blast, and enjoyed wearing Nana's hat.

After we picked Bennett up we went to Sturbridge for their Antique Car Rally.  Some may think it's odd to have cars at Sturbridge, but it's actually a fun part of their history.  When the museum first opened, it was customary to drive your car around the village, stopping and getting out at the various buildings that you wanted to visit.  So in honor of this piece of history, cars that were from 1946 (the year the museum opened) or earlier were invited to participate.

Napping in the car on the way to Sturbridge.

Customary photo in the visitor center.



The pump on the common was a great way to cool off!



Using the pump on his own.  (He then tried to pump and stick his head underneath at the same time.)

Snack time after a visit to the "cookie store".

Bennett's favorite car.  A Fire Truck. 
(Ding dong, ding dong.  HurryHurryHurry!)

On Sunday, after 2 years and 8.5 months, we took Bennett for his first haircut.

Please excuse the horrible "cheese" face in the after photo.

He was a little nervous at first and didn't want to sit down in the chair, but overall he did great.  I think being able to look in the mirror to see what was happening also helped.  And now he looks so grown up!

And that was our week!

Weekend away

As I mentioned last week, Bennett has a new friend- Curious George.  One morning last week Bennett was giving George raisins and then George was sharing them with Bennett.

Bennett also helped with the laundry.  I probably won't encourage too much of this particular behaviour or I might need to replace the dryer door, but it was cute.

There's also a video of this.

And here's a conversation we had in the car on the way home from school one day.  Not really all that intersting, but I tried to get him to say of of the words that we think are fun.

Then Mummy and Daddy went away for the weekend (celebrating our 10th anniversary!) and Bennett stayed with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry.  Gentry works from home on Saturdays, so Andrew took Bennett to the Children's Museum to get him out of her hair.  While there they visited the "barber" and Andrew sent me this picture claiming that he had taken Bennett for his first hair cut.

Right next to the Children's Museum is the Boston Fire Museum.  How excited Bennett looks!

On Sunday they went to Sturbridge for Wool Days.  Bennett got to see a sheep be shorn, and Andrew and Gentry learned that with a small child in tow, it's really hard to spend time in the exhibits!  Then on Monday morning they went to a sheep farm.  As much as Bennett loves looking at animals, he wanted nothing to do with petting them!
Meanwhile on Martha's Vineyard, the weather was cold and rainy.  Saturday had the worst weather, but we still had a nice time walking around the various towns on the island and checking out the shops.  Sunday we went to one of the lighthouses where it was extremely windy.

We also checked out the Tabernacle and the cottages in Oak Bluffs.  We stopped at the Cottage Museum and enjoyed talking with the guides there.  Unfortunately it was right before closing, so we weren't able to talk for very long. 

Of course Monday had the best weather but we didn't stick around for very long as we wanted to try to beat some of the traffic on the way back.  And we did luck out!  Overall, it was a nice getaway, but probably a bit more low-key than we typically like.  Other than poking around shops there isn't much to do.  Maybe in nicer weather it would have been different because then we would have brought out bikes.

When we got home Bennett was a little more clingy than normal, but that was to be expected.  We gave him his souvenier- a Martha's Vineyard potholder- and he immediately brought us some "cookies" fresh out of the oven in his play kitchen.  We did some gardening and lawn mowing, and then we took a belated monthly photo.  (It might be just about time for a real hair cut!)

Bennett has a new best friend

Not anything that happened this week, but I finally posted photos from the last two years of the Pinewood Derby.  Those pictures can be found here.  And for anyone who is interested, this year the Derby will be on August 24th. 

This week was actually pretty light on photos.  I used to try to get at least one photo a day.  There certainly were some days that I missed, but I think on a "bad" week I would only miss 2 days.  This week was really bad!

Here's one that I got of Bennett looking at a book with hidden pictures.  It was cute how he would put his finger on the side of his face while searching for something.

On Saturday Grandpa came over for dinner.  Grandpa kept Bennett entertained while we got dinner ready.  And we were impressed that Bennett actually got *in* the sandbox.  Normally he just plays from the outside while awkwardly leaning in.

The most fun part of the week though was yesterday when we went to The Curious George Store in Harvard Square.  At first he was extremely overwhelmed by all of the people and traffic.  When we were driving around trying to find a place to park, I think he enjoyed looking at everything, but it was a different story when we got out of the car!

But he was VERY excited when we got to the store.  He said "mine" about almost everything that he saw with George on it.  Sorry buddy, as much as we wanted to get you everything we had to limit it.  We settled on a couple of new books and a stuffed George.    

Trying on The Man with the Yellow Hat's hat.

There were multiple stuffed Georges to choose from. We offered him two choices and he immediately grabbed one of them. We asked again just to be sure, and yes, that was the one he wanted.  When we checked out the cashier asked if we wanted her to cut the tags off.  Yes, please! 

When we went to lunch Bennett sat down in a chair and then put George in the chair next to him.  And he did an awesome job of holding tight to George as we walked around Harvard Square for a while after lunch.  He may have just gotten a new best friend!  

Here's Bennett with his new Curious George as they are greeted by the doorman at the entrance of the store.



And finally, no trip to Sturbridge this weekend, but I have put together a book of all of our visits over the past year.  (Mel, be forewarned that there are some pictures on pages 22 and 23 that you don't want to see.)



Click here to view this photo book larger

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Walks, wardrobes, and weekends...

We are so close to meeting our goals for the upcoming walk to support Boston Children's Hospital.  In fact, Bennett has met and surpassed his goal.   I met my original goal and decided to aim to be a "Miracle Maker".  I'm just $45 away from that goal.  And Chris is a measly $15 away from reaching the minimum amount that he needs to raise.  Would you consider donating to help us reach our goals?  Pretty please?  You'll receive a lovely photo thank you card after the walk....

In the category of cute things that kids say, we have the following two entries.

• "Trash can truck- dump dump"  Each week he likes helping us bring the trash can to the curb.  And when we can, we like watching the trash truck come and pick up the trash can and dump the contents into the truck.  But Chris and I like how he blended the terms together to get trash can truck.  And the "dump dump" is just describing the action of the truck.
• Happy Birthday Mummy Mumma's Day

For the past couple of nights Bennett has been lining up all of his toys in the tub.  Another one of his OCD tendendcies?

We've been trying to get Bennett to dress himself.  For the most part he can do it, but if we are near him he always says that he needs help.  The only thing we weren't sure if he could do was his shirt.  So one morning this past week Chris picked out Bennett's clothes and left them in his room and asked him to put them on.  Then he left.  A few minutes later Bennett comes into our room completely dressed.  Undies and socks were on correctly, but the pants and shirt were backwards.  Oh well.  We decided to leave him as is and sent him to school that way.  And he was even still dressed that way when we picked him up.

On Saturday night we had a game night with friends.  It's been about 5 months since we've seen everyone.  Schedules are just way too busy!  Proof that it's been too long- one friend commented that Bennett is now speaking intelligent words.  We feel like he's been doing this for a while now!

Sunday was Mother's Day andd we went to Sturbridge.  Moms got in free (not that it mattered to us since we're members) so it was pretty busy.  Bennett continues to get comments from everyone about how cute his is in his hat.  If only he wouldn't smoosh it down onto his head.  It makes visibility a bit tricky.

We also got a picture of him in the final opening of this mult-person cutout.  I'll have to photoshop all of the images together at some point.

And of course we visited Doc and Blue (the oxen) and also looked at the cows.

After nap Bennett gave me his Mother's Day present that he bought with some help from Daddy.  It's a little hard to see here, but it's a "bouquet" made out of a few skeins of yarn with knitting needles as stems.  I had seen the idea and passed along a link to Chris.  I had a feeling this is what I would be getting but I hadn't known which option it would be.  There had been multiple choices in various colors and prices.

And then to finish the day we went outside and did some gardening.  Bennett helped me mix some compost into my garden beds.  I still have a bit more work to do, but need to get some more supplies before I can finish.  Hopefully that will happen later this week or next weekend. 



Spring has sprung!

It's finally starting to feel like spring!  Bennett is wearing short sleeved shirts most days, and when getting dressed he keeps trying to pull his sleeves down.  But being from New England I know that the weather could quickly turn, so the long sleeve shirts are still easily accessible.

One day this past week we picked Bennett up from school and he had a ponytail, or as he called it, a "popo tail".  Apparently all of the kids who had any amount of hair got ponytails.  What I love most about this though is that Bennett finally has enough hair to be put into a ponytail!  And yes, it is often that curly.

May the 4th be with you!  The Lego store was celebrating by giving out Yoda hats.

On Sunday we went to Sturbridge.  Hey, it had been two weeks, so it was time, right?

Bennett brough his phone with him (an old cell phone of mine) and started taking pictures of the sheep.

We had noticed that Doc and Blue, the two oxen who reside in the center village weren't in their normal enclosure.  When we got towards the farm we saw them working to plow a field.  As we were getting closer, they finished up and came up the path towards us.

When they reached the end of the path, the farmer stopped them and talked to the small gathering of people about the oxen.  Technically they won't be "oxen" for another year or so.  This is the term that they get when they are fully trained.  Doc and Blue (Doc's horns point down) are 3 years old.  They are doing well, but still have some learning to do.

As they were being led away, Bennett very loudly yelled after them, "BYE OXEN!!!"

Then we went into the barn and saw the twin "mambs" that had just been born.

Back at home at dinner time, Bennett had his first corn on the cob of the season.  He ate it like a pro, eating an ear and a half.  He probably would have eated the whole second ear but I wanted more so I split it with him.  We may need to find some plastic corn dishes because I don't think I want to risk these glass ones getting broken.

Back in the saddle again

On Monday Bennett had lots of accidents on Monday.  I knew this as soon as we picked him up from school and I saw him in this outfit of mis-matched plaids.  I think he wet through 4 pairs of pants that day.

Also on the potty training front, we started night training last week.  The main reason?  We didn't want to buy more diapers.  We've been using disposables at night rather than cloth since it's not worth doing frequent laundry and you don't want a diaper to be sitting wet for too long.  However, since starting we've now been doing laundry on a daily basis since we have to wash multiple sets of sheets.  Ugh.  Maybe in a month or so we'll be able to speak about night training in a more favorable light.  For now, it's pretty hellish.

It was time for the monthly photo this week.  We kept forgetting, so it was a couple of days late.

On Saturday Bennett spent the day with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry while we did some cleaning/purging.  As I said when I asked if they could watch him, things are easier without a small child "helping".  Plus we did some rearranging of things in his room, and he doesn't do well if you change things while he is there.  But he's perfectly ok to go into a room to see them changed.

Here he is helping with the recycling.  Or at least that's what we're going to assume he was doing. 

He also saw a Mountain Dew bottle while he was at their place.  He pointed at it and said, "Daddy's soda!"

On Sunday in the car Bennett and I had the following conversation:
     Bennett: Uncle Andrew.  Book.
     Mum:  Did Uncle Andrew read you a book?
     Bennett:  Yeah.  Poop!
Thanks, Andrew.  Because the kid wasn't interested in poop enough as it was!

On Sunday morning we dropped off a bunch of things at church for the upcoming rummage sale.  This included some of Bennett's old books and toys.  If he hadn't been there when we dropped them off, he probably would have been fine adn wouldn't have even noticed they were missing.  But instead he very sadly whined about his "toys".  We explained that they were baby toys and that he's a big boy now.  He kind of understood that, because later he told me he was a big boy, but he kept asking, "toys, where?"  And he also noticed that he now has an empty bookshelf since we were able to consolidate things a bit.  "Books, where?"  Again, he wouldn't notice which books are missing, but in this case it's pretty obvious that they aren't there any more.
Other things Bennett has been saying lately.  These aren't exactly words he should be saying in polite company.
armadillo = dildo
horse = hor (whore)
blueberries = boobies

And not in the same category as the others, but toothpaste = toe paste.  Which just sounds really gross!

Finally, a few more pictures to share.  Back in 2010 we first noticed a horse appear in a field in Lincoln.  Since then, more horses have gradually joined the "herd".

Here it is in August 2010.  Just one lone horse.

And here's the field now.  8 horses at the moment.  I'd love to be able to add some horses to the herd.  Maybe I'll have to start scouring yard sales?

For a while now I've wanted to take Bennett to check out the horses, but although we pass them every day on our way to and from work, Bennett isn't with us at that point.  So on Saturday we made a point of stopping after we picked him up from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry's.  He loved it!  He wanted to ride each and every one of them.  Unfortunately a couple of them were broken so he wasn't able to, but he climbed on the ones he could and rocked back and forth.

And when he was done with the horses, he went over to the fence and said loudly, "cows, moooo!"