18 months looks like this

i hear other parents talk about each little thing that their child has done that is so amazing and i think to myself, "do i do this?". i try to reserve a lot of ben stories for tim and ben's grandparents and not proclaim them to the world via my facebook statues because not everyone thinks my child is as awesome as i think he is. but sometimes, a mom just can't help herself so i'm limiting myself to this blog post.

ben is understanding sooo much more of what we say to him. last night, i was at a tupperware party and tim was with ben. he'd had a late nap so i'd warned tim that he might not be as tired at regular bedtime. at 7pm, tim asked ben if it was time to brush his teeth and ben said, "no". is it time for bed? "no". after a little while, tim asked again and ben answered no. at about 7:30pm, tim said ben was looking tired so he asked if it was time to brush teeth. "yeah", he replied. after they brushed teeth, tim asked ben if it was time to read a book and ben went and got him a book to read. tim said, "is it time to have soothers?" and ben pointed at the bed and went down without a peep. :)

a few days ago, i put ben in the car and said, "we're going to grams and pop's house!" when we got to the corner where we turn left to go to their house, i turned right because i needed to first drop some books off at the library. ben pointed left and started to cry! whaat? i thought maybe it was a fluke. another day, i turned left at that corner and was heading towards my in law's house but then turned off at another street on the way to costco. he pointed out the window in the direction of their house and said, "poppa!" and whimpered. as it turns out, we discovered that if you drive on or past the street to my in law's house from any direction, ben can point in the correct direction towards their house! is this not totally crazy? he didn't get that from me - i'm always so lost! haha.

i've taught ben a few "signs" so that he could let us know when he was done eating or wanted more of something. and then after a few months of those two signs, i taught him thank you (patting his mouth) and please. he never did learn the sign for please, just started saying "peas". now, he mostly skips over the sign for more and just says, "peas!" when he wants something. when you give him something, he pats his chin. every once in awhile after i change his diaper, he'll even say thank you by patting his chin. aww. but lately, ben's made up a few signs of his own. if he scratches the back of his neck while pointing at the fridge, he wants pickles. yes. this took me forever to figure out. the poor kid's neck was all red. he also strokes his cheek for "house". don't know why but he does it whenever you say house. and the latest one is, in the morning when i'm getting him his milk and breakfast, he points at his toes and then up to the counter over and over until i figured out he was asking for "toast"! haha.

so there are a few of my mom stories. we're loving this stage despite some new frustrations it has brought but this little boy sure is fun to have around. we're loving being ben's parents.