Sidebar

If I ever find the rationale to sit down and get caught up on the blog, i’m sure i’ll delight with photos of bluebonnets, Easter baskets and general cuteness.  If i don’t, please don’t hate me.  So this is just a sidebar to get y’all caught up on the boys.  If you haven’t been around them lately, which is most of you, you’ll be shocked. 

Benjamin (who has decided to nap a mere hour and is now screaming – sigh) is talking.  Not just first sound words, but real full words.  He is still not as verbal as Jasper was at this age (20 months), nor does he have the enunciation that Jasper had, but he is talking.  It’s great!  It’s also adorable.  Jasper will walk into the room, and he’ll say “hi, ja-per!”  He’ll mimic words we use as well.  He said something close to “excavator” earlier today at my prompting.  He has words for all the animals, all the trucks, all the “Cars” characters, food & people (yes – even “Auntie” and “Uncle”).  One of his favorite words and one of the cutest to hear him says is “cookie.”  His intonation rises at the end of the word as though he’s asking “can i have a cookie?”  too cute!  Last night Benjamin took to couscous like a duck to water, calling out “coo-coo” the whole time.  It was hysterical!  Benj follows his brother everywhere but is not so infatuated with him that he won’t tell Jasper “no.”  Oh how that irks his brother!  Benj loves to run, and unfortunately with his center of gravity being shifted forward as it is (over his belly) … he falls.  He has so many head bonks!  Thankfully, he recovers and we’re designed to withstand that kind of stuff. 

Jasper (at 3 & 1/2) is smart as a whip and so considerate.  He’ll compliment me on my necklaces, my hair, how pretty i look, how well i cut his hair, etc. all the time.  He particularly loves my necklaces.  He gets real close, plays with the necklace and say, “mom, this necklace is pretty.”  He knows all his letters, and thanks to The Talking Word Factory DVD can sound them all out and sound out words.  He’s not jumping into sounding out words on his own, but if we work with him he’ll totally do it.  He’s also infatuated with Fabian Cancellara.  I spelled Fabian the other day on a piece of paper and got him to sound it out.  When he figured out what he had just said, he got the hugest grin on his face and squealed “Fabian Cancellara! … Mom, how do you spell Cancellara?”  We haven’t come back to that, but we will.  We consistently read to him from the Jesus Storybook Bible, and he can tell you things about the stories.  He knows that God always wins his battles; that David told Goliath, “You might be big, but my God is bigger than you.”; he got bright eyed when i explained to him that jasper is a precious stone (like a diamond on my ring) that shines and is beautiful and is in heaven.  He loved that his name was in the Bible.  He also loves the story of Joseph from our other children’s Bible because his brother’s name was Benjamin. 

I could go on and on.  They are a treat (and a trip)!  But, I’ll have to save more for later.