Benjamin Button

Well, I haven't posted very much about Benjamin lately, and I don't want to fall behind on his journal, so this post is basically what Benjamin has been up to.

These past 2.5 weeks have been kind of hard on Benjamin. Benjamin for the most part is a very well adjusted kid, pretty laid back and goes with the flow. However, maybe its a combination of the terrible 2's and mommy being on bedrest and daddy being gone for work--- we have had ALOT of behavior problems (whinning, tantrums -- like I have never see in my life before,lots of timeouts, not listening, huge fits during bath time and right before bed --- which were never a problem before.
Anyway, its taken about 9 very long days, but our sweet little boy is almost back to normal.

We have him a new schedule: breakfast, go to the park with grandma for 2 hours,lunch, books with mommy, nap, school time with mommy, sometimes a movie or playtime, dinner, bath, book of Mormon/books, prayer & bedtime.
We moved Benjamin's desk out in the living room by my bed so Benjamin and I can work on school things together.
Since then, Benjamin has had fewer timeouts,barely throws a fit and is a much more obedient little boy.

It has really helped to have my mom here to help me take care of benjamin. Really, she has done everything, since i really can't. Benjaminn has warmed up to my mom and i think that he be sad when she goes home.

Benjamin's accomplishments:

Since we have started back into our school routine, benjamin has learned a lot in the past couple of weeks. Here are some of his accomplishments:

Counting: Benjamin can count individual items up to 3 sometimes even to four. He can recognize numbers:1,2,3 and 6 (random I know). Sometimes We hear him counting aloud almost to 10...sometimes misses a few numbers, but he's getting the idea.

He can tell people how old he is.

He talks in full sentences most of the time.

He is learning manners: He is starting to say "Please" and "Thank-you" and " I sorry".
the other day while he was playing with toys i heard him say "oh i sorry" and "thank-you." Thank goodness, I hate it when kids yell"I WANT" Ugh! So, manners are kind of important.

Colours:
He knows and can Identify the following colors: red,yellow,blue,green,purple,orange,black, brown---

Its amazing how smart two year olds are and how much they can really learn. Benjamins a funny kid though, he likes to learn, but since we have been out of the habit of school time, it has taken lots of patience to get him to focus/care. I wonder if its because he's a boy-- it just seems like little girls are more happy to just sit there and absorb.

The first couple of days it took him a while to learn Red, and then after that, he picked up the other colours pretty quickly. Now he will say"Red truck." or "Orange Shoes."


Throwing Balls:

Benjamin has always been comfortable in his little body and is naturally inclined physically. In the past week or so, he has gotten very good at throwing balls to you and from a long distance away.

Creative:
Benjamin is such a creative and imaginative little boy! he likes to create toys for himself, string things together ect.Its fun to watch him work on his creation. The Other day When he was done coloring a picture, he said to me "Beautiful!" He also loves to collect items like leaves, rocks and sticks.
Here are some of his creations:



notice how he even "displays" the playdough on the lid? Thought that was really funny




Final Product:





this "creation" amazed me. It may not look super amazing, but here's the deal. Benjamin doesn't know how to tie knots, but he loves to connect objects together. He took his stringing toy, strung all the animals on, and then threaded it at least 3 times through a hole on his wooden cho choo train. Thought that was pretty creative myself at solving a problem!