Adventures in Larsonland: Benjamin is TWO!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Benjamin is TWO!

A belated post about our fun, crazy, smart, growing two year old... there's so much to say and so little time to say it. So here's my attempt at capturing Benjamin Willys at his big age of TWO!

And for a short stroll down memory lane:

birth post: here

six month post: here

one year post: here

Benjamin is still a sweet, gentle-hearted boy. We are definitely thankful for his wonderful spirit! He loves his buddies, loves making new friends, loves talking and singing, loves cuddling (finally), and generally is happy to be around. But don't be fooled, he has started to demonstrate the "terrible twos" in many ways - we've seen our fair share of nasty tantrums lately! He's no longer quite as passive as he used to be, and he's become quite bossy and opinionated, which is both a good and bad thing of course. We now have to remind him to say please (instead of just demanding things), and we often have to remind him who the "real" bosses are. :) Year three could be an interesting one to say the least!

Things Benjamin loves to say (if he's not asleep, he's talking... and occasionally he wakes up just to talk...which was cute at first, but not quite anymore!):

"Mommy, get me out! Get me out, mom." (in the morning when he wakes up)
"Here you go, Daddy." or "Here you go, Mommy."
"All good." (in response to asking him if he needs a new diaper)
"Kick it, soccer ball, goal." (or some variation that also includes net)
"Me too, tired." (whenever he hears me say that I'm tired) or "Me too, hungry." (whenever he hears us say we're hungry)
"Can't hear it, turn sound up." (whenever he can't hear the music in the car)
"No talking!" (if Matt and I are having a conversation without him)
"Let's go downstairs!" (this is said fifty times a day)
"Mine!" (a new, unpleasant development in his vocabulary)
"One more book!" (at bedtime, of course...)
"I did it!" or "I found it!"
"Chicken nuggets." (in response to "what did you have for lunch today?", no matter what he actually had)
"Big trucks!" (however, in a very embarrassing admission, he actually pronounces trucks with an F, yes, an F. I can't retype the word here. But that's what he runs around the house screaming. And occasionally at Target, or at a friend's house, or in the car... you get the idea.)

Things Benjamin loves:

Monkey (his best stuffed animal friend)
Giving kisses and hugs
Dinos
Soccer
Singing his ABCs (he skips "now I know my ABCs" and goes straight to "next time won't you sing with me", which is pretty cute), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me (and Jingle Bells, obsessively over the holidays!)
Swimming/pools
Winnie the Pooh & Bubble Guppies
Reading
Trucks (see above)
Counting to 11 (and usually starting at 3)
Chicken nuggets
Elmo
Unzipping his jammies in the middle of the night
Playing music (drums, piano, saxoflute, xylophone)
Making us build towers with him
Being clean (he hates getting spilled on or dirty!)
Doing puzzles with daddy
His buddies!
His Mimi!

Video of him "singing" Jingle Bells:

Trying to capture him saying his ABCs (he gets very camera-angry/hyper and doesn't like it when I pull the camera out!):

Video of him "playing" his new xylophone:

We had a little birthday "party" for Benjamin last weekend when temps barely reached the teens and snow covered the city... thankfully a lot of buddies were able to come by and celebrate with us. I know he loved having everyone over! (He was also completely spoiled with new toys and books... lucky little man!)

opening presents with G & G before the party

kisses for his girlfriend

Holden made a visit!

my fave pic from the night!

Singing happy birthday and getting help with his candle from his buddy Noah :)

And on Benjamin's actual birthday, both Matt and I had to work, but BWL was lucky to spend the whole day with his Mimi! We then got to open some of Benjamin's presents and have a quick birthday dinner together before dad had to head to MN for work (where it was a balmy -20 or something).