Ben's milestones

I've slacked off a bit on keeping the blog updated. Not sure what happened, but I've been busy trying to organize some tutoring jobs that have recently come up. Right now I am scheduled to start with a student in a few weeks. She is officially home schooled, but her mother wants me to take over the homeschooling of her English credit. So, essentially I have to prepare an entire course just for her. It's a little overwhelming, but the student seems nice and bright, and there's no denying that we can use the extra money. Hopefully, the extra money will be worth the time that I will be spending in preparation and the time away from the family. In any case, Shawn will get to brush up on his cooking skills!

In the midst of all of this, Mr. Benjamin learned a few new tricks. He's been working on learning to jump for a couple of months now, and up until a few days ago, his jumping was basically a knee bend followed by one foot being lifted off the ground. As you can from the video below (if I can ever get it to load properly), he finally mastered this trick. Now, every time I turn around, he's practicing his new skill. He could not be more proud of himself.

Along with his new jumping ability, this little stinker also learned how to ride his tricycle. Being nostalgic for my own childhood prompted us to buy Claire a red radio flyer tricycle which, though cute and iconic, is actually a little difficult to ride. It's fairly high off the ground for that age, and, to make matters worse, it tends to tip over at the slightest provocation. This tendency led to many crashes and tears for Claire, but Ben has had better luck. He was finally able to master how to get his feet to push the peddles consistently, and he LOVES riding his bike. Now we just need to invest in a good helmet.

This little guy, as fresh as a 2 year old can be, certainly tries my patience. I mean, really, what can you do when he simply refuses to eat his broccoli? Push it in, and it only comes flying right back out. No amount of ice cream bribery (a sure fire method for Claire) will work. But he does have his moments. The other day after putting on my dress and getting ready for church, I walked down the hall into the living room. Ben saw me, climbed off the couch, came over to me and said, "oh Mommy, you look beyoobiful." Right, ok, so I'm fine with the no broccoli thing.