Noah

The picture is a little dark, but how cute is this little peanut?

It finally happened - UGH!

I've heard and read of other mother's who have experienced this with their children, and, up until yesterday, I was lucky enough to not be able to relate.

I've posted before about Ben's less than ideal sleeping habits, and this past week has been no exception. For some reason, he has decided to forgo his afternoon nap. I refuse to give up on this one though, so even though he's wide awake in there, he stays in his crib for the allotted nap time. Yesterday, however, he added a new twist. After playing and talking to himself in his crib for over an hour, we suddenly realize that he was talking to us. I distinctly hear him say, "mommy, poopie. Mommy, poopie." This is not a new occurrence. He has become more and more aware of his dirty diapers, and will frequently ask to be changed. So, thinking that this must be the reason why he has been awake for so long, Shawn decides to go in, change him, and put him back in his crib to finally sleep.

Not more than 1 second after entering Ben's room do I hear Shawn frantically yell out, "Naomi! come here!!" I run to his room only to discover that Ben has totally stripped down, taken off his diaper and is holding it, poop laden and all, in his hands for us to take (like it's a gift or something????). He had such an angelic look on his face that I really think he thought he was doing us a favor. "Well, why don't I just save mom and dad the trouble of changing my diaper and do it myself?" Thanks, but no thanks, son!! Thankfully, unlike other children about whom I've heard, he did not decide to finger paint with his new discovery. But it was all over his sheet and his backside, of course.

After cleaning him off, changing the sheet and disposing of the "mess," we got him back in bed. The little stinker (literally) never did go to sleep.

Time to potty train? Um, yeah.

Dixie Classic Fair

The Dixie Classic Fair comes to Winston-Salem every fall, and despite the fact that admission and ride costs leave one feeling as though their finances have been brutally violated, we still look forward to it every year. It's a HUGE fair complete with livestock, live animal shows (we saw pig races, swimming pigs and a bear this year), rides and the inevitable fair food. I mean where else can one buy a turkey leg for $8 that will feed an entire family, and then enjoy a dessert of fried candy bars? Yes, I said, fried.


Generally we try to go in the middle of the week when it's possible to bypass the admission price if you bring non-perishable food items for a local shelter ministry. But this year, it rained that day, so we ended up going on Saturday morning. The weather was perfect, and we had lots of fun. Ben was still a little small to ride all the rides he wanted, but he was fairly content with the merry-go-round, the ponies, and the choo-choo train.

Shawn had to ride this one with them. It was one of those round and round rides that would have made me puke.

Hmmm... maybe he's about to puke too.

Ben was super excited to ride his pony, "Andy." He talked about Andy for the rest of the night.

Claire's first pony ride was at this exact fair when she was two years old. She rode a pony called "Midnight," and ever since then, she wants to ride the same horse. This year she was amazed to discover that Midnight had grown! Um, well, let's just say the old Midnight was really, really old.

Ben loves to drive the rides.
Claire was a little nervous about the bumper cars, so she refused to drive, but by the end of the ride, she was laughing hysterically whenever we crashed into someone.
Claire is in the front seat of the plane.

My landscaping family

Being that Shawn works for a landscaping company, one would think that our lawn would be a velvety green, lush carpet and our house landscaped with the loveliest shrubs and flowers. Well, wrong. I guess it's true that most people don't want to come home and continue the work that they've been doing all day. Ergo, hairdresser's hair.

Now, let me say, that our yard has come a VERY long way from the barren wasteland that it was when we first moved in. Indeed, Shawn has planted umpteen tress and shrubs from the surplus at work, but it's definitely a work in progress. This work continued this past weekend, when Shawn created a planting bed around the mailbox and driveway. Being the "helpers" that they are, and since Claire plans on one of her various future vocations to include landscaping, the kids decided to get some landscaping practice, and they joined their dad.

Shawn was a good sport about accepting all the "help" he was getting.

Claire - Build and Grow

I recently heard about this great program that Lowe's offers to kids and their families. Their "Build and Grow" program is a little person version of their weekend workshops for adults. Instead of learning how to tile your kitchen floor or install a new shower head, kids get to work on a building project with their parents. It's a totally free program that provides each child with a toy kit, goggles, and a work apron. Children are even awarded a certificate and a patch to sew on their backpacks once they complete that day's project.

I wasn't sure Claire would go for this, knowing how sensitive she is to loud noises - surely the hammering would have been a bit deafening - but Shawn took Claire to one of the workshops, and she was totally thrilled about getting to build her own wooden firetruck. Her great-grandfather, Bud, would be proud.

How hilarious are those goggles?

She's looking forward to building a wooden pumpkin face in a few weeks!

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.