Benjamin Penguin

So, supposedly I “promised” to take over blogging duties while Mommy is insanely busy with school and work.  Although I don’t remember saying such a thing, I think I better start writing something before I begin to look bad to the two or three people who actually read this. [rofl]

I’ve never written a blog before, so please forgive me, I has no idea what I’m doing.

I’ve been on full-time, stay-at-home daddy duty since October 2008 now, and… kids are a lot of work. Gra’ma helps out two days a week while I’m at work, but still, WOW, a lot of work.  When Stephanie and I set up this arrangement back in September, I thought staying at home would be great- watching TV and eating ice cream.  The ice cream part did pan out, but not the TV so much, or any rest at all for that matter.  It’s actually a lot better than I thought it would be.  Watching Ben every moment of every day is absolutely wonderful, and I cherish every moment of it.  I wish I could stay at home with him forever, but while that might not be possible, I’m enjoying it while I can.

It’s hard to believe how much has happened in such a short time.  Seeing Ben every day, all of the little changes don’t seem like much until I look back at old pictures or blog posts.  I thought the first year saw the most rapid changes, going from a helpless newborn to a self-sufficient toddler, feeding himself and working for a living.  But the rate of change seems to be accelerating lately.  He’s doing so many little new things.  I actually wish I had started blogging here sooner, because there are so many little things he has done in months past, that I can’t remember and wish I had recorded.  Lately, most of the changes seem to be in language.  He’s learning how to talk now, and is learning a new word almost every day.  Today was the first day that we actually engaged in reciprocal “conversation.”  I asked him if he wanted a clean diaper and he said “no no no.”  Later in the day he was running around with a banana in his hand, and when mommy asked if she could have the banana, he told her “no.”  It’s so nice.  He’s talking back to us.

Yeah, most of the recent changes have been verbal.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember every word he’s learned.  He says “damn” a  lot, when something bad happens.  If he drops his pacifier behind the bed and can’t reach it, he says “oh damn!”  The other day we were playing in the sink, and he wanted to put a little cardboard box in the sink and I didn’t think that was such a good idea so I took it away from him.  He didn’t cry or fuss, but he did express his dismay with a simple “daaamn,” and quickly moved on to the next thing.  I’ve learned that getting a toddler to stop swearing is one of the challenges of parenthood.

What other words does he know…  I can’t remember them all, but a random sampling of his vocabulary besides the d-word looks a little like this:  momma, dadda, bubba, nana, doggy, kitty, duck, meow, no, down, up, goodnight, bye, cook, keys, light, uh oh…  I feel like there’s more but I can’t remember.   More amazing than the words he speaks are the words he understands.  I think he understands most of the english language, even though he can’t say all the words.  If you tell him to go get his socks, he’ll go get them.  Same with shirt or shoes.  He knows what outside means.  He’ll sit down if you tell him to.  He knows what all the parts of the face are called and will point to them if you ask him to.

Besides talking, he does other things too.  He’s gotten pretty good at walking, and has taken up running.  He used to be real good climbing stairs, but now he tries to walk up the stairs, rather than crawl, and well, he ain’t so good at that because each step is like half his height, but he does pretty well considering the circumstances.   He loves to go outside and play.  He likes to look at airplanes and birds.  He loves to take walks and open mailboxes (even though I tell him it’s a federal offense to open other people’s mailboxes and then gets mad when grandma or I won’t let him).  He yells at dogs for barking or begging.  He is very friendly and waves to everybody.  He helps himself to food out of the cabinet and goes to sit down with his box of cereal or whatever.  He loves to play hide and seek.  He has a play tent, and likes to put things he finds around the apartment in a little basket and then carries the basket with his loot into the tent where he stashes it.

I think my brain is shutting down for the night, so I better wrap this up.  I’ll write more later!