Benji talks

Benjamin has started to understand the value of speaking the same language as the rest of us--so we're starting to get some sense out of his long speeches.

He has grasped some interesting words, like "zap!" which he uses when he points at something to turn it into something else (and which he got from the end of "little bunny foo foo", when the fairy says, 'Zap! You're a goon!') He says 'pitty' for pretty, and "Peeooh" for Winnie the Pooh. He can't say the 'tr' sound, so he uses an 'f' sound, which makes it rather embarrassing when he starts looking at trucks and pointing them out to people. He told me yesterday that the Christmas tree was 'pitty fwee'. It's actually really fun because he is old enough that he can say any word--so we have enjoyed playing, "Benji, can you say -______(kangaroo rat, serendipity, etc)?" Just now he turned Dan into a serendipity, "Zap! Dippy!"

Benji has learned some words that are important in a family full of computer-addict kids, like "Hey! Hey!", which he says when he pushes someone off their chair to take the computer or hands me the mouse to get his program turned on. He also says "'ess kids" for pbskids.org, and 'sue per why' (one of the shows there) and 'buggie' for some of the Odyssey lessons. He loves the Curious George videos, and can make a pretty convincing monkey sound. He now uses the word "monkey" to mean any animal he can't identify readily, from pigs to snowmen (which he seems to think are animals, since there's no snow here and they show up in conjunction with reindeer all the time).

Other favorite phrases include "kitty", "read" and "book", "where'd it go?", "cack" (quack), "eat", "gwee" (drink), "Kay-bee" (Caleb), "annie" (Anda), "Dan", and "Benjimin". He uses 'no' freely, and 'yeah' sometimes. He barks pretty well. He's just learning 'peas' for please, which makes me nervous to send him to nursery, where they are Please Nazis, refusing to give 18-month-olds snacks if they don't say please, and always attributing it to stubbornness or rebellion that must be quelched (like that's their business to teach anyway). He knows more, and is constantly surprising me with words, like this morning when he walked into the living room where Dan and I were sitting and said, "Oh. Poopy, Dan?"

He's finally figured out that when I say no, it's a lot better if he stops what he's doing--and then I praise him highly for it so he gets the point.

The thing I'm most worried about right now is when the baby comes, how will I go grocery shopping with a toddler who must be buckled into the seat or he pulls things off the shelves and runs with wild abandon? If Benji is in the cart seat, then you have to put the baby in the basket in the car seat, and then there's not room for a loaf of bread, much less 6 gallons of milk and Daniel. I might have to let Caleb push a cart for me.....I tried putting Benji in the basket today, and he was back to pulling things off shelves and trying to climb out, so that won't work.