Edited July 21,2012: My apologies for the redo – I just figured out how to get Facebook to give my all my statuses (statii?) instead just what it deems the “highlights.” But to sweeten the deal I added pictures.

And now for a little walk down memory lane – some Ben moments from 2009 (before Molly, when I just had one completely nutty kid to post about)!

June 2009

Daddy – “Ben, there is no jumping on the bed.” Ben, resignedly –“Only monkeys.”

August 2009

Some people have normal kids who have normal nightmares about normal things like monsters. I have a kid who wakes up in the middle of the night sobbing, “Mommy take keys out!” Clearly he’s either a creative nut or a genius; I’m not sure which. The other night it was, “Ben sleep in OTHER bed!!” and I have no idea to which other bed he was referring.

September 2009

I am listening to Ben on the baby monitor singing the death metal version of “Twinkle Twinkle”– “TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STTTAAAAARR!!! HOW I WONDER WHAT YOU AAAARRRE!”

This morning Ben had his whole outfit chosen. I switched the pants when he wasn’t looking for the ones I wanted him to wear. He said, “Mommy, Ben picked Ben’s red shirt! And Ben’s blue socks! And Ben’s green sweater! And…not those pants, mommy. Ben picked Ben’s BROWN pants…Ben wear brown pants, mommy,” and switched the pants back. I’m not going to argue with that!

This morning is not going so well. Ben is in his room until he decides that he is ready to get dressed, since the pyjama shirt and bandana wrapped around his legs like a skirt option has been deemed not acceptable by me.

October 2009

Ben – “Ben drank too much water at drandad’s house.” Me – “Yes, Ben did drink lots of water!” Ben – “YES! Ben had THREE much water at drandad’s house!”

November 2009

I took Ben to the Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph, where Ben spent the better part of an hour saying, “Now it’s time to be quiet! Now I’m being quiet! I’m going to be quiet over THERE, mommy! This is being quiet!” at the top of his lungs.

December 2009

I went upstairs this evening in response to yells and was greeted (again) by a naked toddler who smiled and said, “Mommy! Where is my poo??” Naturally, I replied, “Um, I don’t know…where is your poo?” Ben grinned and pointed at the floor and said, “There it is!!” and there, indeed, it was.

Ben just ran upstairs with his tape measure to measure his baby. It seems it’s baby’s birthday today and he wants to know how old he is.

This year’s least successful Christmas present: A whistle-operated keychain finder that responds to the frequency of a toddler yelling. Right now it is hanging on a hook in the kitchen and all morning we’ve listened to, “NOOO!!!” *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* “I don’t WANT to put my socks on!” *BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

~ karyn