Need a Helping Hand?

About a month ago, Ben started playing a game we simply call Hand. He gets stuck, puts one little hand in the air and yells, "And! And!" We say, "Oh no, are you stuck? Do you need a hand?" and help him out. It's a very suspenseful game and there's a collective sigh of relief when he's unstuck.

I should mention that Ben's version of getting stuck is rarely never really stuck. Sometimes he lays face down on the floor, sometimes he's on his back on the steps. He's been known to put one leg behind a piece of furniture or simply cross his legs. But if you heard his pleas, you'd believe we were dealing with a life or death situation, but we promise he's fine.

One more point before we go on, Chuck also likes to get "stuck" and Ben takes his job as emergency responder very seriously.

I love this game... at home. It's fun to see his imagination working and let's face it, a little drama breaks up the monotony of our days. I do not love this game at the grocery store. People can give you some pretty nasty looks when you have a toddler laying in your cart with one leg and one arm up in the air yelling in a panic. I also do not like this game at the doctor's office.

One morning we were waiting to see our family practice doctor and had to wait about 45 minutes (basically an eternity in toddler time). After about two minutes all the snacks were gone and we'd read Cat and the Hat - twice. So Ben started his game. He'd scoot under a chair and yell, "And!" When the nurse finally called us, the receptionist said, "He's the wild one over there."

Thanks.

Despite my best efforts to quell the game in public, it continues and is expanding. Yesterday, Gary was rolling around on his cat back and Ben yelled, "Gaga, and! Gaga and!" and reached out to take Gary's paw. Gary bit him, but Ben seems undeterred in his mission as first responder.

And this morning, I was contemplating taking down the Christmas decorations, when Ben started playing with the Little People Nativity set. We were talking about Mary being Jesus' mama and the next thing I knew, baby Jesus was face down and Ben was yelling, "And!" Luckily Mary came to Jesus' rescue.

I have nightmares of Little Sister (what I'm currently calling the new baby) face down and Ben shouting for rescue. For now, we'll enjoy the antics.

Christmas in Review

At the beginning of this Christmas season, I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish and enjoy. Here is that list:

1. Teach Ben that Christmas is about Jesus' birth.
2. Help Ben learn generosity.
3. Not worry about money.
4. Not snap at Chuck, Ben or any other innocent bystander.

I simply wanted a peaceful, worshipful, happy home for the holidays. In years past, I have been guilty of being snappy at the very people I love the most. Get out of my way! Can't you see I'm trying to do something nice for you?!?! Yeah, not what I wanted to do this year :)

I would say I accomplished those goals about 80 percent. For the last month, Ben and I have been reading children's books about Jesus' birth. Our two standbys were The Animal's Christmas Eve and The Very First Christmas. Like most two-year-olds, Ben likes to read the same books over and over again and he especially loves donkeys (which are heavily featured in Christmas stories so that helped).

Ben made all the animal sounds, pointed out the donkeys and the "GaGas" (cats). He also enjoyed pointing out the Jesus' star, kissing baby Jesus goodnight and declaring his hatred for Mary. I think he doesn't like that she's on top of the donkey or maybe it's because her eyes are closed in a lot of these pictures, but he always points to her and says, "Ick." I try to tell him, "Benny, that's Jesus' mommy, she's a nice mommy." He just looks at me and hisses. Fine - hate the virgin Mary, but seriously that makes no sense.

I've often wondered why Jesus was born in a stable and after actually delivering a baby (well, being in labor for a day and having him cut out of my belly - not sure if that's a real delivery), it makes me really sad for Mary. I can't think of anything worse than being in labor while riding on a donkey, delivering your baby without your mom and with your new husband, while out of town in a stable. But now I think maybe it's because kids love animals so much, it helps them learn about Christmas.

I'm not sure how much of this Ben really understands. Does he understand that babies grow up to be adults? Is it confusing that sometimes Jesus is a baby, then he's a man, then we pray in His name? I'm really not sure how much sinks in, but if he understands Jesus was born and animals, people and angels were happy, that's probably enough.

To help Ben learn generosity, we made pictures and ornaments for the people we were going to see on Christmas. When Ben received a gift from someone, I wanted him to have something to give them in return so he could learn that gift-giving is a two-way street.



There are little green scribbles
in the left corner. While
Ben was writing he said,
"Bean!"



This was an exercise in patience because 1.) I hate crafts - they are tedious and lame and 2.) I hate crafts with two-year-olds. If you want a mess to clean up and glue all over yourself, your cat, carpet and child, by all means, plan a craft. We made our presents on Christmas Eve and basically ended up with paper, pom poms and stars all over - Ben even had one little gold star stuck to his bottom, which I didn't remove because he looked so festive.

However, I think the sentiment was a success. Ben was super excited about opening gifts this year (finally learning that wrapped boxes mean toys) and he seemed to like giving too. Next year, we'll either do the craft earlier or put together little baskets of no-bake treats. Baking is also bad news with a toddler unless you like sweeping up flour and throwing away all the cookies with finger prints (oh, who am I kidding - eating the finger-print cookies.) I think I'll also let him make a list of people he wants to give a "gift" to.

I made my list and budget early and didn't stress about how much Christmas was costing even once. Yippee - that's a 100 percent victory. And I only snapped a Chuck once on Christmas day (that's basically 100 percent for me). I didn't even glare at the man who cut me in line at the post office while I was holding three packages and a crying two-year-old. Yes, single man mailing one envelope-sized package carrying nothing else, clearly your time is more important than mine and obviously your hands are more full. Please, go ahead of me.

For next year, I think my goals will be the same; although, Ben will be more involved and it will be more challenging with a seven-month-old baby tow. I think we'll add more books, more movies and more activities. Stickers are an okay "craft". I'll probably also spend more time reading the story from the scriptures too.

I had a list of activities I wanted to do with Ben and we actually made it to everything.

1. Winter Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop. We went with Cole and Noah in the afternoon and had a great time. We watched a model train, rolled monster trucks, raced cars and even got in a little target practice with a Nerf cross bow. It was a really fun FREE event, but if you want to see Santa, pick up a ticket during the day and it moves you to the front of the line.

2. Jackson County Christmas in the Park. Ben loves lights and even though we spent almost two hours in the car (one of which he was out of his car seat and doing really helpful things like turning on our hazard lights) it was worth it. Ben loved it. Next year, I think we'll go earlier in the season and earlier in the day.

3. Trains at Union Station. We saw the model trains at Union Station and that was by far Ben's favorite activity. We went through two rooms of trains or "choo choo beans" as he likes to say. Ben also rode a small train and met Santa, whom he looked at with suspicion.


Christmas fun at Union Station



Don't look at me, Santa!

 







Lone rider on his first time around.

Hi Mama!

4. I hosted Christmas dinner for my parents and Barbra and Curtis. I made table decorations out of mason jars, left over Christmas greenery and cranberries I meant to bake into bread, but never did. We had a fun time and Ben learned his grandparents' names. He still calls my mom "Mama". But he calls my dad "Baba Jack" and Barbra "Nee Nee Ba Ba". She's lucky. I did burn the ham because I put it in the crock pot with 12 hours to cook instead of eight (math at midnight is always dangerous for me), but Chuck's perfectly fried turkey made up for it.

 

Chuck gave me new dishes for
Christmas.



Yes, I made this. It only
took five minutes and
Ben even helped.



 We also enjoyed tiny aprons at my mom's and dogs in dresses at the Enderle's.

Mom gave Ben a grill so naturally he
needed an apron to go with it
and obviously it should match Daddy's.

Lexi in her Christmas best.

 2010 was truly a blessed Christmas season. I hope it was for you as well.

It's a Girl

Apparently my dreams are still the crazy ramblings of my subconscious and have no prophetic power at all, because we are having a GIRL!

When the technician told us I was thrilled and Chuck looked like he was going to throw up. I'm excited that our house will be nice and even with three and three. I already feel a little out-numbered when Chuck and Ben are in their Chiefs gear, watching football all day Sunday.

So, here's to a little girl. I can't wait to meet her.

It's a... Boy?

One of the best parts of pregnancy is the crazy dreams. Some of my friends have had prophetic dreams telling them that they were going to have a boy or girl.

I never have those dreams. My dreams include giving birth to an 80-pound baby and buying a special wagon to transport the giant. Sometimes I'm fighting guerrillas in South America. Sometimes I'm performing with Shamu at Sea World - it's all usually very adventurous.

But last night, my dreams took a different turn. I dreamt that Ben told me, "It's a boy, Mama." I asked how he knew but he offered no more explanation. Then, our whole family went to the sonogram appointment, but we forgot to ask if the baby's gender. So I called and the technician said, "I can't give out that information over the phone, but expect more of the same." I tried to clarify, "You mean we're having another boy?" But the technician only said, "I can neither confirm nor deny."

As with most dreams, it seemed to make more sense right when I woke up. I was sure this dream was telling me that we are having a boy, but now that I write it out, it seems like this dream matches the usual crazy ramblings of my subconscious. Did I mention that a significant portion of this dream was spent looking for tiny magic shoes? Does the fact that they were Keds make it worse?

The jury is split on this decision. Many people - including my MIL, father and one emphatic friend - think this baby is a girl. Also, MS's psychic rock thinks the baby is girl. However, the hillbilly pencil test and Chuck think the baby is a boy.

Well, 1:30 can't come soon enough today. We'll know soon and then the name fighting can commence.

Yickety Yack Don't Talk Back

Ben spent the afternoon telling me how much he hates certain things, particularly things I really love.

Please don't be fooled, he's still a boy of few words. He's just getting better - much better - at getting his point across. And when he doesn't like something, he makes this noise in his throat that is somewhere between the word "ick" and a hiss. It actually sounds like someone hacking up a cold byproduct. We're not really sure where he picked up this habit, but I blame my mother. Although, she likes to reserve this lower form of communication for food.

Ben used to keep this "word" in his pocket too, but he unleashed it with full force today. While I was making breakfast, he brought me the case for A Muppet Christmas Carol, pointed emphatically and said, "Ick," like a hundred times.

What?! That's arguably the best Christmas movie ever! The Muppets meet Charles Dickens meet the best musical score I've ever heard! How can you possibly hate it?! So, I asked him and he looked me in the eye and said, "Ick."

First, please reserve your back talk, for a time when there is actual talking involved. Second, I don't care if you do hate it - I'll just watch it when you're in bed and your judgey father is out of town (like I do every year).

He also told me he hated a CD of instrumental Christmas music (which is beautiful and super calming by the way) and his cup of apple juice... which I later found in the trash.

He is truly his father's son and even now they love many of the same things: meat, grunting rather than talking, and the Chiefs. That's right, Ben loves the Chiefs and he proved it today when a friend dropped off some Chiefs apparel her son outgrew. Ben pointed at that arrowhead logo and said, "Cool Chiefs!" Actually, it sounded more like, "Coo Sheesh," but the sentiment was clear.

Fine, the two of you can have each other and you're welcome to make fun of the things that I love all you want. It's only fair, I remember mercilessly making fun of my mother for watching this awful, black-and-white version of A Christmas Carol. I'm pretty sure it followed the book word-for-word and that's why my mom loved it so much. But to me, it was torture.

So Benjamin, here is a list of my favorite Christmas movies. Please feel free to hate them and tease me relentlessly. It's your God-given right as a child to think your mom is lame.

5. White Christmas - I love Danny Kaye and can sing every word of every song. So what.
4. Elf - Will Farrell in green tights. I don't think there is anything else to say.
3. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Linus' monologue made me love him even more and someday, my blanket-toting son, will love this movie too.
2. It's a Wonderful Life - This movie always fills me with so much hope. It's great to remember how valuable we all are.
1. A Christmas Story - "Randy laid there like a slug. It was his only defense."

And the very best Christmas movie of all time - A Muppet Christmas Carol. I really don't know how anyone can resist this movie's charm. Check out my favorite song from this movie.

Unto Us a Son is Given

I got Ben a Little People nativity set to play with during the Christmas season and so far it's been a whole lot of fun.

First, we are a little confused about the contents of the set. It's seems as though one character can double as both Joseph and a shepherd. He was standing in the stable by baby Jesus, but he's also holding a shepherd's staff. Chuck keeps saying really helpful things, "Where the heck is Joseph? You'd think he wouldn't miss something like this."

Second, Ben really likes to play with this set and one of his favorite things to do is put another character on top of the stable where the angel is supposed to be. So far his favorite choices are one of the wise men and the cow.

This tempts me to say things like, "But the cow said unto them, 'Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

Third, Gary likes to get into the action further leading us to rewrite the Christmas story. Here's an example. "And this is the way you shall find the babe, he is wrapped in swaddling clothes, and is lying in a manger. And it came to pass a great and terrible beast came upon the land. And the beast destroyed all that was in his path. And all the people were sore afraid. And they called the beast Catzilla.'"

Lastly, this toy allows me to ask this question every single day, "Ben, where is baby Jesus? Benjamin, look at me, show me where you put Baby Jesus." He's usually tucked safely under Ben's blanket (which he now calls Buddy) or sometimes he's less fortunate and laying face down under the couch or Christmas tree.

In any case, this toy has been a whole lot of fun for our imaginations over the last few days. And we wish you a joyfilled holiday season too.