Preview

It was a great weekend with the boys...they went on a ride on the riding lawn mower with Uncle Donnie/Da-Da...
Splashed around in the tub together...
Hung out on the couch while their Mimi tried to take a picture of them together...
clapped together...
Just in general had a fun weekend!

A preview...seeing as this week seems to be super busy and I haven't had much time to blog!

Harvest Moon

Last night...in the night sky, was a harvest moon...and Jupiter!

My guy and I went out to look at it...and I was hoping I could get a photo of it...

What's a harvest moon? It's usually the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox...but this year is special because it came on THE day of the equinox...and then of course, Jupiter was right there!

My Weekend with Benjamin, Part 2

As I said in the last post, I got to spend two days with my little Benjamin! The title of this post says 'Part 2'...but it's actually 'Part 1' because this was Friday...the day I got to keep him while his mama and his daddy were at work. I was in heaven....

He told me all the things he knows how to say...but the one that warms my heart the most, is to hear him say "Mimi"...he almost always smiles when he says it! When he woke up Friday morning, his daddy was still home. Donnie carried him into the living room where I was and said, "Benjamin, look whose here!" Benjamin was rubbing his eyes...then he looked at me, pointed, smiled, and said "Mimi!" Oh my gosh...
After breakfast, playing with some toys, and cleaning up, we decided to go outside. This was the first time I had heard him say 'tree.' We were walking around the side of the house...he stopped, pointed at the tree, and said, 'tree'. I was surprised. He pointed to every tree and said that...(and later, at the mall, he pointed to a big plant in a very large pot and called it 'tree.' I didn't tell him otherwise!)
Out in the back, he was happy to stroll around, pick up rocks, and try to see what some of them tasted like. It was pretty warm and sunny, so I went in and grabbed one of his hats....
I put it on him and off he went...
and off went the hat...
"Benjamin," I called, "you need to wear your hat."
He just turned around and looked at me.
He came running back to tell me he really didn't want to wear it. He walked over to an area that was shady, so I left it off...
I could tell he was thinking...thinking about what he wanted to do...

He sat down to examine the dirt...
He found all sorts of interesting rocks, sticks, and dirt clods. I was on the lookout for ... well, evidence of Ki-ki (aka Fluffy, the cat!).
Benjamin was totally engrossed with the rocks and sticks...
"Benjamin! NO...don't put that in your mouth!"
He obeyed...
He began to examine the tree.. he was checking it out...
Oops...evidence of dirt in the mouth can be seen on his little cheek!

"Benjamin! Take the stick out of your mouth..."
He decided he had had enough.

"Come on, Mimi. Let's go play!" Benjamin may have thought...but he didn't say!

My weekend with Benjamin, Part I

Benjamin had a list for all the things he wanted to do.

First, was put on his other shoe. You may notice his Converse shoes...
He told me what was on the list, and then folded it up to put his pocket. I told him he could leave it at home...
He knows his Mimi...knows she forgets things...so he said he'd just take the list.
Our first stop was Borders...for their story hour.
It's so nice there...someone reads a story and they hand out coloring pages for the kids to color while they read. Benjamin showed me one of his colors...
and he showed me how he could color!

"Oh Benjamin! You do such a great job!" I told him.
"Uh-oh!"
Never mind the coloring. The story time inspired Benjamin to do a little reading himself. He decided to check out the Bernstein Bears...
After breezing through that, his precious mama was talking to him through a dinosaur puppet.
Benjamin was more interested in the dinosaur than he was in the Big Book on Hide and Seek.
He decided to check out another book...
"Getting the Love You Want" was the title...

Forget that! He knows he has a ton of love already!
He decided to go check out the dinosaur a little more...maybe even pet it...to see if it was a friendly dinosaur...
Benjamin even offered the dinosaur a ball...but he didn't want it.

Fine then... We'll just go on home...
Benjamin was walking around outside showing me different things. His vocabulary is growing rapidly. He told me "Ki-Ki" (kitty), tree, outside, ball, mama, da-da, fan, ... and of course, Mimi!

I told him how proud I was of him.
He ignored me and took off to find some treasures...

"Benjamin!" I called.
He turned around...

I asked him if he wanted to put on his cap...his Sheriff baseball cap...before he ventured out in the sun.

He said, "No."

His mama said, "Yes!"
Benjamin disagreed...
He decided to take his cap off...

His Daddy was watching this...
Uh-0h...the cap came off...
The cap went back on...

Benjamin looked at his sweet mama...

She was telling him he should protect his skin from the sun...
Benjamin didn't quite see the point...
But he was OK with it...he just went back to eating his cookie...

Benjamin's parents...my baby girl and her incredible husband...
Ahhh...Benjamin wanted to be in the picture, too!
He looked at his Mama and Daddy...

I told him he was a fortunate little man...
He told me he knew that already...
"I'm the sheriff!" he told me...

He's a precious sheriff, that's for sure! I sure had fun hanging out with him!