Thursday, October 28, 2010

Awana Crazy Hair Night


Benjamin started in Awana this year as a cubbie. He loves getting to go and loves the fact that he always gets to see two of his aunts and one of his uncles while he's there. I love it because it gets me working on scripture memorization with him, which I have wanted to be working on anyway. So some nights the kids get to dress funny, or wear pajamas, or as was recently the case, have crazy hair or hats. We went with the crazy hair and I'm pretty sure Matt and I had way more fun with it that Ben did.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lost in Explanation

This morning Benjamin was looking through "Horton Hatches an Egg" while I was washing dishes. He was very interested in Horton's eyes at different places in the book. When Horton was sitting on the egg in the snow, his eyes were red and Ben asked if Horton was tired. I told him I thought maybe he was cold since he was covered in snow. So at the end of the book when the egg hatches and the bird comes out looking like an elephant with wings, Benjamin wanted to know why his eyes looked the way they did. I told him that Horton was surprised and happy that the the bird came out looking like him. Then I got to thinking about it and thought it was sort of like adoption. The child has many of the same traits as his/her birth family, but also takes on traits of his/her adoptive family over time. Benjamin is just starting to try to grasp adoption, so I tried to explain my thoughts to him about the connections between the story and adoption in terms he could understand. Apparently I didn't do a very good job because he got a funny look on his face and said "when I was born I looked like an elephant?"

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Benjamin Funnies

I just love being a mom! I mean, yes, it's the most difficult job ever, and quite frankly can also lead to more embarrassment than ever, but I love to laugh and Benjamin can make me laugh!

So a few weeks ago, we were out for a walk as a family. A jogger came up behind us and passed us and it just so happened that he was shirtless. Ever the curious one, Benjamin asked us why he didn't have a shirt on. Matt and I were both kind of waiting until the jogger got a little further ahead before answering, but that just made Benjamin ask again even louder. So, we quietly explained that the man was running and that sometimes guys run without shirts because it's too hot for a shirt. He thought for a second and then very loudly proclaimed "that's rude!" We hid our smiles, asked Ben to keep his voice down, and quickly drew his attention to something else. 15 minutes later, the same jogger was now running toward us on the other side of the road. We hoped that perhaps our explanation from before had sufficed and that the poor jogger could run in peace, but it was not to be. As he jogged closer, Benjamin loudly said "that man doesn't have a shirt on!" It was obvious by the face of the poor jogger than he heard us and had probably heard us before. He may never run shirtless again!

And then there was this past week. This is really Matt's story, so I got all the laughter and none of the embarrassment. We went out to eat with my family after church this past Sunday and Benjamin had to use the bathroom. Matt took him into the men's room and as it turned out, he had to do more than just pee. So, after he loudly announced this to Matt, he worked for a bit before saying "daddy, it's too hard. Something's stuck in there. It's not working." But, as if that wasn't embarrassing enough for my poor husband, when he went to wipe him, Benjamin peeked his head under the next stall which of course was occupied and said "hi, what's your name? What are you doing?" Needless to say the poor guy in the next stall did not answer. I'm not sure if Matt or the other stall occupant was the most traumatized by the event.

So there you have it. A tiny little peek into the mind of our son.