Lights on! and "Where's the baby?"

These are among Benjamin's newest accomplishments.

For some time he has been quite proficient at turning lights off, but this week he finally mastered the grasp necessary to flip the switch in the opposite direction. It's quite helpful when my hands are full...it is also somewhat time consuming waiting for him to get the finger placement just right to make the magic happen.

"Where's the baby?" Seth asked Benjamin one night as they were flipping through a favorite board book called "Happy Baby Words" showing things like cup, bath, shoes, etc. Benjamin very knowledgeably put his little hand directly on the baby. We looked at each other not believing it was more than coincidence. They tried another page. "Benjamin, where's the baby?" Again, he identified the desired subject without delay! The game continued with amazing accuracy. It seems Benjamin really does know the word "baby!" Now if we could only get him remotely interested in Mama's belly and the BABY in there.... (He has absolutely no interest in explanations toward this end.)

Other words Benjamin knows (not necessarily verbalizes) ....
-silly (evidenced by his crazy expressions every time I tell him, "Benjamin, you're silly!")
-eat
-"no no"
-obey
-come
-Kix/Chex

On another interesting note, we think he also knows the word "yes" (his version sounds more like "ush.") We're not convinced he really attaches meaning to it, but he consistently says "ush" when we ask him a question. I think it has to do with the verbal tone of a question, not his understanding of what is being asked. Still, we are pretty thrilled with the fact that he seems to have learned to say "yes" before he learned to say "no!"

One more fun little fact and then I'll quit. Benjamin loves Tortilla Soup. I'm not kidding! Granted, the tortilla soup I made for dinner Monday night wasn't super spicy, however, it wasn't flavorless either. He was completely enamored with it! In fact, I couldn't get a bite in edgewise until Seth stepped in and told Benjamin to be patient so Mama could eat something. He has had soup of differing varieties on several other occassions and liked it as well, but I have never seen him eat anything as fast as he scarfed down that Tortilla Soup! I guess it just goes to show he has that Mexican blood in him!

Thanks for keeping up with the small happenings of our little family. We enjoy sharing our stories with you all and hope you enjoy reading them as well!