Ben's milestones (January 2005)

You had your pre-op for your second surgery for your undescended testicle. January 6, 2005
You had surgery for your undescended testicle. You actually stayed most of the day January 7, 2005
In the hospital. We could have stayed the night, but you wanted to go home.
You did so great this time. You didn’t get sick at all. Much different than last
Time. You were so brave. This time you had your sea bands on, and I think they
Gave you less anesthesia. You had fun in the hospital talking w/the nurses,
And playing w/the tools and watching Blues Clues. I was so relieved everything
Went so well.
I started working w/you on signing the alphabet. You know “R” & “B” January 10, 2005

At 2 years and 7 months – today is January 25, 2005

You are counting to 10. You can identify the numbers by sight.
You are singing the ABC song (not all the way through, but you tune into the parts you know. You know all your ABC’s by site and the sounds they make.
You know a lot of colors. (red, blue, yellow, green, orange, white, gray, black, purple, Pink). Your favorite color is Orange, 2nd favorite is pink. I’m hoping you grow out of the pink.
You are speaking SO clearly. You say whatever we say in complete sentences. You speak your mind. Tell us
What you want and argue your point. I can understand about 99% of what you say. You are learning so much and speak so well.
§ Mommy is teaching you to sign the alphabet. You know “a, b, c, d, r”
§ You are really into Bob the Builder right now. You have one outfit that you love to wear all the time. You have a couple books that you love reading and 3 videos that we watch all the time : )
§ You are still a very picky eater. We have a hard time getting you eat. Your favorite is of course, French fries.. but you don’t get that too often.
§ You favor mommy right now. You love Daddy very much – but mommy’s the one you prefer to be with.
§ You LOVE your baby brother. You love to play with him, hold him, kiss him, hug him. You love making him laugh. It makes you so happy when he laughs at you. You are very concerned about Will and want mommy to get him from the car first, get him if he’s crying. You are very sweet when it comes to him. You share your toys with him very well.
§ On the other hand, you are not minding very well. You are constantly in time-out and get spankings often.
§ You still bother the cat and the dogs when they are in. You chase them and tease them and you get time-outs for that.
§ We are having a constant night-time battle w/you getting up during the night wanting to sleep w/mommy and daddy. We put you back to bed and you still wake up throughout the night. We are hoping for that to change soon.
§ You are into trains, airplanes, tractors and Bob the Builder.

You got a stomach virus when you went to visit William at the hospital (he was there for January 30, 2005
RSV symptoms). This was the worst stomach virus you have had. You couldn’t hold
Anything down. You became dehydrated quickly. I had to take you to the ER at medical
City for dehydration and to get fluids by IV.

Ben's milestones (December 2004)

I was doing something and you told me to stop. Then you told your daddy he was bad December 5, 2004
And you said “you go to time-out dada.”
You came home from school pretty upset. You told me you got a time-out and got December 13, 2004
spanked. I was very upset. You were certain you had been spanked. I talked to your
Teachers the next day and they said you didn’t even have a time-out. You said
Ms. Sherrye took you into the bathroom and spanked you. You must of created
This b/c of something that happened.
We went to Holiday in the Park w/Aunt Claudia. Mommy, Daddy, you, William December 19, 2004
It was very cold outside. You enjoyed the train ride, but you were pretty
Miserable b/c of the cold. We didn’t stay long.

Ben's milestones (October 2004)

For Halloween you are a chicken. You say “Chicken bock-bock.” October 31, 2004

Ben's milestones (September 2004)

You went poo-poo in the potty. You were SO excited. I made a big deal about it. September 14, 2004
Gave you a high-five and a big hug. You were so pleased with yourself.
You were already going pee-pee … I’m so proud of you son!


At 2 years and 3 months – today is September 14, 2004

§ You can open the doors with the child safety knobs on them. We had to take them off. You actually did that right after your 2nd birthday.
§ You can lock and unlock the bathroom doors and front door. We had to put additional locks on the front and garage doors.
§ You know most all of your alphabet and the sounds they make. There’s only a few letters that you don’t know.
§ You know lots of colors: red, blue, yellow (I think yellow is your favorite color), dark blue, light blue, orange, gray, black, white, green, purple, brown, pink.
§ You are still signing – occasionally – you haven’t lost it.
§ Mommy put you in your bed tonight – hopefully you are there for good.
§ We are working on potty training you. You went poo-poo in the potty today. You were So happy with yourself. I made a big deal about it. Gave you a high-five and a big hug.
§ You are pretty defiant. Mommy and daddy are having HUGE discipline problems with you. We have to tell you over and over to do something. You hit, yell, scream, tell us no. We are really hoping this stage passes.
§ You aren’t a big fan of food. You don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive.
§ When you do eat, your favorite foods are: French fries, chicken, cookies, ice-cream, chocolate…. pretty much junk : )
§ Daddy taught you to call your food by it’s sound it makes. So when you eat chicken you say “chicken bock-bock”. Hamburger “Moo.” It’s great (sarcastic). I told Daddy that’s going to work against him someday.
§ You are wearing a size 4T clothes and a size 9W shoe.
§ You say “thank you” “please” “excuse me” “no thank you” … we’re working on “your welcome” yes sir/no sir (ma’am).
§ You are talking in sentences. You say 5-6 words together.
§ You are into Spiderman, dinosaurs, airplanes, fire trucks
§ Favorite show is Leap Frog’s Letter Factory, and Ribbits (the Christian movie Uncle Bubba got you) and Wind in the Willows (from Aunt Claudia and Uncle Ray)
§ You love wearing your airplane pajamas to bed (although they are getting to small) and your airplane shirt (everyday).
§ You enjoy playing outside – although mommy doesn’t take you out near enough.
§ You go to school at First United Methodist’s WCA. You are in school 4 days; Monday – Thursday from 9-2 at this time. You really enjoy school and get excited about going.
§ At bedtime, you love baths. You love taking bath with bubbles and using your bath crayons to draw. You enjoy reading books together and brushing your teeth – as long as you get to do it yourself.
§ You favor mommy right now. That changes from month to month. It was daddy for the longest time, now it’s mommy. Mommy is VERY happy : )
§ You still love your baby brother and love giving him hugs and kisses and holding him whatever chance you get.
§ Conner Craig is your best-friend. You love hugging him. He gets a little annoyed with all the hugging, but you love it.
§ You are so affectionate. Always hugging and kissing mommy and daddy.
§ Your favorite people are: mommy, daddy, Will, Uncle Bubba, Uncle Ray, Aunt Claudia, Oma, Gran Gran (you call her), Papa and Conner.
§ You still love to bother the cat (fluffy) – sadly.
After a tough few weeks – you are finally sleeping all night in your own bed. Yea September 27, 2004
Mommy!
You did love to sleep with your kitty kitty (that’s why daddy bought 3 extras) – now September 27, 2004
Your favorite thing to sleep with is Will’s ‘baby elephant.”

Ben's milestones (August 2004)

You know all the letters in your name and their sounds. Daddy pointed to the letters on August 4, 2004
Your wall (we have your name on your wall, painted) and you said all the letters
And their sounds. Yea! You are doing so well w/your letters.
You pee-peed in the potty. Daddy was in your bathroom going potty, you went in there August 5, 2004
Pulled down your pants, took off your diaper and sat down and peed in your potty.
Good boy! I think you are trying to make potty training you easy on mommy and
daddy. Thank you!


At 2 years and almost 2 months (today is August 6, 2004):

You are talking so well. You are saying 4 words together. We can understand you about 90% of the time. You are still signing which is wonderful. You say things like:
“My eat too please”
“Daddy eat too please”

You always say thank-you and please when you get or want something. We think that’s so wonderful!

You know a lot of your colors: Blue, red, green, yellow, pink, black, brown, orange

You know a lot of your alphabet. I know you know B, E, N, J, A, M, I, N, R, T, O, C, G, H, K, P, W … ok – maybe you know all of them. We got you the refrigerator phonics as well as the Letter Leap Frog video and it’s really helped you. You’ve learned so much from them. Mommy wishes they had a numbers one.

You can count 1- 3. You know 5 also.

You have a new baby brother. You love him and want to hold and kiss him all the time – but you are acting out. You are being defiant – wanting attention from dad and I – whether it’s negative or positive. It seems like you’re always in trouble. Mommy and daddy feel horrible. We hope you get use to the idea of baby brother being here so you can stop getting in trouble.

You are starting to potty train yourself. You went pee pee in the potty twice now – all by yourself. Dad and I are hoping you are going to potty train yourself.

You are sleeping with mommy and daddy in our bed. We’ve broken you from sleeping with us so many times – but I think the battle can’t be won. We’re hoping to get you back in your bed at some point – but right now, with Will being home – we’re just going to let you sleep with us. Hopefully soon you’ll be ready to sleep in your own bed.


You came up to me and told me that your stomach hurt. I think you had an upset August 20, 2004
Stomach. I felt so sad for my little guy, but very happy that you can finally
Tell me what’s wrong.
You told me your head hurt after you rubbed your head. August 20, 2004
It was time for you to go to bed. Mommy told you to kiss daddy goodnight. You kissed September 13, 2004
Daddy goodnight and hugged him. You and I started to walk to your room and
You made said “mommy kiss daddy.” I gave daddy a kiss, started to walk off.
You said “mommy hug daddy.” You are so very sweet (at times : ) Benjamin.
I love that your so affectionate.

Ben's milestones (July 2004)

You met your baby brother – William – for the first time. Uncle Bubba brought you to the July 23, 2004
Hospital to meet him. You weren’t too sure the first day you met him. You warmed up
The 2nd and 3rd days. You wanted to hold him and kiss him.
We brought baby brother home. You were so concerned about him and wanted to help with him. July 26, 2004
You were kicked out of Mother’s Day out for pushing and slapping other kids. Mommy and July 29, 2004
Daddy weren’t real happy. This was on Thursday and we brought William home the
Monday of this week. We are certain your acting out b/c of your baby brother. We feel
so sad and didn’t want you to be jealous or feel like he was taking your time away from
us.

Ben's milestones (June 2004)

Uncle Bubba and daddy built you your first sandbox. You were so excited and of course helped June 10, 2004
Them build it.

You produced your made up sign for snake. We aren’t sure where you learned it and it took June 1, 2004
mommy and daddy several times to figure out what it meant.
You are saying 2 words together plainly. You say “Dada work,” “My momma,” “My dada.” June 7, 2004
You pointed at my stomach and said “My baby.” You say “kitty kitty eat.”
You said your first sentence today. You said it once and I wasn’t sure – but then you said it June 7, 2004
again. You said “Dada go to work.”
We had your 2nd birthday party. You had lots of guests and got lots of great gifts. We did an June 26, 2004
Airplane Party theme. It was a hit!
Oma came to visit for your birthday. You said “Oma” for the first time while she was here. June 26, 2004
You also said “Uncle Ray” and “Claudie” for the first time. They were all so happy.

Ben's milestones (May 2004)

Daddy was playing the “name that body part” game with you. You pointed to his eye and said May 2, 2004
“eye” and then you pointed to the other eye and said “other eye.”
You slept in your big boy bed at bedtime. Mommy & daddy have gotten you in the habit of May 3, 2004
waking up in the middle of the night and coming into our bed – so you woke up at
3:00 a.m. to come to our bed, but you slept in your big boy bed until then. That’s my
big boy! : )
You got your first tri-cycle today. You and daddy put it together. It’s fisher-price, and it’s a May 3, 2004
Rocker, you can push it and then it’s a tri-cycle. You loved it.
We tried to get you into big boy bed tonight – not so lucky. We’ll keep trying. May 4, 2004

Today is May 4, 2004. You are 22 ½ months. I can’t believe how much you have changed. You are so smart and developing so quickly.

Some of the cute/funny things you do are: (1) You have become fond of Daddy’s small green golf pillow. And when we lay you down in your bed if the pillow isn’t words side up – you’ll turn it around so it is. It’s so funny to watch you do that. (2) You love to give treats to the dogs. You love Katy so much. You call her name to give her the treat. She’s a little scared, but lets you chase her. It’s so sweet to watch you interact with the dogs (Kuma, Katy, Tony). (3) If Daddy is wearing a hat, you have to have a hat also. (4) In the car, you love to play the “where is Benjamin” game. You’re so cute. You’ll hide behind daddy’s hat or hide behind your hands. (5) You’ll put something behind your back or hide it behind your legs and say “go?” We’ll ask you where it is and you’ll bring it out. You love to do that over and over. It makes you smile so big. (6)

Things you aren’t so fond of: (1) You are totally into mommy right now. You hate being away from mommy. Everything is about mommy. (2) You hate sitting at the dinner table to eat any meal. Feeding you a meal is so tough. Now mommy has gotten you use to sitting on your blue couch in front of the TV and using the blue basket as your table. Anytime there’s food to eat – you go straight to that position. (3) You love to play in the dirt or mud, but you hate for you hands and feet to be dirty. Immediately after you get them dirty, you run over to mommy for me to clean them off. You go right back to the mud, and then come back when they get dirty again. It’s so cute how you don’t like to be dirty! (4)

Signs you know are: milk, hot, cold, gentle, play (which you made up yourself), tired, bath, swim (the same as bath), diaper change, drink, no, all done, hear, head, hurt, thank you, I love you, more, eat, water, hat, screwdriver (which you made up yourself), book

Talking: You know a lot of words. You will pretty much say whatever we ask you to. You repeat everything. You’ve only said two words together a few times – you love to jabber. You said “other eye” the other day with daddy. It won’t be long before your really talking. We’ve been able to understand you pretty well thanks to the sign language. You communicate well too. It amazes us of how much you know and how much you can figure out.

Your favorite people & pets are: Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Bubba, Gran Gran, Fluffy and Katy_____________________

Family Trip to Sea World