"Mama, your baby is growing up!" Bennett has been telling me this for a month or so now. He thinks it's funny because I'll grab him and smother him with kisses, saying "Noooo!!! You're my baby!!!!" The first time he told me, we were laying in bed, and it was a week or so before his birthday. I was telling him that soon he'll be 3, no longer 2. He'll never be 2 again, and he said in a very matter of fact tone, "Your baby is growing up." Just that. I don't know how he put together that thought, but it was just a fact to him.
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Bennett is now 3! Well, he has been 3 for three weeks now, but we were slow to take his pictures. The best thing about turning 3 according to Bennett? "You can drink juice. ALL THE JUICE." A few weeks before he turned 3, I'd say his toddler tantrums really increased in frequency. It seems like everything out of his mouth is "I want..." in a super whiny voice. Ugh, it's like nails on a chalkboard. In some ways, he hasn't been as bad as I expected a toddler to be. He does beautifully during meals, especially out in public. He is fantastic about sitting in his seat, usually quietly, even if he doesn't want to eat. It's actually a joy to take him out to eat (unlike Caroline). He is still pretty fun to take out to do things too, although he is all about asserting his independence and telling us what he wants, which is usually to not leave. Bennett is definitely very assertive with us, at home, and with relatives, but much less so with friends. The little interaction I've seen with him and his classmates at daycare, I can see he isn't assertive at all. I think if he can find a balance between his home and daycare assertiveness, he'll be at a great place in life. He can definitely stand to be much less demanding at home, and I think he gets pushed around too much at daycare, so he could probably stand to throw a few punches there. But I will say, he isn't a hitter, for sure. I think that's great. There are times where Caroline will slap him, or push him, and he's able to restrain himself. It can't be easy when you're 3, but he manages to hold himself back.
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Speaking of assertiveness, every day it is increasingly more difficult to take pictures of him. Usually he wants to do a silly face, but more often than not, he doesn't want his picture taken at all... unless Caroline is having his picture taken. Sibling rivalry is at its finest now, in our home, from both kids. Even if we had duplicates of every toy, book, piece of food, it wouldn't solve all the fighting. Without fail, they always want what the other person has. I think Bennett has successfully taken all the stuffed animals out of Caroline's room, although there are a select few that she is obsessed with. He has learned not to touch those, or if he touches though, to expect she'll scream in his face until she gets them back. But that being said, poor Bennett can't play with a single toy without his sister trying to take it away. Despite all the fighting, he is really great with her. Every day, I see him try to make her laugh, which isn't hard to do since Caroline is clearly very enamored with her big brother. Just the way he looks at her, tilts his head and goes, "Hiiiiiiiiiii Care-whoa-line!!!!" it's clear to see he loves her too. But it's not just her, Bennett is so sweet with Alfie. Every time he sees Alfie, he'll make it a point to give him a kiss, then stick his face in front of him and say, "Hiiiiiii Alfieeee!" He's so genuine and sweet with them. A few times he has told me he wants to be a Daddy when he grows up, and it's clear to see that he really means it.
Despite all the assertiveness and tantrums, Bennett is still our carefree, easy going child. It's easy to get him excited to do something fun, like go to the zoo or park. He likes to know the schedule of the day. It is definitely much easier on everyone, when I take the time to explain to him what we're going to do and when we're going to do it. He loves to be outside, and with the warm weather, all we hear is, "Can I go outside? Can I go outside? I want to go outside. Can I go outside?" So annoying, but good for him, I suppose. But it's also a reason I think our daycare is a great fit for him, since they go outside every morning and afternoon.
Bennett has been really curious about everything as of late. "Mom, do we have bones? Where are our bones? Why?" "How does the water get there?" "Why does a volcano explode? Where does a volcano come from?" Dinosaurs, lakes, clouds, the human body, what animals eat, he has questions about everything. I feel like we can't go through books quickly enough. Not only is he curious, he retains quite a bit of information too.
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Other than outside and books, Bennett is still really into cars and vehicles. He likes to sing songs, and will come home singing songs from daycare. Dance parties are really fun for us and we have them a few times a week. I think his favorite songs are 'Fireball' by Pitbull and 'Happy' by Pharell. He also asks for the musical 'Hamilton' which is awesome because I'm obsessed with it right now. Yesterday in the car, he randomly said, "Showtime! Showtime!" Ahhh! I love it. He tells me I'm Elsa from Frozen, because I like to sing, and then he wants me to sing "Let it Go." I'm going to keep enjoying these days, while he thinks I'm this amazing singer, until he realizes that I'm horrible and asks me to stop singing.
Bennett loves to watch tv and videos. He's always asking to watch. I'd say he watches maybe an hour a week, and a half hour of that is usually because Joel is gone for an evening and I need to keep him occupied while I put Caroline to bed. I don't think it's too much tv, and sometimes I wish we'd let him watch more, because we could probably get more done if we let the tv do the babysitting, but I hate the idea of his brain melting as he turns into a tv zombie. Plus, Caroline would be with him too, and she's definitely too young to be watching tv. I think if Bennett was an only child, he'd be watching more tv, like doing a family movie night on the weekends. Maybe when Caroline turns 2 and screen time is a little more acceptable, they'll be watching more shows, but I don't know. I just can't stand the idea of letting them sit there and stare at the screen, just so I can get something done. Bennett is okay about keeping himself busy, but he definitely prefers to have one of us sitting in the same room with him while he plays, or playing with him.
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| Dream Big, Bennett! |
Two of Bennett's biggest struggles now are bedtime and going to the bathroom. He doesn't want to do either. He usually needs Joel to sleep in bed with him, or at least lay there until he falls asleep. Then with the bathroom, he can go pee by himself, but usually wants one of us to take him. It's kind of frustrating. I think I need to go back to bribing him, because if he can do his pees by himself, life will be a lot easier for us. But he really just hates to go to the bathroom, like he doesn't have time for it. He definitely after takes after his mom in that respect, but the problem is, by the time he goes, he can barely make it onto the toilet. Ugh, but he's doing pretty well with potty training, so I don't think we can complain too much.
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| Showing off his muscles |
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| Like father, like son |
Despite all these wonderful pictures of a smiling Bennett, he wasn't a fan of taking pictures. Luckily, he was willing to give me his big, genuine smile for about 5 minutes and I got what I needed. I don't know how he's going to be a beautiful child star with that kind of attitude though...
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