Sunday, July 26, 2009

I Don't Want To Say I Told You So, But....

A friend asked me on Friday, "Jenn how was Sesame Place?" I told her to wait for the blog post, so here it is...

On Wednesday, I called my Mom to voice my concern over the weather. During that time, we got into a "heated" discussion on whether or not to cancel the trip. My Mom accused me of not wanting to go and I just decided to let it go. And so, reservations were made and plans to meet in the morning were arranged.

There comes a time in life when the words, "I told you so" are very appropriate -- this is one of those times. When I woke up that morning, it wasn't very promising. It seemed the sun had decided not to rise. As we traveled down to Langhorne, PA, it started to get darker and darker and darker and the words "I told you so" danced on my lips. About a half hour outside of the theme park, the heavens opened up and the rain came down in buckets. Finally arriving at about 11:30 am or so, we saw legions of sopping wet parents and their children heading for the exits. However our group wasn't going to give up so easily. My Mother, now known as Al Roker Jr., and I headed to the entrance to see "what the situation was." After standing there for about 10 minutes, we were told it was declared a rainy day and were refunded our money. The rainy day policy didn't sit well with the 2 and 3 year olds so elaborate tales of Big Bird catching the swine flu were told.
Almost 2 hours from home, now what? What a silly question! You sit in a Burger King for over 2 hours while the kids play then you head back in the pouring rain and sit in traffic on the turnpike and return home at 5pm having accomplished nothing but a lot of sore butts from sitting in the car so long. Here is the even crazier thing! We all plan to try it again in a few weeks. Glutton for punishment yes. The thrill of being able to tell my Mother, "I told you so!" - priceless and worth the aggravation :).

Baby Crazy!













Before anyone gets too excited, when I titled the blog post "Baby Crazy," I was not referring to me but Benjamin. My son LOVES babies! Seriously, can't get enough of them. If a baby is in a room, he needs to be near that baby. He loves to kiss babies, tickle babies, look at babies, rub babies' heads (very gently) - you name it Benjamin wants to be part of the baby action.
Take for example the picture above with a few of Benjamin's third cousins, Ben had to be next to Baby Chloe for the picture. Not the twins who are more his age. Nope the baby of course! If it was a choice between a room of toddlers and a room of babies, Ben would always choose the babies. He is also fiercely protective of these little ones. When we were at a party, he was playing with Baby Nicholas and the baby's Dad who he hadn't seen up until that point takes the baby from his wife. Benjamin went right up to Baby Nick's Dad and said, "give that baby back to his Mommy!" Everyone in the room laughed except Ben who was adamant that the baby be returned promptly to his Mom.
As I look at Benjamin and see how much love he has to give, it gets me to thinking. Is a number two in our future? Only time will tell.

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Lately Benjamin seems to be hit or miss when it comes to eating, but the other day it was a hit! As he spooned the corn, mac n' cheese and london broil into his mouth, he turned to me and said, "Mmmm! Mmmm! My favorite!"

Friday, July 24, 2009

Potty Talk

I am tired of potty training and even more tired of Benjamin getting all the kudos. Here is my most recent post on NJ Moms Blog for your viewing pleasure:
http://www.newjerseymomsblog.com/2009/07/why-is-it-that-children-get-all-the-praise-when-potty-training.html

More Tails From The Toilet

If you have come in contact with me in the last few weeks, you have probably heard this story but I love it so much I need to preserve it:
Benjamin has been having a problem controlling his aim while peeing (nothing new in the boy category or the male category for that matter). So to help address this problem, I have been encouraging him to "point your penis down." This has seemed to help keep the urine in the bowl rather than all over my floor.
The other day he came over to me and said, "can I teach Shorty (his stuffed monkey-get your minds out of the gutter) how to go to the bathroom?" I said, "sure!" Next thing you know Ben is propping Shorty on the toddler potty. As Shorty is sitting there Benjamin gives him this instruction, "now Shorty point your penis down." Just for the record, Shorty didn't make any mess. Good training Ben!
Later that same day, Ben bursts in while I am going to the potty (I have no more privacy in my life). He decides he too wants to join me. While he sits on his throne, he asks me, "Mommy is your penis pointed down?" I then need to explain to a 2 year old (I thought this conversation would take a few more years like 20) that "mommies" don't have penises. In quick response to this revelation, Benjamin asks, "but you do have shorts and shoes like me." Yes, yes, I do.