Jesse and Benson – May 2011

I took these pictures of the boys so we could have some to give to their grandma’s for mother’s day. I thought this would be a good opportunity to give the latest on these two little guys.

Jesse

Singing – Jesse loves, loves, loves to sing!!! He is obsessed with the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber and sings it very passionately. He’s also known for out-singing the whole primary. They’re learning “Praise to the Man” and he especially loves and is especially loud on that one. I’ve had to talk to him about using his beautiful singing voice instead of his loud voice. I’m still trying to feel this one out because I definitely don’t want to do anything that will make him feel embarrassed about his singing, but I also don’t want him singing so loud that he drowns out the primary. Jesse is also pretty good at taking a song and making up his own words to it. That’s something he gets from me so if you’re ever over you might pathetically get to witness Jesse and I having a conversation in song. I know…werid.

Favorite shows – Dave and I signed up for Netflix so now we have an endless amount of kids shows for Jesse to watch. He’s kind of taken to the super hero shows though like the animated Spiderman and Ironman. Another show that Jesse loves is Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel.

Pastimes – Jesse loves to be outside playing with friends. He loves to ride bikes around our little park. He loves to do both foot and bike races although he’s overly competitive which can cause melt downs when he doesn’t win. Right now he’s really into baseball and he’s pretty good at making contact with the ball. He doesn’t exactly have the best form on his swing but don’t try to tell him that.

Funny man – Jesse lives to entertain!!! He loves making people laugh! He knows how to cater to his audience, whether they be Benson or friends his age or adults, and will change it up depending on what’s funny to them. If he does something that makes Dave and I laugh he’ll usually get so excited and do it over and over again until we have to get serious and tell him to knock it off. Lately he’s been into making silly faces whenever we try to take his picture. Ya…that doesn’t get old.

Obsessions - Jesse has an obsessive little personality. When he finds something he likes he wants to just do that one things and is happy doing it over and over and over again for hours on end. His obsession right now is Easter egg hunts. That’s what he always wants to play. He also always wants to play computer games or games on Dad’s phone but he only gets to play those as a reward for going poop in the potty.

Loves to Learn – Jesse has been working on reading and spelling 3 letter words. He really loves working on these and finding words that rhyme. He’s also started showing interest in numbers and adding them together. Jesse loves learning new songs. Every once in a while I’ll sing a new song for him and if he likes it he’ll constantly ask me to keep singing it until he’s got it down.

Brothers – I don’t really get these two sometimes. They can be the best of friends and play so well together, and they can annoy and hurt each other as all get out. Sometimes Jesse is so patient with Benson and sometimes he has no patience at all. Often I’ll catch Jesse giving Bence a quick hug and kiss and other times I’ll catch him trying to push him down or trip or kick Bence for what seems to be that he wants to make him cry just for fun. Benson doesn’t take everything lying down either. He screams and tattles and hits back. Despite how mean they can be to each other, for some reason they still love each other. Jesse will always come give Bence a big hug and kiss when he wakes up from his nap…just of his own choosing and he’ll give Benson compliments and how big he’s getting, how fast he is, how well he ate his meal, etc. If Jesse’s not there when I get Benson up from his nap that’s usually the first thing he asks about. “Yay Yay??” That’s what he calls Jesse. It will probably be a lot the same as they get older I would expect. I’m hoping for a little more love than hate.

Benson

Singing – There is just lots of singing constantly going on at hour house. Benson also loves to sing. Mostly that same Justin Bieber song that Jesse likes to sing too. Bence is constantly singing that and gets very serious about it. He also always asks to listen to that when we’re driving in the car. “Mahm….Baybay….Pweese!!” He gets pretty upset if he can’t listen to it. He also just go around in his own little world singing his own syllables to songs like Bingo, Jingle Bells, Do a Deer, and Praise to the Man. It’s funny to hear what he picks up on from Jesse. Some of his favorite words are “Doo bee doo bee doo.”

Huh? – If you say anything to Benson be prepared for him to ask you “huh?” about 20 times.

Hide and seek – You just have to watch the video to get this one. It’s just funny. Our little Bence is quite the character.

Pastimes – Benson loves playing with cars and will make the car sounds as he plays with them. He loves scooting around on his little bike outside. He loves trying to shoot baskets in our little toy hoop. He loves throwing balls and playing catch. Well at least he likes you to try to catch his throws. He’s always hearing when cars and trucks are driving in and out outside or when airplanes are flying over and always wants to go see.

Talking – I’m not so sure that Benson is that great at talking but he’s definitely good at communicating. His words aren’t pronounced very clearly but at least he tries to use words. Here are a few examples of Benson translation: Yayay = Jesse, Beebee = binky, his soffie blankie, or a baby, gwuck = truck, dwee = treat or drink, kukay = pancake or cake, cahcar = car, owhaee = outside, wahwon = another one,

Binky and Blankies – This little guy loves his little comforts. He still takes a binky to bed and will usually find a way to get one during the day although we’d like him to only have it at bedtime. He also has a little blankie with a rhino on it and a bigger blue blankie. He would prefer to go through life with all 3 items attached to him at all times, but does just fine without them too. Except for night time. They’re all kind of a necessity for bed.

Nursery – Benson started out his nursery career like a champ. They let us bring him in a few times a little early due to both Dave and I subbing or what not during church and he did great. However, when he turned 18 mos all the sudden he didn’t want to go to nursery anymore. He’s doing better now but still gets really sad when we drop him off.

Likes to be silly – I don’t know what it is about our boys but Benson also thrives on being entertaining. He likes to make you laugh. I’m sure he’s just trying to be like his big brother.

Throws stuff off our balcony – One of his latest things that I have to watch out for is Benson throwing stuff off our balcony. I was out there cutting Jesse’s hair once and Benson was going out and in. I finally realized (3 shoes later) that he’d been going in, getting a shoe, coming out, and throwing it off our 3^rd story balcony. Watch out below!!

Never could get enough treats – Benson is extremely passionate and intense about his treats. That’s a request he is constantly making and he goes from asking calmly to screaming for them if he doesn’t get one if about 5 seconds. Patience is not one of his top attributes.