Own spot! and Who will be the bride?

Adam acting goofy. Love those silly faces.



Stop the press! I think this was the first time Ben said "Cheese!" and smiled for the camera. He hasn't done it since.



Adam with his sweet, smart, adorable cousin Max. The boys are exactly two months apart in age. They were both wearing Grandpa Lowell's hats.



Celebrating Christmas/my mom's birthday at my sister Mary's house, complete with a fun foosball tournament.



Adam loves the computer.

It is 3:14 a.m. and I should be sleeping. I can't sleep. I'm too anxious about work. I wake up when Ben does and can't shut my brain off. It's very frustrating.

So ... why not just get up and write? Yeah, Chrissy, that makes TOTAL sense.

I wrote a long, long, looooong letter detailing Ben and Adam's milestones and recent developments about a month ago, but had some computer "issues" at work (as in, my computer was upgraded and the IT guy accidentally wiped out my desktop, forcing me to lose hundreds of photos and personal files). It was tragic. I thought I was over it, but obviously I still harbor some resentment. I keep remembering things that are now floating around in cyberspace. If only IT Guy had let me burn those CDs (he said it would take too long). If only he had let me put more folders on the shared drive (he said it was almost full and he would just copy my desktop to his hard drive and then transfer it back to my computer)!
Oh well. Live and learn.

Ok ... here goes my second attempt at that same post.
Ben is in a very independent phase right now. Everything is "Own spot!" and "I do!" and "I do!" and "I do!" He wants to do things like put on his shoes and take off his coat and while I love that he wants to learn, sometimes it really slows things down when I'm frantically trying to get out the door.

He is VERY attached to his blankets. He has a green one and blue one and wants them in the car, at Target, at nap time, at bed time, any time he's on the couch, any time he remembers to ask for them. We never gave him a Nuk to soothe him/calm him down (successfully avoiding attachment issues there), but looks like we'll be fighting a similar battle some day when it's time to take "blankies" away.

He likes to put on Chapstick by rubbing it under his chin. (Apparently he has zero depth perception, just like his mom.)

He gets into EVERYTHING. I can't tell you how many times he's fallen off a dining room chair or tried to climb onto the table or scared the crap out of us by cranking up the volume on our stereo and hitting the "power" button or ate crayons (seriously, numerous times!) or tried to crawl into the dryer or done something at daycare like smeared glue stick on his lips or pinched a finger in a door or jumped on the couch like a crazy man (the list goes on). I love that he's curious, but he's already missing a front tooth and I'd really appreciate it if we could stay out of the ER for awhile now.

He finally, after MONTHS of coaching, will tell you that his name is Ben, and not respond with "Adam." He knows my name is Chrissy and daddy is Aaron and brother is Adam. He also says Grandma (Domma) and Grandpa (Bob) and all of his aunts and uncles names, and can identify all of his little friends at daycare.

He is affectionate on his terms. No kisses or hugs on demand (he'll say "No-wuh" like a teenager if you demand a hug or kiss), but that makes them even more special because they happen spontaneously. Adam is the opposite, generous with his hugs and kisses and honestly one of the sweetest boys I know.

Ben likes to pretend he's fixing things with Adam's tools and loves the tool bench at my parents house (and wanted to play with the super loud chainsaw and drill when we were over there watching the Super Bowl). I wonder if some of these interests are ingrained. Will Ben be the son who comes over to fix our washing machine one day and Adam will be the son who helps us figure out the latest technological gadget? (Is it bad that I'm already thinking this way?)
Adam was into books and puzzles when he was 2, and I think because of this, his vocabulary was pretty impressive (he could have a conversation with you like an adult); Ben is more into "fix-it" type toys and doesn't have the patience for books (which could be why he doesn't say as much as his big brother did at this age). Adam still loves learning-type toys, but could care less about the tool bench.

Both boys LOVE playing catch with the football, slapping a hockey puck around the kitchen, playing "bowling" with their plastic bowling set, throwing any type of ball, and shooting hoops in our living room. They both enjoy swimming lessons, too. Ben's favorite thing is jumping into the pool; Adam's favorite thing is the back float. (Just another example of their very different personalities.)

Adam questions everything. He asked me the other day, if Uncles Jay and Pete got married, what would they do when the 'marrying man' said "You may kiss the bride?"

Adam is really into computer games (sproutonline.com), Angry Birds, and his Leapster Explorer. He also likes Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, superhero anything, and Star Wars. Ben's favorite cartoon is Caillou. And I think they watch a lot of Raffi at daycare.

They both love animals. Sometimes we go to PetSmart on our way home (free entertainment) and look at the fish, birds, and rescue cats, patiently waiting to be adopted. When we get over to the cat section, Ben starts exclaiming "KITTY!" over and over and Adam starts talking in the voice most people reserve for babies. There was a shy yellow tabby hiding behind his cat carrier and I can't stop thinking about that cute little guy. He just seemed so scared and lonely. I wish we had a house more conducive for a cat ... but we tried that already when Aaron brought a stray home, per his coworker's prompting, back in 2005. It was awful. We named the cat "Afton" (after Afton Alps, where we got engaged) and we brought it to the vet, where we paid $200 to have it treated for ear mites (ewww!) and I think we must've gotten it shots then, too. I can't remember. As it turned out, Afton was craaaaaaaazy (climbing up the blinds crazy) and stinky and had a lot of stomach issues, and there was no good place to hide the litter box, so it was in our living room. I was constantly opening windows and burning candles. Then, for some reason, we had to bring her to the vet AGAIN and the vet told us she was pregnant. What?! She was just a kitty! (Babies havin' babies, story of our times.) Probably a week after that, Aaron's coworker said Afton was not a stray after all, there were "Lost Cat" signs up around her neighborhood, so we very happily returned her. The owners left Aaron a six-pack of home-brewed beer on their front porch for our "troubles." We decided, after that experience, to wait until we lived in a bigger house before venturing down the pet road again.

Ok. Now I'm tired. My next post = winter recap! Ice fishing contest, snowboarding adventure, baby shower fun, birthday snowtubing and more!