Bandit.

Just a quick post to get down on record some of the funny things Ben's been up to lately:

1. He's a diaper bandit. Ha ha! Just now, for example, I went in to tell him that it's nap time and he needed to go to sleep (he's been in there playing for about 45 minutes). I found him without pants and without diaper. He's been doing this a lot recently - we'll go in to get him in the morning (and some times when he wakes up in the middle of the night) and find him in various stages of undress.
2. He refers to his nipples as buttons. We think this is because of his belly button. The other day he lifted up his shirt, poked himself in the nipples and said (very pleased) "buttons!" I almost peed my pants laughing.
3. He's getting bossy. Gone are the days where he'd play quietly by himself for stretches of time. Now he tells me "mama. come. play." Or he'll tell me (or Sadie or Nick) to move if he wants where you are. At the park, he'll insist I come up the jungle gym with him "come" he says - very firmly.
   
4. He's figuring out his name. We'll ask him where Ben is and he'll point to himself. I'm trying to get him to respond to "what's your name?" and he will with prompting but not on his own yet. Some times he'll try out his name when talking - "hungry, Ben". I love it.
5. He things stoplights are sirens. When we're out driving and the lights turn red he'll say "oh no! siren!"
6. He's very cuddly recently. He'll cuddle on the couch for a good 20 minutes. My very favorite thing he does is when he runs up to me spontaneously and hugs my legs. He gives very good hugs, big squeezes.
7. He's very kissy. He kisses me, his reflection in the stove, Sadie (but he really didn't like it when Sadie kissed him back), his toys, his bed, his trucks, the wall....
8. He waves bye to random cars. "Bye! see ya! day!" (the last one is "have a good day") and will blow kisses.
9. "oh no! crash!" is something I hear a lot when he's playing with his cars. Crash sounds more like "srash" and I love it
10. he's very climby. I keep taking things away from him but I'm not sure that's the right answer. First it was his step stool for the bathroom. He'd bring it out to the kitchen or really anywhere in the house and use it to reach things I'd rather he didn't have. So I put that away in my room. Then he was standing on this big truck. I took that away because I was afraid the wheels would move and he'd fall off. Today he was pushing around one of the totes of Christmas decorations and used it to stand up and get to stuff on the counter. I keep taking it away and he keeps finding new things. I guess I should just let him explore and maybe this is incentive to keep the island more cleaned off?
11. He's also very "mama" right now. He broke my heart into a million little pieces last night. I was going out to my book club and went to get my shoes. He ran to his room and got his shoes and when I told him he couldn't come, he sobbed "go!" and clutched his little shoe. I felt so awful.

So there are just some random things about Ben right now. The buttons one is my favorite. Ha ha.