Friday, December 15, 2006
Looking with His Eyes
Benjamin is very ready for Christmas to get here. He asks almost daily if Santa is here yet…usually just before we walk through the door in the evening. I think he’s expecting Santa to stay for a visit like every other visitor we’ve had.I caught him sitting in front of our tree the other night (we put up the small tree this year since we’re going to be in Rome over Christmas) staring at the presents. I had told him earlier that he could look at the presents with his eyes, but shouldn’t be carrying them around the house (it would be too tempting to hide somewhere and take a peek...or unwrap it completely). He quickly learned to remind me that he was looking with his eyes so I would allow him to “look” at the present in his hands.
This time, as he sat in front of the tree, he would quickly slide one present about six inches out from the stack, let go, lean his head down sideways just inches away from the wrapped temptation, stare for just a few moments, then quickly slide the present back to its original location under the tree. After just a few seconds, he would repeat the process. Then again. Then again. Then again. He had this “looking with his eyes” thing down pat!
Last night, he simply pulled a present out of the stack and set it in front of him to look at it…again “with his eyes.” Too funny!
Last night I also caught him performing his first taunting act. Before going to bed, he and MacKenzie each get a small cup of eggnog. Last night, he finished off the carton before MacKenzie got any, so he walked up to her -- cup in hand -- and said, “na-na-NA-na-na.” Granted, he didn’t quite have the right inflection (he was almost monotone when saying it) or the correct number of “na’s” for the typical kid-taunt, but we both knew what he meant: he had eggnog and she didn’t! Fortunately, there was a new carton waiting for MacKenzie in the fridge, so she didn’t have to go without. What a kid!
