A Georgia Girl in Germany

Benjamin certainly can get creative with his desires at times. Combine that with his boyish, 3-year-old stubbornness, and it can lead to some interesting situations. For example, last month, several nights in a row, he decided he wanted to eat dinner off his stool, while buckled in his extra car seat in the middle of the floor instead of sitting at the table. I figured it wasn’t a battle worth fighting, so I indulged his desires. It actually helped him finish dinner more quickly than usual since he can’t unbuckle himself and I didn’t unbuckle him until he was done.

There are other days when I have to resort to using a belt to help keep him in his chair during dinner (remember doing that with me, Dad?). Fortunately, he likes the idea because he thinks it prevents him from falling out of his chair and hitting his head on the counter that’s three feet away. He’ll even insist on weaving the belt around the back of the chair and fastening the buckle around his waist himself. I never would have imagined that! The down side with this tactic is that he also knows how to unbuckle the belt, so he doesn’t always stay put until he’s done eating.

His favorite drink as of about a week ago is "tas-berry milk." He'll even go as far as getting out the strawberry Nesquik, the milk, a spoon and his cup for me to help him make it. He surprised me Sunday morning when he told me that he had climbed onto the counter to get his cup all on his own! What a little monkey!

He's also figured out that Zachary, MacKenzie and I spell words out when we don't want him to know what we're talking about. So, he's now begun using letters as code. He'll ask for "C-S-C," then say "That is tas-berry milk," or say he wants to go to the "E-S-C" then add "That is the park." Too cute!

Labels: Benjamin