A Georgia Girl in Germany

Benjamin definitely has a mind of his own! He has a red sweatshirt we got in Edelweiss this past summer that he absolutely loves. It has a hood and a single pocket in front for his hands, which I suppose is part of his attraction to it. He wore it so often (daily, in lieu of a jacket), that I got him two more sweatshirts so I could try to keep at least one of them clean. Neither of them were quite the same -- one was zip-up, so the pockets didn’t connect, and the other was a plain gray sweatshirt. He assured me he’d wear them when he helped me pick them out, but he hasn’t.

Fortunately, Nana also found a sweatshirt for him, and she quickly got it in the mail to him. It also zips up so the pockets don’t connect, but that was OK since this sweatshirt is from Nana. He’s also taken to wearing it backwards...even pulling the hood up over his face. I don’t know why he decided this was fun to do, but he’ll get the silly giggles and call out for us like we can’t see him. He’ll even walk backwards while wearing it, because that means that the sweatshirt is moving forward.

Oh, and he’s also decided he wants to be called either “Benji” or “Little Zach.” He chose Little Zach because he enjoys thinking that he can do anything “Big Zach” can do (plus, I’m always calling him “Zachary” and calling Zachary “Benjamin” -- must be a third kid thing!). His day care provider in Stuttgart used to call him Benji, and he would often tell me he has three names: “Benjamin,” “Ben” and “Benji,” then clarify that only Ms. Lisa called him Benji. Guess he misses being called Benji. We’ll see if it sticks.

Labels: Benjamin