Thursday, January 19, 2012

Tricks Are For Kids

Ever since Bennett was a wee young thing, he's been good at keeping me paranoid and frantic.  He reaches his milestones on the edge of normal, each and every time.  He was late to grasp a toy, late to babble, late to crawl.  It is hard not to compare him to friends' babies on facebook, and even harder not to compare him to the parenting manuals' development time lines.
So, I've been hesitant to tally his do's and don'ts and words and steps on the blog.  I can't help but feel people comparing their kids to mine.  But I know Bennett is healthy and happy.  He just does things on his own sweet time and not someone else's.  Maybe it's my parental instinct to protect my young, but I think he's incredibly smart, just stubborn.  I see him observing and taking things in.  I have a feeling he likes to know he can do something well before he's ready to reveal a skill to the public.  It's almost as if he's afraid of being judged or compared.  I don't have any earthly idea where he could have learned that...
So, without further ado, Bennett's bag of tricks:
I don't know.  He shrugs his shoulders, lifts his hands and mumbles.  He's been doing this for weeks, cracks me up each and every time.  "Bennett, where's the bunny?"  "Bennett, where's Daddy?"  "Bennett, why is the sky blue?"
He knows how to turn on the tv, what to do with a remote, how to use the phone.
He's learned how to feed the dog.  After watching me do it for months, he's learned to scoop the food and put it in Atticus's bowl.  He's getting a head start on his chore list.


He knows where his head is and where to put a hat, where the airplane flies, where his nose is, where my bellybutton is (but not his own), which shoes are mommy's, and that if you want to go outside, you better bring mommy her shoes.  And when your dinner is hot, you have to blow on it first.

He's silly and cuddly and drooly.  He loves reading books and being outside.  He is a blossoming little boy.  He may be strong willed and stubborn, but he's ours!

1 comment:

  1. I've often felt the same way with my Master P, who has been on the slow end of normal on the verbal stuff. You're setting a great example here of keeping all that stuff in perspective - as tough as it is not to compare, the important thing is that our boys are healthy & happy, right?

    Thank you so much for the sweet birthday wishes, by the way!

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