Time for the county fair

We went to the fair last summer - at that time, the highlights were the animals and the tractors. This year was different though. We had a 3 year old. After an obligatory pet of a goat, a quick peek at the cows, and admiration for a few tractors, it was off to bigger and better things ... RIDES!!

In addition to the spinning tea cup and the carousel, Benji also rode two rides (a train and a flying elephant, a distant relative of Dumbo I believe) all by himself. Shearn Yoong and I marveled at how easy of a feat this was for him. Only a few months ago it would never have happened. As we drove along the dusty gravel road to exit the fairgrounds, Benji said, "Daddy, I had fun." So did Mommy and Daddy.

And what about the Zac-man amidst all this fun? He hung out on Daddy's back almost the whole time - content to look around and play with Benji's beloved balloon. Here he is back at home trying to steal the aforementioned beloved balloon.

Having Fun

We're walking!

Okay, not actually walking but the beginning! Zachary took his first two independent steps last night at my Mom's house. Then Benji and I saw him take two-three more this morning. I love how Benji is just as excited as we are about Zachary's firsts.

New hat

My mom knit me this hat. She thought it would be a good idea because it has straps to connect the ear flaps. But I hate it nonetheless and I still try to take it off. The fact that it took quite awhile to knit with all those color changes really doesn't matter to me. I will learn to un-do knots by the wintertime so I can take it off myself - just you wait.

Feelings....

Last night, after the usual bedtime routine, I kissed and hugged Benji goodnight and left his room.

As I go about doing my own things, I have his baby monitor on. Typically, you'd hear him talk to himself for a while, some times sing. Recently he's been "speaking" Chinese (note the quote. It's more like speaking in some sort of an unknown language). After a few minutes of his usual antics, there was a short pause. Then I heard him repeatedly say, "I feel lonely....." His tone of voice was not one of sympathy-seeking, or fussing. Lying in bed, he was just making a plain statement of how he felt - "I feel lonely....."

I don't remember us parents ever saying that in front of him. We had no clue where he learned that from. To hear Benji use the word, "lonely" by itself would have been pretty cool, but to hear him combine it with the word "feel" - now that's just hilarious. That phrase just sounded too adult coming from the lips of an almost-three year-old.

Needless to say, Benji succeeded in making me stay by his bed just a while longer. Before I left, I asked if he still felt lonely now that I went back into his room for the second time that night. Grinning, he sheepishly said, "no".

You know you live within 30 miles of Tyson International Headquarters when...

you are singing "Old MacDonald had a farm" with your toddler and when it's his turn to choose the animal, he says, "Chickens in a truck."

Heavy work - hard hat needed

Mommy and the 10 month old boy

Reading

We're reading the Peter Rabbit book I read when I was a girl.

Benji's sayings

Things overheard in our household over the last day:

- "Mommy, may I play with you?" (don't you know that I decided doing the dishes weren't that important and we played ball for at least 30 minutes after this request)

- "Mommy, please make me better. Please fix me." (he's feeling sick)

- I told him there is one God. So he proceeded to tell me that there is one God and one Jesus. Hmmm, the Trinity, a difficult concept for me to understand, much less for a 3 year old.

Look Ma, no hands