Benji has been super in to cooking lately, so this afternoon when I have him a choice between making cookies and going for a bike ride, I was unsurprised (but still a bit disappointed) he choose cookies.
Hooray!
… Except that, when I went to bake said cookies, the oven simply refused to turn on. Oh no!
My very slow solution:
Two at a time, with liberal cookie dough snitching to reduce the overall time spent cooking. If using a toaster oven to bake does, in fact, even count as cooking.
Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.
James 3:13ish
I keep trying to find ways to talk about Benji’s talking — typing different introductions, waiting a day or so, then deleting them. Nothing’s working for me, so I’m just going to jump in. Benji doesn’t use words to communicate much.
He does communicate, usually using elaborate pantomimes complete with sound effects (his way of saying “excavator” and “cement mixer” are hilarious and effective), throwing only a very few words in. When he does “say” something, it’s usually a minimally-articulated syllables, so “more, please” comes out “muh puh yes” (he does say “yeah” and “yes” quite clearly, and alas, has just this week added “no” and “nope” to his repertoire). Most of the time I have to interpret for him; only Ian, my mom, and Ian’s mom usually have a good sense of what Benji’s getting at. Even then, sometimes I have to help out there, too. Worst of all, from Benji’s perspective, is when I don’t even know what he’s trying to communicate. Then things get really frustrating.
I don’t know if you recall my much-beloved rain garden; I may have mentioned it now and again… once or twice (or maybe three, four, or five, or, OK, a lot of times) before. We did the hard work of building it back in 2011, but my rain garden care guide says it needs annual mulching to remain healthy. Needless to say, I haven’t mulched since we made it, and admittedly the amended soil has seemed to get harder and more clayey over time (clay being, alas, the composition of the rest of the yard).
Ingredients:
1 Toddler
1 Mommy
1 Nana
1 Car
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients between 7:00 and 7:30 am. Drive to Kenmore Air Harbor. Observe activity for 30 to 60 minutes, or until bored.
When bored, walk 1/4 mile to Cemex factory. Find safe place to observe cement trucks.
When thoroughly chilled, return to air harbor, use bathroom and warm up. Observe mechanics repairing planes. Watch out: Toddler will likely start getting very hungry, and express this problem vehemently.
It’s real tough going around here these days, let me tell you.
Ian and Benji wear hard hats while playing construction site, a game inspired by all our visits to…
…a real construction site. Benji was oddly thrilled when a bored excavator driver, waiting for dump trucks to come back, pulled out and ate a banana. We immediately had to eat a banana while wearing a hard hat when we got home.
This morning we went for a fairly easy trailer ride, and the conditions were exceptionally nice. Benji tolerated our time on the trail, but perked up when we got back on the road with all the cars and trucks. If we could, he’d probably have me ride on the freeway. In lieu of that, as a compromise, we ride busy roads that have bike lanes.