My litte pumpkin...

My little pumpkin is growing big. These two pictures are from this October.

And these two are from October 2009. Back when he was a little baby.

My goodness, how time gets away from you when a little pumpkin is growing before your eyes! He was so much fun last fall, but he is so much more fun this fall. I hope you don't mind a post all about what my boy does these days...

Every morning, he literally hits the ground running. We put some books or toys in his crib every night so that he can entertain himself when he wakes up in the morning. He is a morning person, bless his heart, in a night owl nest. So he sits in there and plays in his crib for about forty-five minutes every morning before Jon gets up and gets him out of bed. As soon as his diaper is changed and Jon sets his feet on the ground, I hear him running as fast as his toddler legs will carry him all through the house. Sometimes to the toys first and sometimes to the kitchen. Eventually, he makes his way to my bedroom where he runs up to my pillow-pressed face and shouts, "Boo!" Sometimes followed by a sweet, "Hi." And a sloppy kiss. The best way to wake up, even for a non-morning person.

I'm going to categorize this whole section "Things Benjamin Says," but it won't be exhaustive. He says more words, phrases, and even whole sentences every day. I can no longer keep up. But here's a sampling:

He asks for Goodnight Moon this way, "Nigh, Moo--Moon!" In the book he can name the "light," the "bears" and their "chairs," the "cow" (with two syllables, like cow-wuh), the balloon "loon," the "hush," the "mouse" and the "house." He loves that book.

He also asks for "Gossie." The books are Gossie and Gossie And Gertie. He will "read" these to himself for a long time, saying Gossie's name and pointing and laughing at many pages.

Benjamin names the following animals: Giraffe "raff," elephant "le-FUNT," dog is still "woof woof," cat is "m-YOW," goose, duck, bear and moose all clear as a bell, and lion "yun." Oh, and birds, but only and always in the plural. There's never just one bird. He has picked up on insects such as flies and flees because of the songs we sing at library story time. He calls butterflies "butt-fyes."

Benjamin says "Pweeze" and "Tate-oo" (please and thank you) but only because we prompt him to almost every time. The only time he volunteers these social graces is when brownies or cookies are in sight. Then he can twinkle those blue eyes and say the prettiest "puh-weeeeze" you ever heard in your life. It's pretty irresistable. The grandmothers cave every time. He can also say "bwownie," "cookie," "crackah," "cheese," "wice," and "eggs." Eggs also has two syllables, in case you were wondering. He used to call cheerios "cheer-cheers" but they've recently been called "choes" pretty frequently. But so far, my favorite food word is "chichin." I sometimes feed him chicken just to hear him say it. He is also very fond of "getty" but it's pretty messy. He says the names of most foods, actually, and if he can't get the word out he'll just say, "food!" The boy likes to eat.

Okay, that's probably enough of what Benjamin says, but I just never get enough. Even now I'm resisting the urge to tell you some other words. But let me tell you some things he does.

He helps me pick up pecans. He likes to color and always wants me to write his name. "Name, pweeze. Mama, name." Over and over and over. He is extremely ticklish. He likes to hide behind the shower curtain, the couch, a blanket, a chair, etc. and jump out with a "Boo!" He giggles while he's hiding and laughs hysterically when he pops out. He likes to climb up on my back and demand a "rye" or ride. When I'm in the shower, he watches his "mew-mee," a Baby Einstien movie or "The Little Mermaid." (I know I should not do it, but if I don't have a shower I'm a bear.) He likes to sing and dance. He thinks every number is the number 8. He'll point to other kids' shirts that have numbers like 1 or 7 and proudly say, "Eight!" He can count to three but he almost always skips the number one. He loves to cuddle and rock. He lovesto go outside.

At bedtime he prefers to turn off the light himself, he reaches for "George" (Curious George), kisses mommy and daddy and says, "Night, night."