Ben at 21 months

A few things about Ben at 21 months . . .

• He LOVES matchbox-sized cars. Most of them are the cars from the movie Cars. He plays with them constantly and carries them with him everywhere. Even if it's 5 at a time. He lines them up on the table in front of him at meals and keeps them in his cup holder when we're in the car.
  
  Jack didn't get into these until older, mainly because we didn't have them in the house when he was Ben's age. Give him two cars and plenty of "race track" and he'll be happy for a long time.
  
  
• He is so friendly. He says "Hiiii" to everyone we pass, no matter where we are. If he spots someone yards away he starts waving and calling out "Hiiii!"
  
  
• He was about 29 pounds when we visited the doctor's office in May.
  
  
• He loves to do belly smackers. Onto the couch sometimes. Most often, he moves the couch cushions to the floor and just throws himself down onto them. One time, he got a little confused and threw himself down onto a throw pillow. There was a HUGE thud and he just laid there dumbfounded for a second. And it's really not limited to his belly. He'll jump up and just land on the floor on his bottom. Over and over. He's just rough.
  
  
• He copies Jack like crazy. Words, actions, everything. For better or worse. We often comment that Ben doesn't do much on command. We used to ask Jack to say things and he'd just say them. When we ask Ben to say something that we know, he'll often just say "uh-uh" or "no, no, no." But he will copy Jack. So Jack likes to tell people that Ben "only does thing on my command."
  
  
• He has a scream that is unlike anything I've heard from another human being. And he KNOWS that it gets Jack all riled up (and rightfully so) so he does it when he doesn't know how else to fight back against him. Jack tries to scream like that back at him, but I'm telling you . . . the noise is inhuman. I don't think any of us could replicate it.
  
  So, I've been working on teaching him to use his indoor voice. It's so funny because when he screams and I remind him to use his indoor voice, instead of whispering like I do, he does this soft little shriek. Hilarious.
  
  
• We do happy and sad faces a lot. When I say "happy face" he smiles and puts his fingers on the side of his mouth like he's having to manually pull his face into a smile. When I say "sad face" he stops smiling and makes this pathetic little moan. It's so funny.
  
  
• He's the first one to remind us if we've forgotten to pray before a meal or bedtime. He folds his hands and says "Ama? Ama?" (Amen?)
  
  
• He says too many words for me to list, but my three favorites are "ink ou" (Thank you), "Baay" (Bye . . . it sounds like he's saying it with a deep Southern accent . . . in fact, many of our staff have started saying goodbye that way!) and "I unv ou" (I love you).