Our Ben, very imaginative, extroverted, demandingly interactive, and silly

Ben started off more attached to daddy, but the first week Bob went back to work in December, he became more attached to mommy. I am so amazed at how well the transition went overall and how adaptive Ben was to his new environment.

Ben loves to do about everything...play in the snow, sled, play in the bath, put on different clothes, draw and color, build with his blocks and leggos, push his cars thru leggo bridges, play with his garbage and other big trucks, put simple jigsaw puzzles together, take things apart and put them back together, look thru books and have mommy and daddy read books to him or tell him the names of things, listen to musical toys, push buttons on anything, pretend to play the piano, help mommy unload the dishwasher, mimick just about everything mommy and daddy do, etc. etc. He doesn't care for watching cartoons, though, and generally finds TV boring unless there's singing and dancing he can try to mimick or real-life planes and trucks wizzing by. That doesn't bother me...we only have one TV --in the basement-- and I only watch it while working out or on a cold friday or saturday evening with my hubbie.

Like I said, Ben is highly visual. Just one example: he nibbled away at a piece of bread the other day during lunch to shape it like the boat he plays with in the bath and then pretended like it was floating around. Though his drawn shapes look pretty darn messy to me, our caseworker who visited the other day was impressed with the circles he was drawing with his left hand and said he has very good fine motor skills for a 3-yr-old. He uses both hands well right now...don't know which hand he'll end up using. He mimicks body movements and facial expressions hilariously well for his age and if he doesn't do something creative or kinesthetic when he grows up, I'll be surprised. She was also surprised at how much English he has picked up. He uses many phrases and words now, such as "I need go potty," "there you go," "come on," "give me," "mommy sick" and "Ben Shan Shan--mommy go bye bye," counts to 10 unprompted, knows shapes and is learning letters, colors, the difference between left and right, etc.

Relatively speaking, for 3-yr-olds, Ben isn't a picky eater...he'll eat most things, excluding bland meats, things that are too spicy with hot peppers, and raw tomatoes. One problem though is that if he has potato chips or french fries to go with a sandwich or chicken fingers, he'll fill up on the potatoes so I have to make sure he doesn't have access to all of the potatoes until he finishes eating the protein. He also plays a tiring dinner game sometimes, where he says he's finished eating, pushes his plate away, and asks to get down... and then once we get him down from the table, he starts whining that he wants to eat again. He can keep doing this and dinner can take a while...We had to limit it and really take it away after a few times...He's getting a little better with it.

Ben is all about getting attention, making sure our eyes are always on him, and staying glued to us. He has stopped crying when I use the washroom or take a shower. He is so full of love and gives Bob and I a million kissies a day. As with any toddler, he has his occasional control issues and stubborn moments and needs a time out. Time-outs have been very effective so far....Knock on wood! He doesn't throw temper-tantrums...knock on wood again! :o)