He has given up his nap

But that doesn't stop him from serious lounging in the afternoon -- and he often calls Doh the Dog "Pillow Doh" while he's doing it. --Victoria

"Reading" a book to himself

What the cars are doing...

Tea Time

Cooking Goldfish Crackers

Alphabet Doh

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Puzzle Pride!

Benji has a new puzzle -- a large, 32-piece, floor puzzle with a farmyard scene. It's not an easy puzzle for his skill level, so we've been working on it together. He's really starting to get the hang of "puzzle strategy" -- that is, putting similar colors together, looking for pieces that look alike, and even using the picture on the box to see where the picture's elements should go, in relation to one another. Last night, he completed it mostly by himself, with just a few minor suggestions from me. Can you tell how proud I am of him? He's pretty proud of himself, too, as you can see in this photo. --Victoria

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Benji loves a book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It's about a coconut tree, and all the (lowercase) letters of the alphabet decide to climb up the tree, one at a time (in alphabetical order, of course!), until they are all up the tree. The full alphabet is so heavy that the tree bends down and they all fall out in a heap (that's the page of the book that you see in the photos, here). Then, their "mamas and papas and uncles and aunts" (the uppercase letters) come running to take care of them, and the letters get untangled from the pile, one at a time (again, in order). It's a cute book and Benji really enjoys it.

A few days ago, I had a brilliant idea (if I do say so myself!) while he was playing with his magnetic alphabet on the fridge. I found an erasable marker set and drew him a coconut tree on the front of the fridge. Now, while we read the book, we act out the story by picking up the letters and putting them up in the tree. Benji also loves to arrange the letters so that they are all stacked up along the tree trunk. We're having a lot of fun. --Victoria

The Circus Came To Us

Benji has been enjoying a book called "A Building Site" that we got from the library. The book talks about how buildings are constructed, including how dump trucks move gravel, cement mixers mix and pour cement, and cranes move construction materials. A few days ago, our landlord send a three-man construction crew to rebuild the small retaining wall in front of our row house. Benji sat on the windowsill and got a wonderful view of a small-scale version of everything he had been reading about. He was a very happy little boy. --Victoria