Cookie Monster

Benji is a smart little cookie.
He hides his binkies and then gets them back out of their hiding spot.
He knows there is a door stopper around the ottoman, to the left, down the hallway, to the right, through the dining room and right towards the garage.
He knows what puff containers look like.
He reaches out his hand and grunts towards things he wants like cords, thermometers, the formula can, a bottle of vitamins, or the knife block.
He knows when we're not looking and zips into the kitchen to the dog water bowl.
He knows that the bathtub means he's going swimming.
He thinks peaches are the greatest thing in the universe.
He likes me the best.
He screams when I leave the room.
He knows if he can't see Walter, he just needs to turn the corner and go down the hall and he'll be laying there.
He can high five.
He can clap.
He shakes his bootie to music.
He makes a machine gun noise when he laughs.
He rips his bibs off from around his neck when he's sick of wearing them (which is an issue with the ones that snap...purple baby).
He arches his back and throws his head back when he doesn't want to go in his carseat.
He not only likes to hold the remote, now he points it at the TV.
Benji-O = Boy Wonder

its exhausting being so brilliant.

Smart cookies can be naughty and nice as you can see from his laundry list of talents (and trust me the list goes on and on and on... its tough being perfect). Matt and I crack up at the things he comes up with or catches on to and we're amazed watching his little mind work (okay his giant brain~ his head is in the 99th percentile). I catch myself encouraging new things and new behaviors only to bite my tongue when it becomes habit 2 days later. For example, crawling. "Woo Hoo! Look at Benji go!" quickly morphed into "FML, I can't even pee." "Oh he's so smart, by arching his back, he knows I can't get him in his carseat!" 5 seconds later, "wow, we are throwing a tantrum like a 2 year old." Matt and I laugh all the time about the sounds he makes and what words they sound like he is repeating and I'm 100% sure that his naughty word vocabulary will be amusing for 3.7 seconds. Who am I kidding~ its always funny to hear a kid cuss, as long as we don't get ourselves kicked out of granny daycare!

Here's a snippet of one of the wonder boy's new brainiac endeavors.

"Oh look at me, I'll put everything from the table onto the floor!"

Such a good helper. Too bad this game is only useful when the crap going on the floor is edible and 2 doggies are eager and willing to pick up. Along with dropping things on the floor, Benji has also taken a liking to chucking things across the room in fits of fake tantrums. Binkies get winged.... far~ especially over the crib railing. We haven't quite caught onto the part about not being able to suck on the binkie that's across the room which really doesn't help the whole bedtime routine but I don't doubt that melon will absorb the cause and effect soon (actually, I think he knows, he just prefers to torture mom and dad until they come back to his room and get him the binkies~ who wouldn't want to see my face one more time before they fall asleep, right?)

I look at him all the time and think what a fun age he is at, but that's been the case for about 7 months now (I like newborns but I wouldn't consider their personalities 'fun'). I can't believe we're wrapping up 9 months and his lifetime has exceeded the length of the pregnancy. It seems like yesterday and so long ago all at once! Every day I wake up to a bigger, smarter, happier baby and I am so lucky to be the mom of this Banjo! I can't wait to get home each night and see his face light up and give him a giant hug and 7,000 kisses (I swear he's going to get chapped cheeks or and accidental hickey or something).

I could just eat that smart little cookie up!