Home Depot Man

Jed took Benjamin to Home Depot last Saturday for a kids project. They built little planters. Isn't this fun? Benjamin got a bright orange Home Depot work apron, and got to hammer away to his heart's content. They had tiny holes already drilled where the nails go, so you can see him in the picture below concentrating as he puts his nails in the holes. HE LOVED THIS! He was really excited to show me his planter when he came home.

Today we planted some basil seeds in his planter. He has been checking up on his dirt in his planter multiple times this afternoon. He'll crouch down and examine it, and then exclaim, "A seed grow, Mom! A seed grow!" I feel bad saying, "Not yet... not for a while..." Today while we were eating lunch, he climbed out of his chair once, with a piece of pear in each hand, and said to me, "These grow." He was headed to his planter, and I immediately knew he wanted to plant his bites of pear in the dirt. "Uhhhh, I don't think so..."

This week we've had some funny happenings. As they happen, I try to type up a quick paragraph about them before I forget the details. Here are my weeks memos:

Jed’s mom sent Benjamin a paint coloring book. He was really excited to start painting in it. I showed him how it was done, and then he took over and kept saying, “I do it myself.” It was all I could do to let him paint on his own. Not because of the mess… I found myself cringing that he was painting in the same spot on the picture over and over until it was a bit soggy, so I covered that place of the picture up with my hand and said, “okay, paint somewhere else.” Then I just had to intervene when he was only using the colors black and brown… After a minute he started putting the paintbrush in the paint and then back in the water instead of on the picture. I was like, “No, no! On the picture!”
Yikes!!! I’m realizing that I am a total control freak when it comes to this – I can’t bear to watch him mixing the colors and put the loaded paint brush in the clean water! I had to finally look away for a while so he could enjoy painting without me saying, “No! No!” every minute. Of course when I checked up on him his water was black from paint, but at least he didn’t have me harping on him the whole time. Anyway, after all that, he carefully poured some water on the table and his painting got soaked. This is real therapy for me… :)
He’s been saying some funny things lately. He will randomly start telling me or Jed about some make-believe friends of his. “My friend’s name is Truckanon, and he’s only TWO! And my other friend’s name is Fernanon, and he’s only ONE!” I have no idea how he made up those names, or why he is so interested in their age, but he calls them the same name every time, and they are always either 1, 2, or 3 years old. :)
The other day Jed started singing the song, “Peanut, Peanut Butter, and JELLY!” and then he started to say funny things instead of Jelly, that would be gross with Peanut Butter, like, “Peanut, Peanut Butter, and GRAPES!” Then he would say “Eww! Peanut Butter and Grapes! That’s gross!” Benjamin absolutely DIES with laughter in this game. Benjamin has brought this game to a whole new level. He sings it to me during the day and comes up with the most random things – well, I guess they aren’t completely random, since he says whatever he sees around him… It goes like this, “Peanut, Peanut, and….. TREES! Ew! That’s GROSS!” then, “Peanut, Peanut, and… LIGHTBULBS! Hahaha! That’s Gross!” Those are his favorites, along with FANS, MOMMY, BABY ELIZA…. Here’s the best yet: “Peanut, Peanut, and LOOK UP!!” and he will look up at the ceiling, and then he rolls with laughter – he thinks he is HILARIOUS. :)
My favorite is when we ask him a question such as, “What are you doing, Benjamin?” or “Who are you calling on your phone?” and he answers, “Nuffing.” I love it!