19 Months old

Well, I seem to get around to posting once every 2 months lately.

Benjamin started a preschool program at our local JCC in September and is loving it. It is called Moving-On and is set as a transitional program two days a week. The first hour is parent participation where we spend most of the time playing on the playground. We then come in for snack (or music then snack on Thursday). Once snack is served, parents head out for the next 2 hours. Benji sometimes cries when I leave, but is usually happy within 5 minutes. He eats his lunch there and then I pick him up. It is great for both of us. He gets to experience new things and new people, and I get time to go run errands, work out, or do whatever without my shadow :)

We have been struggling with bath time lately. Benjamin had gotten to the point where he would not sit in the bathtub and screamed/cried the entire time. We got in the habit of often taking showers and he was fine there until his hair needed to be rinsed. The last 2 bath times have been better. Benji stood through most of the 1st one, but allowed me to wash him and rinse his hair with a washcloth. The last one he stood initially but eventually sat down and enjoyed splashing and having fun. He was even quite upset when he got out of the tub and tried to get back in. I still washed his hair with a washcloth, but we will hopefully slowly get better in the water.

Benji now has 12 teeth. He is communicating mostly through signs and gestures, but it seems like we are starting to get a new word or two daily. He runs around saying "da-bay". We haven't yet figured out if this has any meaning, but it is quite cute none the less.

One other struggle we have been having is whining and tantrums. Benjamin has quite a temper. When things don't go as he would like he screams, throws things, and generally flails. For a bit, we were seeing this 5 to 6 times a day, both at home and preschool. Luckily, the duration and frequency has decreased quite a bit, however we still see a tantrum occur at least once or twice a day.

We had a great time last week camping at an SCA "war". Benji loves being outside and enjoyed being so close to so many people, including our friend N who is 2 months older than Benji. The boys played very well together and we all enjoyed watching them play side by side and interact.