The Learning Tree

Watching Ben learn has really been fascinating lately. First of all, I can tell that he is learning in school (which translates into - I love the new day care!). I was singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to him the other night, something I haven't done in a long time. When I sang "went up the water spout" and "went up the spout again" he threw his hands up into the air. His teacher said they sing that, and that I should see him when they sing "Where is Thumbkin". I've tried singing that to him but he doesn't have any reaction for me. He does really watch my fingers though. At home, I read to him all the time and he's really picking things up. I've always read to him each night, but his new thing now is to bring me books. He'll sit for a little and read books on his own, so I'm trying to encourage that as much as I can. Last night I was reading "The Very Busy Spider" to him and I read "'Woof, woof' barked the dog" and Ben was making an "F" sound - so cute. Then after I meowed like the cat, he said "ow". Ah! Love it! He also knows where his nose is, where his head is, and now we are moving on to his ears. A fun game for us (ok, well, for me) when we get home at night is, "Free the Feet". I get excited and ask if he wants to 'free the feet, free the feet' and I take his shoes/socks off. Then I say "Ahhhh" and he wiggles his toes. Once in a while he'll grunt "ah". He can also imitate a lizard. See the video! I laugh every time.

The greatest athlete?

Michael Phelps just won eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympic games. Not only did he win gold medals in every race he swam, but 7 of the 8 races were world records (2 races were completed as part of a team). Unbelievable! He is an incredible swimmer -no doubt. He has won more gold medals in one Olympics than anyone else, ever. But is he the greatest Olympic athlete? Or the greatest athlete in general?

I don't want to take anything away from him, he is absolutely an amazing swimmer. I've enjoyed watching him and have been a fan since I first saw him in 2000. I just don't know what the greatest Olympic athlete is made of. He swam in 8 events so he had the chance at 8 medals. The "redeemed" US men's basketball team (my feelings on that we'll save for another post) have already won 6 of 6 games, and will play another two. If they win both games, they'll have played 8 games, but only won one gold medal. Couldn't they be considered the Olympics' greatest athletes? Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won 6 beach volleyball matches, each having 2 games for a total of 12 games played and won. They'll play one more time, and if they win, they'll win just one gold medal. But couldn't they be considered the Olympics' greatest athletes? I just want to know what the definition of the greatest athlete is. If it's the most gold medals, then yes, Phelps is the greatest. Who is a better athlete, a gold medal swimmer, or a gold medal runner? In his longest race, Phelps swam 400 meters. The longest running race is the marathon, where a Romanian woman (Constantina Tomescu Dita) didn't stop running for 26.2 miles! Amazing! Not only that, but she pulled away from the pack only half way into it, and for a good part of the later part of the race, she was over 1 minute ahead of everyone else. She ended up winning by 22 seconds! I would think she would qualify as a great Olympic athlete.

Should the greatest athlete be the fastest, most flexible, strongest? I don't know. I do know Phelps is phenomenal, as well as May-Treanor, Walsh, Tomescu Dita, Usain Bolt from Jamaica, and so many more.

My favorite athlete though is one that is so multi faceted. He can speed walk his way to any goal, run with the biggest bounce in his step , climb steps in the blink of an eye, shove more spaghetti in his mouth with his bare hands than I can with a spoon, gives a smile brighter than any Hollywood movie star and fills my heart with the most unbelievable love I've ever felt. My Ben is the most talented athlete I know. And that, in my opinion, deserves a gold medal.

The Nose knows no

At Ben's last well visit, the doctor told me he should start identifying body parts, so we've been teaching him where his nose is. Last night, for the first time, he pointed to his nose! It's really cute, we ask him where his nose is, and his puts his finger on the side of his nose. He smiles really big like he's so proud of what he's done. We get excited so then he starts clapping! We asked him where his head was after he had shown us his nose a couple of times. I put my hands on my head, then he did it. At school today I wanted him to show his teacher his nose, then she started asking him where his eyes were, so I'm thinking she might be teaching him that stuff at school too, which is great.

Then today, the little brat (kidding of course), refused to give me a kiss! He's giving kisses quite well now, and if you ask him for a kiss, he'll lean into you and you may get an open mouth kiss, but he's really giving many more closed mouth kisses now. He's even starting to pucker his lips. Well today, I put him in his car seat and asked for a kiss. He shook his head at me! I said "No? No?" He continued to shake his head then put a big smile on his face. He did this several times to me, in fact, he practically did it all night. I'm not sure if I should be offended or enter him in a crazy baby contest!