Big Brother Ben (week 147)

Christmas is coming! Dada and I started our Christmas shopping this week with a trip to Second Street to find great stocking stuffers (mostly involving food), for mama. Dada says that we are supposed to get things that mama really likes but won't necessarily get for herself. I can't tell you what we got (because mama reads this blog), but I can tell you that the road to mama's heart is paved with coffee and chocolate.

Also, the presents from New York have started to arrive on a daily basis at our front porch. Mama says that grandma Dubby has a condition which makes it almost impossible to stop buying presents for her grandchildren. This doesn't seem like such a bad thing to me but dada says that Dubby's house is much bigger than ours, and that soon we will have to either buy a new house or build an extra room to hold all the presents from New York.

The St. Lukes Christmas ("Happy Birthday Baby Jesus"), pageant was a huge success! You have to give credit to all (5) of the preschool classes, but dada says that the Clouds (my class) really elevated the level of entertainment. We sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star" and recited a poem which was mainly hand motions and some mumbling. It was really good for the parents, although dada said that I looked twice as big as all the other Clouds in my class and stood out in front of everyone else. I attribute my comfortability and confidence on stage with my weekly practice at Bayshore Church.

Finally, grandma Huston came to visit this week (Thursday and Friday) and we got to have a slumber party in my room. Her bed was right next to mine, so it was really easy for us to talk throughout the night--or anytime that I woke-up. I am recommending that either mama or dada sleep in my room every night from now on! Nobody gets any real good sleep here anyway!

Project Little Brother (week 3). Christopher is now pushing three weeks old and is considered widely to be the most voracious eater (and chunkiest brother) in the family. His stomach works pretty much like clockwork--every (3) hours waking him--and demanding to be fed. The process is very funny to watch because he roots around like a little piggy and makes grunting noises. Usually, if mama and dada don't throw him over their shoulder to get burped he would eat the entire (4) ounces of formula in one gulp. He learned that way of drinking from watching me I am pretty sure. Doctor Quan says that Christopher is healthy, gaining almost a pound in his first two weeks! As I recall, I lost weight and have gotten skinnier ever since I left the hospital.

Raising the Rents.
Maintaining regularity and structure is the key for a happy home. Make sure that you tell your parents to feed you and put you to sleep at the same time each day/night for naps and sleeping. And remember, more sleeping during the day doesn't necessarily mean less sleeping in the night. Sometimes, more sleeping leads to more sleeping when we get lots of exercise!

Word of the Week:
S-T-O-P: know as the octagon, the red stop sign is the favorite of many (2) year olds at St. Lukes Preschool and requires one to pause, touch each of the letters and chant--s-t-o-p, stop, stop, stop!. Benjamin knows and has touched every stop sign in the neighborhood.