Big Brother Ben (week 154)

Christopher and I are becoming great pals and he seems to be finding his groove as a good little brother. Often, when I look over at him sitting in his chair or on dada's lap he is staring at me from across the room and smiling. He continues to talk more and more everyday, although no-one knows what he is saying! Mama says that he loves his older brother a lot and thinks that I am the coolest. I like to poke him on the nose and he tries to bite my finger!

Last week, I stayed home from school all week and took antibiotics. Dr. Quan said that I had bronchitis, which made me cough and keep everyone up at night. Mama and dada had to hold me down on the bed to get me to take my inhaler which was very stressful. The worst was that my throat hurt from all the coughing so I didn't want to eat anything either. My belly hurt all week, but my fever broke around Wednesday and mama says I get to go back to school next week.

The best part of the week was that Grammy, Grandpa John and Great Grandma came to visit for a few days while both mama and dada were at work. We had a lot of fun together even though I had to stay inside much of the time. We played hoopies on my USC basketball hoop, ate french fries, and read stories. I did a lot of sleeping in between games which is uncharacteristic.

This weekend, dada and I cut my hair, went bowling, and I set my record score: (88). I had (2) spares in the game which helped me break my old record of (73). We also went to the park to ride my silver bike, and played baseball in the backyard. I hit one way over the white fence into the neighbor's yard for a home run.

Project Little Brother (week 10)
Christopher is getting much bigger...he is probably pushing (13) pounds now, and loves to eat. In fact, no-one can eat at the dining room table without his approval and observation. If you bring out food and he can smell it, he will fuss until you bring him up to table level so that he can see everything going on. He is probably going to be a professional eater.

Raising Your Parents
Switching-off between your parents is key to keeping them cool. Whether you switch-off between them each day (one kid go with dada on Saturday and the other with mama), or you try to break-up the day; the key is to keep moving on different activities and provide variation. Let's face it, kids like to do the same things over and over again, and it can wear out a parent whether it is repetitive feedings or lots of trips to the park. You can help their level of interest and patience by deliberately switching-up every few hours.

Word of the Week
I want it. I do: a flexible response that can be used to answer any question. "I want it", is the only evidence needed (and repeated over and over again), to support why a parent should provide something (e.g. gummy bears) to a two year old.