Big Brother Ben (week 204)

Off to the races! A big turning point in my life happened this week. It didn't seem like a big deal to me, but my parents sure recognized it when my friend Nathan invited me to go to the horse races at Santa Anita. His family picked me up Saturday afternoon and I went by myself. We ate hot dogs, sat in the stands, and cheered for the horses. My horse (the red horse), didn't win until we were walking in the parking lot and heard the announcement that he had finally crossed the finish line first. Although we weren't allowed to drink a coke, I still declared it one of the best days of my life...and my parents were very proud that I was now going places on my own.

On Sunday morning, Christopher and I thought that we would help out some by cleaning our room. Realizing that we had plenty of cleaning materials at our finger tips, we emptied an entire box of baby wipes and scrubbed the carpet and wood floors. We thought the place looked great but dada wasn't too happy when he came into the room.

At school, I also had a big breakthrough. Over the past few weeks, my teacher and I have not been connecting well. So, on a walk to school with mama and Chris on Wednesday we discussed some strategies for the school day. In particular, we focused on listening, raising hands, and being quiet. After only one day, Ms. Zen told mama that I was an excellent listener and had really turned things for the better. Thursday, I tried my strategies again and got equal praise. Mama and dada were extremely proud.

Christopher continues to be a thrill seeker. As if he is trying to set a record, we have now called poison control three times. This time, mama and Chris were in the backyard and he found a pile of mushrooms growing in the grass. It had been warmer and we had been watering more. As a result, this little pile of mushrooms popped-up overnight and to the delight of Christopher presented another opportunity to try something new.

Mama caught him in the early stages of stuffing the mushrooms into his mouth. We ended-up going to urgent care and the emergency room. In the end, the doctor said that there were two types of lawn mushrooms--one poisonous--but that Chris probably didn't eat much; and although Poison Control told us to do the right thing, the mushrooms seemed to be the innocuous ones. Dada says that this isn't the last time that we will probably be at the emergency room for Christopher.