Bentley's Favorite Activities

I thought I'd share a few of Bentley's current favorite activities. There's the trains, of course, but we've already well-documented that fascination on this blog.

He likes puzzles. He's quite good at putting the pieces in all by himself (depending on the puzzle), but sometimes he insists that we do it for him. He hands us the pieces one by one. He likes to do the same puzzle five or even ten times in a row. If you try to short circuit the cycle (put the puzzle away after the third redo), he gets quite upset.


He likes to play with the remote control cars. Kara and I got a great deal on them at a garage sale last summer. We thought he'd love them. He was terrified of them. We had to hide them away. Periodically we'd bring them out and he'd shriek in fear. A few weeks ago he changed his mind about them. We've no idea why. He started out with the big yellow dump trump which moves fairly slow. He somehow trashed the right-left turn capabilities on it. (No biggie. We only paid $4 for three vehicles.) After a few days of practicing on the big truck, he moved on to the fast little sports car. It's amazing how quickly he learns new things!




The other day we had a session of Bentley Turns On/Grandma Turns Off the oven timer. The timer makes the most delightful (annoying!) buzz when it's turned on. Bentley turns it on and then waits for my reaction. I give him a big glare and then stomp over and turn it off. He turns it back on...and so the game goes.


While we watch tv downstairs, Bentley plays with his trains by running them down a sloped surface, usually the big ironing board. Well, it didn't take him long to figure out that he could run down the ironing board, too. Mark was concerned at first that he'd trash the ironing board because there is a side-to-side wobble when he races down the board. Actually the wobble is there because long ago the board broke and was put back together with a screw and a nut at the base--hence the fun wobble.


Bentley likes to watch Kara and I play with play dough. He prefers that we do the dirty work--rolling the dough into balls, pushing it through the different tools, making dough snakes, etc. He will touch it a little, but he doesn't like to squish it. He prefers to slice it with the plastic knife. He does art projects with his mom. (She's promised to post soon on this topic.)


For Bentley's birthday Kara purchased a toddler golf set. She then decided it wasn't a good gift because it can't be used outdoors in the dead of winter, so she stuck it out in the garage until warm weather returns. Last week Bentley spotted it. (That boy has a magnetic attraction for balls.) Nothing would do but that it be opened.


Bentley loves to play chase with his father. He runs shrieking through the kitchen and around the hall in a circle while Matt chases him. He enjoys this game so much he nearly gets hysterical. Watching them play is a smile-inducing experience. Who knew you could have so much fun without visiting Disney World?!

Another version of this game is where Matt pushes Bentley on his ride-on car making it go as fast as he can, then he releases it. The other day Bentley plowed right into Opa's camera. Opa was trying to get a photo of the event, so he was a little too close to the action. (Opa wouldn't mind it if someone trashed his camera forcing him to purchase a new one.)


One last activity I noticed while checking out Mark's latest photos of the grandchildren is the chair sliding. I did a post on this back in January. Bentley continues to turn the foam chairs on their back or their side and then he uses them as tumbling equipment. Usually he takes a running start before he tackles the chair. Sometimes he does minor damage to his body and has to stop for a kiss-it-better break, but he quickly returns for more self-inflicted abuse.


Bentley has many other activities he enjoys, too. He's a busy kid. He continues to love reading books with others. He zooms around on his ATV and ride-on car (without dad's help!). He loves to play with his large truck and car collection. He loves to dance to loud music. And, of course, he loves to hug, cuddle, and bop with Jackson and Genevieve. Bentley is a very happy toddler. I love spending time with him.